May 10, 1940: "Blitzkrieg" Brings Neville Chamberlain Down

May 10, 1940: Nazi Germany invades the Low Countries: The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The "Phony War" (or "Sitzkrieg") is over -- the "Lightning War" (or "Blitzkrieg") has begun.

Luxembourg is a tiny country, and it fell in 8 hours. The Netherlands held out for Belgium held out for 18 days.

Also on May 10, Neville Chamberlain resigns as Prime Minister of Great Britain. His policies have utterly failed, at home and abroad. None more so than the appeasement policy he used at the Munich Conference in 1938, from which he returned to London and told the people of the British Empire he had achieved "peace for our time."

He goes on radio and gives a resignation speech asking the Empire to rally around the new Prime Minister. Queen Elizabeth, the wife of King George VI, tells him that their daughter, Princess Elizabeth (the Queen Elizabeth we know), wept hearing it.

It wasn't known at the time that Chamberlain already had cancer. He would be dead in 6 months.

Winston Churchill, a man who had been politically given up for dead 3 times, becomes Prime Minister. Five years later – to the week – it will have all fallen apart for the Nazis.

The Blitzkrieg was mentioned as one of the actions claimed by the Devil, played by Mick Jagger, in The Rolling Stones' 1968 song "Sympathy for the Devil." 

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May 10, 1940 was a Friday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. In the top of the 10th inning, Doc Cramer grounded to short, and Frank Crosetti made the play at 3rd base, allowing Johnny Peacock to score what turned out to be a winning run. Joe DiMaggio went 1-for-4 with a walk. Ted Williams went 0-for-2 with 3 walks. Jimmie Foxx went 0-for-4.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, 7-2 at Ebbets Field. Mel Ott went 1-for-5.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 8-7 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-4 at League Park in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Bobo Newsom pitched a 7-hit shutout. Hank Greenberg did not play.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-3 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals agreed to move their game on this day, at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, to May 12, for a Sunday doubleheader, meaning higher gate receipts and more money. The Reds swept, 7-1 and 13-4.

* And the Boston Bees (as the Braves were known from 1936 to 1940), the Philadelphia Phillies were not scheduled.