{"id":949939,"date":"2026-05-10T07:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/949939\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T07:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T07:09:14","slug":"on-this-day-may-10-nazis-invade-low-countries-to-bypass-frances-maginot-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/949939\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day, May 10: Nazis invade Low Countries to bypass France&#8217;s Maginot Line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>1 of 7 | German troops storm France&#8217;s Maginot Line in 1940 amid World War II. On May 10, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, swinging 89 army divisions around France&#8217;s so-called impregnable Maginot Line. File Photo courtesy of the <a href=\"https:\/\/catalog.archives.gov\/id\/219776833\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U.S. Office of War Information<\/a><\/p>\n<p>May 10 (UPI) &#8212; On this date in history:<\/p>\n<p>In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by Union troops. He spent the next two years in prison.\n<\/p>\n<p>In 1869, the &#8220;golden spike&#8221; was driven at Promontory, Utah, joining the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific lines to form America&#8217;s first transcontinental railway.<\/p>\n<p>In 1908, Mother&#8217;s Day was observed for the first time in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the FBI. He held the position until his death in 1972.<\/p>\n<p>In 1940, Nazi Germany <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Archives\/1940\/05\/11\/Nazi-invaders-are-held-at-bay-as-Allies-speed-aid\/2121683643027\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">invaded Belgium<\/a>, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, swinging 89 army divisions around France&#8217;s so-called impregnable Maginot Line.<\/p>\n<p>In 1940, Winston Churchill <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Archives\/1940\/05\/10\/Chamberlain-out-Churchill-agrees-to-form-new-British-government\/4180385113134\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">became prime minister<\/a> of Great Britain.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/On-This-Day-Nazis-invade-Low-Countries-to-bypass-Frances-Maginot-Line.jpg\" style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFile Photo courtesy Cecil Beaton\/Imperial War Museums\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>In 1984, a federal judge in Utah found the U.S. government <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Archives\/1984\/05\/11\/Money-cant-pay-for-a-childs-death\/9331453096000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">negligent in above-ground Nevada nuclear tests<\/a> from 1951 to 1962 that exposed downwind residents to radiation.<\/p>\n<p>In 1990, China, in an attempt to show an improving human rights record, <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Archives\/1990\/05\/10\/China-frees-211-jailed-since-crackdown\/2146642312000\/print\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">released 211 people<\/a> jailed since the previous year&#8217;s crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. Most of the prisoners were arrested during protests in Tiananmen Square.\n<\/p>\n<p>In 1994, John Wayne Gacy, the convicted killer of 33 young men and boys, was <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Archives\/1994\/05\/08\/Gacy-Illinois-first-unvoluntary-execution-in-32-years\/5252768369600\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">executed in Illinois<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In 2002, former FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who had spied for the Soviet Union and Russia for more than 20 years, was <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/2002\/05\/10\/FBI-turncoat-gets-life-in-prison\/50611021044864\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sentenced to life in prison<\/a> without possibility of parole.<\/p>\n<p>In 2007, British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced he <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/2007\/05\/10\/Blair-announces-plans\/67101178797733\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">would step down in June after 10 years in office<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778396953_834_On-This-Day-Nazis-invade-Low-Countries-to-bypass-Frances-Maginot-Line.jpg\" style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFile Photo by John Angelillo\/UPI\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, the Internal Revenue Service <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/US\/2013\/05\/11\/Report-Senior-IRS-officials-knew-in-2011-conservative-groups-targeted\/42711368330918\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">apologized for giving special scrutiny<\/a> to applications for tax-exempt status that used the words &#8220;Tea Party&#8221; or &#8220;patriots.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, Michael Sam, former Missouri defensive end, was <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Sports_News\/2014\/05\/10\/Michael-Sam-drafted-by-St-Louis-Rams-will-be-NFLs-first-openly-gay-athlete\/1631399762925\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drafted in the seventh round by the St. Louis Rams<\/a> &#8212; the first openly gay player to be selected by an NFL team.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, after more than 20 years Apple announced it was <a class=\"tpstyle\" href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/US\/2022\/05\/10\/apple-ending-production-of-iPod\/9371652226527\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ending production<\/a> of its iPod music player.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778396954_483_On-This-Day-Nazis-invade-Low-Countries-to-bypass-Frances-Maginot-Line.jpg\" style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 100%;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFile Photo by Terry Schmitt\/UPI\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1 of 7 | German troops storm France&#8217;s Maginot Line in 1940 amid World War II. On May&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":949940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-949939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116549031383298744","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=949939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/949939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/949940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=949939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=949939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=949939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}