battle, major, interwar and Second World War
Battle of Hannut
Battle of Hannut was a battle fought on 12 May 1940 at Hannut, in what is now Belgium; it lasted 2 days. It was part of World War II, which ran from 1939 to 1945. The recorded result: See § Aftermath.
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Where it sits in World War II
Record
| Date | 12 May 1940 to 14 May 1940 | |
|---|---|---|
| Place | Hannut, Belgium 50.667N, 5.083E | |
| Kind | Battle, interwar and Second World War | |
| Strength | 2 armoured divisions; 20,800 personnel; 600 AFVs | 2 Panzer divisions; 25,927 personnel; 618 tanks (some sources say 674); 108 artillery pieces; 1,252 aircraft |
| Casualties and losses | 121 tanks destroyed/damaged or abandoned | 52 tanks destroyed; 111 tanks damaged |
| Commanders |
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The ground today


The recorded site stands at about 138 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 76 to 171 m, 95 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 72% cropland, 10% grassland, 10% tree cover.
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.Nearest engagements
- Battle of Steppes 1213, 5.9 km NE
- Battle of Montenaken 1465, 7.1 km NE
- Battle of Neerwinden 1793, 11 km N
- Battle of Landen 1693, 12 km N
- Battle of Ramillies 1706, 12 km W
Contested ground: this site was fought over 3 times between 1213 and 1940.
In the same war
- Before: Battle of Mill 1940
- After: Battle of the Afsluitdijk 12 May 1940
- All 1155 engagements of World War II
Elsewhere in 1940
- the Blitz United Kingdom
- Bombing of Tokyo Japan
- Japanese invasion of French Indochina Vietnam
- Coventry Blitz United Kingdom
- Hundred Regiments Offensive China
Battle of Hannut is one of 4,429 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 267 in present-day Belgium.
Sources
Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q2032618, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Hannut, revision 1370265333, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.