Attack on France 1940. French Campaign (1940)

The Second World War.

BATTLE OF FRANCE 1940.
After the defeat of Poland in September 1939, the German command was faced with the task of conducting an offensive campaign against France and Great Britain on the Western Front. The original plan for the invasion of France (“Gelb”), which included delivering the main attack through Belgium in the Liege area, was radically revised at the suggestion of General von Manstein. This was caused by the assumption that the plan became known to the Anglo-French command after a German plane carrying secret documents made an emergency landing on Belgian territory. New option the campaign plan intended to inflict main blow via Luxembourg-Ardennes in the direction of Saint-Quentin, Abbeville and the English Channel coast. His immediate goal was to dismember the Anglo-French front, and then, in cooperation with the forces advancing through Holland and Belgium, defeat the northern group of allied forces. In the future, it was planned to bypass the main enemy forces from the north-west, defeat them, take Paris and force the French government to capitulate. On the Franco-German border, covered by the fortifications of the French defensive Maginot Line, it was intended to limit themselves to demonstrative actions.
For the invasion of Holland, Belgium and France, 116 German divisions (including 10 tank, 6 motorized and 1 cavalry) and over 2,600 tanks were concentrated. The Luftwaffe forces supporting the ground forces numbered more than 3,000 aircraft.
The Anglo-French war plan (“Diehl Plan”) was developed with the expectation that the Germans, as in 1914, would deliver the main blow through Belgium. Based on this, the Allied command intended to firmly hold the fortifications on the Maginot Line and simultaneously maneuver the forces of two French and one British armies into Belgium. Under the cover of the Belgian army, defending on the Albert Canal and in the Liege fortified area, the French were to advance to the Meuse River, and the British to the Dyle River, covering Brussels and forming a continuous front from Wavre to Louvain. The plans of the Belgian and Dutch commands provided for the conduct of defensive actions along the border line and in fortified areas until the approach of the allied forces.
In total, France, Great Britain, Belgium and Holland deployed 115 divisions (including 6 tank and mechanized and 5 cavalry), more than 3,000 tanks and 1,300 aircraft against Germany. Thus, with a generally approximately equal number of divisions, the German armed forces had superiority over the Allies in men and aircraft and were inferior to them in the number of tanks. However, if the Allies had most of their tanks distributed between the armies and corps of separate battalions and company, all German tanks were part of tank divisions, combined with motorized infantry divisions into special corps that had great striking force. In addition, the Germans were significantly superior to their opponents in technical terms, in the level of combat training and troop cohesion.

Invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands
On May 10, 1940, at dawn, German troops launched a general offensive on the Western Front. Luftwaffe aircraft suddenly bombed the main Allied airfields in Holland, Belgium and Northern France. At the same time, airborne assault forces were launched in the rear of the Dutch and Belgian armies to capture airfields, crossings and individual ports. At 5:30 a.m., the Wehrmacht ground forces went on the offensive on the front from the North Sea to the Maginot Line. Field Marshal von Bock's Army Group B launched an offensive in Holland and northern Belgium. The troops of General von Küchler's 18th Army, operating on its right flank, captured the northeastern provinces of Holland on the very first day and immediately broke through fortified positions on the IJssel River. At the same time, the left-flank formations of the army, striking in the direction of Arnhem and Rotterdam, broke through the Dutch border fortifications and the Pel defensive line and began to quickly move west.
On May 12, 1940, German troops managed to break through the fortified Grabbe line, and mobile units captured Harlingen.
On May 13, 1940, the troops of the 7th French Army under General Giraud, who by this time had entered South Holland, were no longer able to support the Dutch and began to retreat to the Antwerp area. On the same day, German troops approached Rotterdam and linked up with paratroopers landed in the area. After the fall of Rotterdam, the Dutch government fled to London, and the army capitulated, surrendering The Hague and the rest of the country to the Germans without a fight.
The troops of the 6th German Army under General von Reichenau launched an offensive in Belgium in two directions: towards Antwerp and Brussels. Overcoming the resistance of Belgian troops, they broke through the border fortifications and by the end of the first day, on a wide front, they crossed the Meuse and the Albert Canal in its lower reaches.
On May 11, 1940, in the morning, the Germans began fighting to capture the Liege fortified area and positions along the Albert Canal. The paratroopers provided great assistance to the ground troops, who managed to paralyze the main fort of Liege Eben-Emael and capture bridges across the Albert Canal in the Maastricht area. As a result of two days of fighting, the Germans broke through the Belgian positions and, bypassing Liege from the north, began advancing towards Brussels. By this time, the advanced units of the British Expeditionary Force under the command of General Gort began to approach the Dyle River, and the troops of the 1st French Army began to approach the Valar, Gembloux line, which on May 13 collided with the mobile formations of the 6th Army of the Germans.
On May 14, 1940, the French were driven back to the Dyle River, where, together with the British, they went on the defensive.

