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| 1940 May 12 |
| | | Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch government escape just in time to Britain | |
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| 1940 May 13 |
| | | Winston Churchill, in his first speech to the House of Commons as prime minister, offers the nation nothing but 'blood, toil, tears and sweat' | |
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| 1940 May 14 |
| | | The caretaker government of the Netherlands surrenders to the German invaders | |
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| 1940 May 14 |
| | | The Local Defence Volunteers are formed in Britain and are soon given, on Winston Churchill's suggestion, the name Home Guard | |
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| 1940 May |
| | | A German army races west through northern France, aiming to cut off the Allied troops in Belgium | |
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| 1940 May |
| | | Fishing smacks and private launches are enlisted from southern England's coasts and rivers for a rescue mission across the Channel | |
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| 1940 May 19 |
| | | German tanks reach the French coast at Abbeville, nine days after crossing the border from Germany | |
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| 1940 May 26 |
| | | Evacuation begins from Dunkirk, and over the next ten days some 860 vessels ferry troops across the Channel | |
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| 1940 May 27 |
| | | The Belgians surrender to the German armies encircling them north and south | |
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| 1940 June 4 |
| | | Some 340,000 British and French troops have by now been rescued from Dunkirk, but a million Allied soldiers are now prisoners of the Germans | |
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