Battle of Maastricht 1940
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 10 May 1940 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1940 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Netherlands | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Western Front | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.8500, 5.6833 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Maastricht was one of the first battles that took place during the German Campaign on the Western Front during World War II. Maastricht was a key city in order to capture the Belgian Fort Eben-Emael and split the allied armies in half.
The German goal of the operation was to take the main bridges over the river Maas intact, to have an easier road to central Belgium. Therefore, the Germans sent in teams disguised as civilians whose job was to sabotage the bridge charges. However, they were spotted and arrested, and when they attempted to run, shot.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Maastricht (revision 1370448437), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Maastricht (1794) 1794 · 0 km
- Siege of Maastricht (1673) 1673 · 0 km
- Siege of Maastricht (1579) 1579 · 0 km
- Siege of Maastricht (1793) 1793 · 0 km
- Siege of Maastricht (1676) 1676 · 0 km
- Capture of Maastricht 1632 · 2 km
Other battles of the Western Front
- First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux 1918
- Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux 1918
- Second Battle of the Marne 1918
- Second Battle of the Somme 1918
- Third Battle of the Aisne 1918
- Battle of Broekhuizen 1944
- Battle of Vianden 1944
- Siege of Dunkirk (1944–1945) 1944
- Battle for the Kapelsche Veer 1945
- Battle of Würzburg (1945) 1945
All 48 battles of the Western Front →
Browse more: battles in Netherlands · Europe · World War II era battles