Breakthrough in the Ardennes
On May 10, 1940, the offensive of Army Group A under General von Rundstedt also began, delivering the main blow through the Belgian Ardennes and Luxembourg. The 4th Army of General von Kluge and the Panzer Corps of General Hoth, advancing on the right flank of Army Group A, overcoming the weak resistance of the Belgian troops, broke through the border fortifications and positions on the Ourthe River in two days of fighting.
On May 13, 1940, developing an offensive to the west, mobile formations of the German army reached the Meuse River north of Dinant. Having repelled counterattacks by French troops, they crossed the river and captured a bridgehead on its western bank. On the same day, stubborn battles broke out on the front from Sedan to Namur between units of 5 French infantry and 2 cavalry divisions and 7 tank and motorized formations of the Kleist group. Poorly provided with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, the French troops were unable to repel the enemy onslaught.
On May 14, 1940, the troops of the Hoth Panzer Corps and the Kleist group managed to cross the Meuse in the Dinan, Givet and Sedan sectors and push back the left flank formations of the 2nd French Army to Montmédy, Rethel, and the right flank of the 9th Army to Rocroi. As a result, a 40-kilometer gap formed between the two armies.
On May 15, 1940, in the morning, German tank and motorized formations entered the breakthrough and began to develop an offensive in general direction to Saint-Quentin.
In order to stop the advance of the enemy group that had broken through, the French command decided to strike at the flanks of this group: from the south with the forces of the 2nd Army and from the north with the motorized formations of the 1st Army. At the same time, an order was given to withdraw the 7th Army from Belgium to cover Paris. However, the French failed to fully implement these measures. Being pinned down on the Dyle River by the troops of the 6th and 18th armies of the Germans, the 1st Army was unable to carry out the orders of its command. The attempts of the 2nd French Army to break through from the south to the Sedan area were also unsuccessful.
On May 17, 1940, the Germans broke through the defenses of the Anglo-French troops on the Dyle River and occupied Brussels.
On May 18, 1940, the mobile formations of the Kleist group, developing an offensive in a western direction, approached the Sambre.
By the end of the first week of fighting, the situation at the front for the Allies was catastrophic. Troop control was disrupted and communications were interrupted. The movement of troops was hampered by huge crowds of refugees and soldiers from defeated units. German planes bombed and strafed military columns and refugees, while Allied aircraft, having suffered heavy losses in the first days of the campaign as a result of attacks on airfields, as well as from Luftwaffe fighters and effective German military air defense, were inactive.
On May 19, 1940, the commander-in-chief of the French army, General Gamelin, was removed from his post and replaced by General Weygand, but this reshuffle had no effect on the course of hostilities, and the position of the Allied forces continued to deteriorate.

Dunkirk. Allied evacuation.
On May 20, 1940, the Germans occupied Abbeville, after which their tank formations turned north and attacked the Anglo-French troops stationed in Belgium from the rear.
On May 21, 1940, German mobile forces reached the English Channel coast, dismembering the Allied front and cutting off 40 French, British and Belgian divisions in Flanders. Allied counterattacks to restore contact with the cut-off group were unsuccessful, while the Germans continued to tighten the encirclement. After the capture of Calais and Boulogne, only two ports remained at the disposal of the Allies - Dunkirk and Ostend. In such a situation, General Gort received an order from London to begin the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force to the islands.
On May 23, 1940, trying to delay the German advance, the Allies, with three British and one French brigades, launched a counterattack on the right flank of Kleist’s tank group in the Arras area. Considering that after two weeks of forced marches and fierce fighting, the German tank divisions had lost up to half of their tanks, Rundstedt decided to postpone until May 25 the offensive of the Kleist and Hoth tank formations subordinate to him, which needed regrouping and replenishment. Hitler, who arrived at Rundstedt's headquarters on May 24, agreed with this opinion, and the tank divisions were stopped before Dunkirk. Further actions to destroy the encircled enemy were ordered to be carried out by infantry, and aviation was ordered to prevent the evacuation.
On May 25, 1940, the 6th and 18th armies of Army Group B, as well as two army corps of the 4th Army, launched an offensive to destroy the encircled Allied forces. A particularly difficult situation developed at the front of the Belgian army, which three days later was forced to capitulate. However, the German offensive developed very slowly.
On May 26, 1940, Hitler canceled the “stop order” for tank divisions. The ban on the use of tanks in the operation lasted only two days, but the command of the allied forces managed to take advantage of this.
On May 27, 1940, German tank forces resumed their offensive, but encountered strong resistance. The German command made a major miscalculation, missing the opportunity to advance to Dunkirk on the move until the enemy gained a foothold in this direction.
The evacuation of Allied forces (Operation Dynamo) took place from the port of Dunkirk, and partly from the unequipped coast, under the cover of the Royal Navy and Air Force.
During the period from May 26 to June 4, about 338 thousand people were taken to the British Isles, including 139 thousand British soldiers and almost the same number of French and Belgians. However, all weapons and other materiel, including 2,400 guns, 700 tanks and 130 thousand vehicles, remained on the French coast as trophies of the German army. About 40 thousand French soldiers and officers captured by the Germans remained in the encirclement area.

In the battles for the Dunkirk bridgehead, the British lost 68 thousand people and 302 aircraft. The losses of the fleet were significant: out of 693 ships and vessels that participated in the rescue of the encircled troops, 226 British and 17 French were sunk. The Germans lost 130 aircraft in the Dunkirk area.

Battle of Paris.
Immediately after the breakthrough to the English Channel, the German command began preparing the second stage of the campaign - an offensive deep into France (plan "Rot") in order to prevent French troops from gaining a foothold at the line of the Somme, Oise and Ain rivers. Even during the period of advance to Abbeville and further to the English Channel coast, part of the German forces consistently deployed to the south. Subsequently, they were strengthened by the transfer of formations from the Dunkirk area.
On the morning of June 5, 1940, troops of the right-flank Army Group B attacked French positions on a wide front. On the very first day of the offensive, they managed to cross the Somme and the Oise-Aisne canal. By the end of the fourth day of the offensive, Kleist's tank group broke through the French defenses and advanced towards Rouen.
On June 9, 1940, in the morning, the troops of Army Group A went on the offensive, which, despite the stubborn resistance of the French, by June 11 managed to break through the front on the Aisne River and reach the Marne in the Chateau-Thierry area with mobile formations.

Military operations in the French Alps(Les Alpes). ("Alpine Front")
On June 10, 1940, when it became clear that the defeat of France was inevitable, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany, intending to receive Savoy, Nice, Corsica and a number of other territories for its participation. The Italian Army Group West (22 divisions), under the command of Prince Umberto of Savoy, began military operations in the Alps on a front stretching from the Swiss border to Mediterranean Sea. She was opposed by the French Army of the Alps under General Oldry (7 divisions). While inferior to the Italians in numbers, the French occupied advantageous positions, thanks to which they were able to repel all enemy attacks. Only in the very south did Italian troops manage to make slight progress in the border zone.

Retreat beyond the Loire.
June 10, 1940 when they started fighting in the Alps, the French government of Reynaud left Paris and moved to Tours (Loire Valley) and then south to Bordeaux.
At this time, the Germans, developing an offensive in all directions, pushed back French troops to the south and southeast. Army Group B, having crossed the Seine between Rouen and Paris, divided the French left-flank group into two parts and completed the bypass of the French capital from the west. By this time, the troops of the right wing of Army Group A, developing an offensive to the south, created a threat to Paris from the east.

Having decided to surrender Paris, the French command sent directives to its three army groups, according to which, if possible, without dispersing their forces, they were to retreat beyond the line of Caen, Tours, Middle Loire, Dijon, where it was planned to form a new defense front along the natural line of the Loire River . During the ongoing retreat, individual French units and formations (such as the 4th Reserve Armored Division) still offered fierce resistance, trying to delay the enemy in rearguard battles.
On June 12, 1940, Paris was declared an "open city"
On the morning of June 14, 1940, Paris was occupied by German troops without a fight.

The last operations of German troops in France during the 1940 campaign.

Capture of Verdun(Verdun)
On June 13, 1940, continuing to develop an offensive in a southeastern direction, the troops of Army Group A occupied Montmédy and approached Verdun.
On June 14, 1940, Verdun was captured and German troops reached the rear of the Maginot Line.

At the same time, on June 14-15, the divisions of Army Group C of General von Leeb went on the offensive and managed to break through the Maginot Line, thereby completing the encirclement of the French 2nd Army Group.
On June 16, 1940, realizing that the war was finally lost, the French government of Reynaud resigned. Marshal Pétain, who headed the new cabinet, immediately asked Germany for a truce.
On June 17, 1940, French troops ceased organized resistance and began to retreat south in disarray.
On June 18, 1940, the last units of the British Expeditionary Force, as well as more than 20 thousand Polish soldiers, were evacuated from Cherbourg.
By June 21, 1940, the Germans occupied Brest, Nantes, Metz, Strasbourg, Colmar, Belfort and reached the lower Loire from Nantes to Troyes.
On June 22, 1940, in the Compiègne Forest, in the same place as in 1918, in the headquarters carriage of Marshal Foch, delivered by order of Hitler from the museum, a truce was signed.

The 1940 campaign in France was over.

Losses of the German army: 27 thousand killed, 111 thousand wounded and 18.3 thousand missing.
Allied losses amounted to 112 thousand killed, 245 thousand wounded and 1.5 million prisoners.

This was the third great victory of the Germans during World War II after the defeat of Poland and the occupation of Denmark and Norway. It was achieved thanks to the competent use by the German command of tanks and aircraft, passive defensive strategy allies and the capitulatory position of the political leadership of France.

S.I. Drobyazko,
Candidate of Historical Sciences

The 20th century in world history was marked by important discoveries in the field of technology and art, but at the same time it was the time of two World Wars, which claimed the lives of several tens of millions of people in most countries of the world. States such as the USA, USSR, Great Britain and France played a decisive role in the Victory. During World War II they won a victory over world fascism. France was forced to capitulate, but then revived and continued the fight against Germany and its allies.

France in the pre-war years

In the last pre-war years, France experienced serious economic difficulties. At that time, the Popular Front was at the helm of the state. However, after Blum's resignation, the new government was headed by Shotan. His policies began to deviate from the Popular Front program. Taxes were raised, the 40-hour workweek was abolished, and industrialists had the opportunity to increase the duration of the latter. A strike movement immediately swept across the country, however, the government sent police detachments to pacify the dissatisfied. Before World War II, France pursued an antisocial policy and every day had less and less support among the people.

By this time, the military-political bloc "Axis Berlin - Rome" had been formed. In 1938, Germany invaded Austria. Two days later her Anschluss occurred. This event dramatically changed the state of affairs in Europe. A threat loomed over the Old World, and this primarily concerned Great Britain and France. The population of France demanded that the government take decisive action against Germany, especially since the USSR also expressed such ideas, proposing to join forces and nip the growing fascism in the bud. However, the government still continued to follow the so-called. "appeasement", believing that if Germany was given everything it asked for, war could be avoided.

The authority of the Popular Front was melting before our eyes. Unable to cope with economic problems, Shotan resigned. After which Blum’s second government was installed, which lasted less than a month until his next resignation.

Daladier government

France during World War II could have appeared in a different, more attractive light, if not for some actions of the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Edouard Daladier.

The new government was formed exclusively from democratic and right-wing forces, without communists and socialists, however, Daladier needed the support of the latter two in the elections. Therefore, he designated his activities as a sequence of actions of the Popular Front, as a result he received the support of both communists and socialists. However, immediately after coming to power, everything changed dramatically.

The first steps were aimed at “improving the economy.” Taxes were raised and another devaluation was carried out, which ultimately yielded negative results. But this is not the most important thing in Daladier’s activities of that period. Foreign policy Europe was at the limit at that time - one spark, and the war would have started. France in World War II did not want to choose the side of the defeatists. There were several opinions within the country: some wanted a close union with Great Britain and the United States; others did not rule out the possibility of an alliance with the USSR; still others spoke out sharply against the Popular Front, proclaiming the slogan “Better Hitler than the Popular Front.” Separate from those listed were pro-German circles of the bourgeoisie, who believed that even if they succeeded in defeating Germany, the revolution that would come with the USSR to Western Europe would not spare anyone. They proposed to pacify Germany in every possible way, giving it freedom of action in the eastern direction.

A black spot in the history of French diplomacy

After the easy accession of Austria, Germany increases its appetite. Now she has set her sights on the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia. Hitler made it so that the region populated mainly by Germans began to fight for autonomy and actual separation from Czechoslovakia. When the government of the country categorically rebuffed the fascist antics, Hitler began to act as the savior of the “disadvantaged” Germans. He threatened the Benes government that he could send in his troops and take the region by force. In turn, France and Great Britain verbally supported Czechoslovakia, while the USSR offered real military assistance if Benes appealed to the League of Nations and officially appealed to the USSR for help. Benes could not take a step without the instructions of the French and British, who did not want to quarrel with Hitler. The international diplomatic events that followed could have greatly reduced France's losses in World War II, which was already inevitable, but history and politicians decided differently, strengthening the main fascist many times over with the military factories of Czechoslovakia.

On September 28, a conference of France, England, Italy and Germany took place in Munich. Here the fate of Czechoslovakia was decided, and neither Czechoslovakia nor the Soviet Union, which expressed a desire to help, were invited. As a result, the next day, Mussolini, Hitler, Chamberlain and Daladier signed the protocols of the Munich Agreements, according to which the Sudetenland was henceforth German territory, and areas with a predominance of Hungarians and Poles were also to be separated from Czechoslovakia and become lands of the titular countries.

Daladier and Chamberlain guaranteed the inviolability of the new borders and peace in Europe for “a whole generation” of national heroes returning to their homeland.

In principle, this was, so to speak, the first capitulation of France in World War II to the main aggressor in the entire history of mankind.

The beginning of World War II and the entry of France into it

According to the strategy of attack on Poland, early in the morning of the year Germany crossed the border. The Second has begun World War! with the support of its aviation and having numerical superiority, it immediately took the initiative into its own hands and quickly captured Polish territory.

France in World War II, as well as England, declared war on Germany only after two days of active hostilities - September 3, still dreaming of calming or “pacifying” Hitler. In principle, historians have reason to believe that if there had not been a treaty according to which the main patron of Poland after the First World War was France, which was obliged in the event of open aggression against the Poles to send in its troops and provide military support, most likely there would have been no declaration of war did not follow either two days later or later.

Strange War, or How France Fought Without Fighting

France's participation in World War II can be divided into several stages. The first is called "Strange War". It lasted about 9 months - from September 1939 to May 1940. It was named so because during the war, France and England did not carry out any military operations against Germany. That is, war was declared, but no one fought. The agreement, according to which France was obliged to organize an attack on Germany within 15 days, was not fulfilled. The German military machine calmly “dealt” with Poland, without looking back at its western borders, where only 23 divisions were concentrated against 110 French and British ones, which could dramatically change the course of events at the beginning of the war and put Germany in a difficult position, if not lead to it at all. defeat. Meanwhile, in the east, beyond Poland, Germany had no rival, it had an ally - the USSR. Stalin, without waiting for an alliance with England and France, concluded it with Germany, securing his lands for some time from the advance of the Nazis, which is quite logical. But England and France behaved rather strangely in the Second World War and specifically at its beginning.

At that time, the Soviet Union occupied the eastern part of Poland and the Baltic states and presented an ultimatum to Finland on the exchange of territories of the Karelian Peninsula. The Finns opposed this, after which the USSR started a war. France and England reacted sharply to this, preparing for war with him.

A completely strange situation has arisen: in the center of Europe, at the very border of France, there is a world aggressor threatening the whole of Europe and, first of all, France itself, and she declares war on the USSR, which simply wants to secure its borders, and offers an exchange of territories, and not treacherous takeover. This state of affairs continued until the BENELUX countries and France suffered from Germany. The period of World War II, marked by oddities, ended here, and the real war began.

At this time within the country...

Immediately after the start of the war, a state of siege was introduced in France. All strikes and demonstrations were banned, and the media were subject to strict wartime censorship. Regarding labor relations, wage was frozen at pre-war levels, strikes were banned, vacations were not provided, and the law on a 40-hour work week was repealed.

France during the Second World War pursued a fairly tough policy within the country, especially in relation to the PCF (French communist party). Communists were practically outlawed. Their mass arrests began. The deputies were stripped of their immunity and put on trial. But the apogee of the “fight against aggressors” was the document of November 18, 1939 - “Decree on Suspicious People.” According to this document, the government could imprison almost any person in a concentration camp, considering him suspicious and dangerous to the state and society. Less than two months later, more than 15,000 communists ended up in concentration camps. And in April of the following year, another decree was adopted, which equated communist activities with treason, and citizens found guilty of this were punished by death.

German invasion of France

After the defeat of Poland and Scandinavia, Germany began transferring its main forces to Western Front. By May 1940, there was no longer the advantage that countries such as England and France had. World War II was destined to move to the lands of the “peacekeepers” who wanted to appease Hitler by giving him everything he asked for.

On May 10, 1940, Germany launched its invasion of the West. In less than a month, the Wehrmacht managed to break Belgium, Holland, defeat the British Expeditionary Force, as well as the most combat-ready French forces. All of Northern France and Flanders were occupied. The morale of the French soldiers was low, while the Germans believed even more in their invincibility. The matter remained small. Fermentation began in ruling circles, as well as in the army. On June 14, Paris fell to the Nazis, and the government fled to the city of Bordeaux.

Mussolini also did not want to miss the division of spoils. And on June 10, believing that France no longer posed a threat, he invaded the territory of the state. However, the Italian troops, almost twice as numerous, were unsuccessful in the fight against the French. France managed to show what it was capable of in World War II. And even on June 21, on the eve of the signing of the surrender, 32 Italian divisions were stopped by the French. It was a complete failure for the Italians.

Surrender of France in World War II

After England, fearing that the French fleet would fall into the hands of the Germans, scuttled most of it, France broke off all diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom. On June 17, 1940, her government rejected English sentence about an unbreakable alliance and the need to continue the fight to the last.

On June 22, in the Compiegne Forest, in the carriage of Marshal Foch, an armistice was signed between France and Germany. It promised dire consequences for France, primarily economic. Two-thirds of the country became German territory, while the southern part was declared independent, but obliged to pay 400 million francs a day! Most of the raw materials and finished products went to support the German economy, and primarily the army. More than 1 million French citizens were sent as labor to Germany. The country's economy and economy suffered huge losses, which would later influence the industrial and agricultural development of France after World War II.

Vichy mode

After the capture of Northern France in the resort town of Vichy, it was decided to transfer the authoritarian supreme power in southern “independent” France into the hands of Philippe Pétain. This marked the end of the Third Republic and the creation of the Vichy government (from location). France in World War II did not show itself to be the best the best side, especially during the years of the Vichy regime.

At first, the regime found support among the population. However, this was a fascist government. Communist ideas were banned, Jews, as in all territories occupied by the Nazis, were herded into death camps. For one killed German soldier, death overtook 50-100 ordinary citizens. The Vichy government itself did not have a regular army. There were only a few armed forces necessary to maintain order and obedience, while the soldiers did not have any serious military weapons.

The regime lasted for quite a long time - from July 1940 to the end of April 1945.

Liberation of France

On June 6, 1944, one of the largest military-strategic operations began - the opening of the Second Front, which began with the landing of the Anglo-American allied forces in Normandy. Fierce fighting began on French territory for its liberation; together with the allies, the French themselves carried out actions to liberate the country as part of the Resistance movement.

France disgraced itself in World War II in two ways: firstly, by being defeated, and secondly, by collaborating with the fascists for almost 4 years. Although General de Gaulle tried his best to create the myth that the entire French people as a single whole fought for the independence of the country, not helping Germany in anything, but only weakening it with various attacks and sabotage. "Paris is liberated French hands“,” de Gaulle repeated confidently and solemnly.

The surrender of the occupation forces took place in Paris on August 25, 1944. The Vichy government then existed in exile until the end of April 1945.

After this, something unimaginable began to happen in the country. Those who were declared bandits under the Nazis, that is, partisans, and those who lived happily ever after under the Nazis came face to face. Public lynchings of Hitler's and Pétain's henchmen often took place. The Anglo-American allies, who saw this with their own eyes, did not understand what was happening and called on the French partisans to come to their senses, but they were simply furious, believing that their time had come. A large number of French women, declared fascist whores, were publicly disgraced. They were pulled out of their houses, dragged to the square, there they were shaved and walked along the central streets so that everyone could see, often while all their clothes were torn off. The first years of France after the Second World War, in short, experienced remnants of that recent, but such a sad past, when social tension and at the same time the revival of the national spirit intertwined, creating an uncertain situation.

End of the war. Results for France

The role of France in World War II was not decisive for its entire course, but there was still some contribution, and at the same time there were also negative consequences for it.

The French economy was practically destroyed. Industry, for example, provided only 38% of production from the pre-war level. About 100 thousand French did not return from the battlefields, about two million were held captive until the end of the war. Most of the military equipment was destroyed and the fleet was sunk.

French policy after World War II is associated with the name of the military and political figure Charles de Gaulle. The first post-war years were aimed at restoring the economy and social well-being of French citizens. France's losses in World War II could have been much lower, or perhaps they would not have happened at all, if on the eve of the war the governments of England and France had not tried to “pacify” Hitler, but had immediately dealt with the still fragile German forces with one harsh blow. a fascist monster that almost swallowed the whole world.

On the eve of World War II, the French army was considered one of the most powerful in the world. But in a direct clash with Germany in May 1940, the French only had enough resistance for a few weeks.

Useless superiority

By the beginning of World War II, France had the 3rd largest army in the world in terms of the number of tanks and aircraft, second only to the USSR and Germany, as well as the 4th largest navy after Britain, the USA and Japan. The total number of French troops numbered more than 2 million people.
The superiority of the French army in manpower and equipment over the Wehrmacht forces on the Western Front was undeniable. For example, the French Air Force included about 3,300 aircraft, half of which were the latest combat vehicles. The Luftwaffe could only count on 1,186 aircraft.
With the arrival of reinforcements from the British Isles - an expeditionary force of 9 divisions, as well as air units, including 1,500 combat vehicles - the advantage over the German troops became more than obvious. However, in a matter of months, not a trace remained of the former superiority of the allied forces - the well-trained and tactically superior Wehrmacht army ultimately forced France to capitulate.

The line that didn't protect

The French command assumed that the German army would act as during the First World War - that is, it would launch an attack on France from the northeast from Belgium. The entire load in this case was supposed to fall on the defensive redoubts of the Maginot Line, which France began building in 1929 and improved until 1940.

The French spent a fabulous sum on the construction of the Maginot Line, which stretches 400 km - about 3 billion francs (or 1 billion dollars). Massive fortifications included multi-level underground forts with living quarters, ventilation units and elevators, electrical and telephone exchanges, hospitals and narrow gauge railways railways. Gun casemates were supposed to be protected from aerial bombs concrete wall 4 meters thick.

The personnel of the French troops on the Maginot Line reached 300 thousand people.
According to military historians, the Maginot Line, in principle, coped with its task. There were no breakthroughs by German troops in its most fortified areas. But the German Army Group B, having bypassed the line of fortifications from the north, threw its main forces into its new sections, which were built in swampy areas, and where the construction of underground structures was difficult. There, the French were unable to hold back the onslaught of German troops.

Surrender in 10 minutes

On June 17, 1940, the first meeting of the collaborationist government of France, headed by Marshal Henri Petain, took place. It lasted only 10 minutes. During this time, the ministers unanimously voted for the decision to appeal to the German command and ask them to end the war on French territory.

For these purposes, the services of an intermediary were used. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs, P. Baudouin, through the Spanish Ambassador Lequeric, conveyed a note in which the French government asked Spain to appeal to the German leadership with a request to end hostilities in France, and also to find out the terms of the truce. At the same time, a proposal for a truce was sent to Italy through the papal nuncio. On the same day, Pétain addressed the people and the army on the radio, calling on them to “stop the fight.”

Last stronghold

When signing the armistice agreement (act of surrender) between Germany and France, Hitler looked warily at the latter's vast colonies, many of which were ready to continue resistance. This explains some of the relaxations in the agreement, in particular, the preservation of part navy France to maintain “order” in its colonies.

England was also vitally interested in the fate of the French colonies, since the threat of their capture by German forces was highly assessed. Churchill hatched plans to create an émigré government of France, which would give actual control over the French overseas possessions to Britain.
General Charles de Gaulle, who created a government in opposition to the Vichy regime, directed all his efforts towards taking possession of the colonies.

However, the administration North Africa rejected an offer to join the Free French. A completely different mood reigned in the colonies of Equatorial Africa - already in August 1940, Chad, Gabon and Cameroon joined de Gaulle, which created the conditions for the general to form a state apparatus.

Mussolini's Fury

Realizing that France's defeat by Germany was inevitable, Mussolini declared war on her on June 10, 1940. The Italian Army Group "West" of Prince Umberto of Savoy, with a force of over 300 thousand people, supported by 3 thousand guns, began an offensive in the Alps region. However, the opposing army of General Oldry successfully repelled these attacks.

By June 20, the offensive of the Italian divisions became more fierce, but they only managed to advance slightly in the Menton area. Mussolini was furious - his plans to seize a large piece of its territory by the time France surrendered failed. The Italian dictator had already begun preparing an airborne assault, but did not receive approval for this operation from the German command.
On June 22, an armistice was signed between France and Germany, and two days later France and Italy entered into the same agreement. Thus, with a “victorious embarrassment,” Italy entered the Second World War.

Victims

During the active phase of the war, which lasted from May 10 to June 21, 1940, the French army lost about 300 thousand people killed and wounded. One and a half million were captured. Tank corps and the French Air Force were partially destroyed, the other part went to the German armed forces. At the same time, Britain liquidates the French fleet to avoid it falling into the hands of the Wehrmacht.

Despite the fact that the capture of France occurred in a short time, its armed forces gave a worthy rebuff to German and Italian troops. During the month and a half of the war, the Wehrmacht lost more than 45 thousand people killed and missing, about 11 thousand were wounded.
The French victims of German aggression could not have been in vain if the French government had accepted a number of concessions put forward by Britain in exchange for the entry of the royal armed forces into the war. But France chose to capitulate.

Paris – a place of convergence

According to the armistice agreement, Germany occupied only the western coast of France and the northern regions of the country, where Paris was located. The capital was a kind of place for “French-German” rapprochement. German soldiers and Parisians lived peacefully here: they went to the movies together, visited museums, or just sat in a cafe. After the occupation, theaters also revived - their box office revenue tripled compared to the pre-war years.

Paris has quickly become cultural center occupied Europe. France lived as before, as if there had been no months of desperate resistance and unfulfilled hopes. German propaganda managed to convince many French that capitulation was not a shame for the country, but the road to a “bright future” for a renewed Europe.

German Army Group A passed through Luxembourg and southeastern Belgium and on May 13 captured bridgeheads on the west bank of the river. Meuse, north of Diana. To the south, having created a huge numerical superiority over the defending French troops, the Nazis broke through the front at Sedan. Having crossed the Meuse here, German tank divisions launched an offensive on May 18, 1940 and two days later reached the English Channel coast. A group of French, Belgian and British troops consisting of 28 divisions was cut off from the main Allied forces. Hitler set a new task: to destroy the isolated enemy troops and begin preparations for an offensive in Central France.
From May 26 to June 4, under the cover of fire from warships and aircraft, the Allied forces, waging fierce rearguard battles, carried out the evacuation. 338 thousand soldiers and officers of the Anglo-French troops were taken to the British Isles from Dunkirk. 40 thousand French soldiers and officers were captured. All the material of the British Expeditionary Force went to the enemy.
On June 5, the German command began to implement a plan for an attack on the central regions of France, codenamed “Rot” (“Red”).
On June 13, Wehrmacht troops, after crossing the Seine west of Paris, continued to pursue the French army. At this time, some French divisions consisted of no more than a few hundred people. Communication with them was broken. The movement of troop columns continued to be hampered by streams of refugees coming from Paris, Northern France and Belgium.
On June 14, German troops entered Paris (where they remained for 4 years). On the same day, the German command ordered to continue the pursuit of the retreating French in three directions.
On the night of 16–17 June, the government cabinet of Reine fell and was replaced by the government of Pétain, whose first step was to ask for a truce. On June 17, Pétain appealed to the French people on the radio to stop resistance. This appeal completely broke the will of the French army to fight. The next day, two tank divisions of General Hoth easily occupied the city. Cherbourg and Brest on the West Coast and then continued south.
Since June 10, the French had been at war with Italy, and another battle, the Franco-Italian one, was already underway on the South-Eastern Front. There, the French Army of the Alps, despite its small numbers, wrote an outstanding chapter in history. When announcing the start of the war, Mussolini stated that he intended to “liberate” Savoy, Nice, Corsica and other territories. However, the Italian armies, deployed along the border of the Alps, delayed their offensive until the Germans reached the river valley. Rona. On June 11, the French General Orly put into action a very spectacular plan to destroy the passes in the mountain passes, which made it extremely difficult for the Italians to advance in the border zone and supply their troops.

By June 21, the Italians had achieved some partial successes in the border zone. At the reached lines, the Italian army waited for a truce. All French defensive positions - from Switzerland to the sea - remained untouched until the end of the fighting.
Military backwardness, the leadership’s conviction in the impregnability of the Maginot Line, and neglect of modern achievements of military science were important reasons which led France to defeat.
Colonel of the French army A. Goutard stated: “In 1940, French soldiers, insufficiently armed, poorly used tactically in accordance with outdated instructions of 1918, unsuccessfully deployed strategically and led by commanders who did not believe in victory, were defeated at the very beginning of the battle.” .
At the height of the fighting, some leaders were ready to surrender, despite the fact that the French command had the ability to resist Nazi troops. The French Communist Party called for decisive resistance. The unity of all national forces in the fight against the threat of fascist enslavement could save France. However, forces came to power in the country that capitulated to Hitler.
On June 22, 1940, an armistice agreement was signed in Compiegne. It took place in a white saloon carriage, in which 22 years ago French Marshal F. Foch dictated the terms of the truce to defeated Germany. Almost the entire command of the Third Reich arrived at the signing ceremony led by Hitler. The terms of surrender were harsher than those imposed on Germany in 1918.
After the capitulation, France was divided into two zones: occupied (northern France and Paris) and unoccupied (southern France, where Pétain’s puppet collaborationist1 government operated). Italy was given part of South-Eastern France. The armed forces, with the exception of those necessary to maintain order in unoccupied territory, were subject to disarmament and demobilization. The Pétain government was obliged to pay for the maintenance of German troops on its territory.
France agreed to hand over all political emigrants to Germany and return prisoners of war. Despite the fact that the Wehrmacht lost more than 156 thousand people in the military campaign against France, a pompous military parade took place in Berlin. Hitler awarded the rank of field marshal to twenty generals.

Part 7

BY THE POWER OF WEAPONS

Chapter 21

Having secured his northern flank, Hitler again turned his attention to the West. He did not like the original plan of attack, which was a variation of the plan used in the First World War, namely an attack through Northern France and Belgium.

"This old plan Schlieffen,” he told Keitel and Jodl, “proposes a protracted war,” and he, the Fuehrer, swore that he would never allow the present generation to suffer as the Germans suffered in Flanders a quarter of a century ago. Hitler planned a bold attack southward through the Ardennes, with a sudden armored breakthrough at Sedan and a rush to the English Channel. The main forces would then turn north - in contrast to the Schlieffen plan - to strike in the rear of the retreating Anglo-French army. In the evenings he sat over a special relief map and checked his plan.

Perhaps the most brilliant Wehrmacht strategist, Colonel General Fritz Erich von Manstein, worked in the same direction. He presented his plan to Brauchitsch, but he rejected it, considering it too risky. The Fuhrer heard about this and invited Manstein to his place. To the general's surprise, Hitler was delighted with his strategic ideas. This plan not only confirmed the Fuhrer’s own plan, but also contained a number of significant additions. The High Command liked Hitler's revised plan no more than Manstein's version. The military objected unanimously, but the Führer brushed them aside, calling opponents “Schlieffen fans” stuck in a “stuck” strategy.

The Hitler-Manstein Plan was formally adopted at the end of February, and immediately after the end of the Battle of Norway, 136 divisions were transferred to the Western Front, ready for battle. We were just waiting for good weather. Hitler set the invasion date for May 5th, then moved it to the 7th, then to the 8th. Goering asked for even more time, but alarming information was received from Holland: officers' vacations were canceled, the population was being evacuated from border areas, and road barriers appeared. An agitated Hitler agreed to another postponement until May 10, “but not a day later.” “Keeping two million men at the front ready to attack,” he said, “is becoming increasingly difficult.”

He decided to act without waiting for stable weather - waiting for it was worth three months of delay. He relied entirely on intuition that had proven itself in the past. On the morning of May 9, the corps commander in the Aachen area reported thick fog, which, according to the forecast, was expected to clear soon. Hitler ordered his train to be prepared and kept the purpose and location of the trip strictly secret, hiding them even from his own retinue. The train stopped near Hanover, where the last weather report was to be received. Chief Meteorologist Dising - who was later awarded a gold watch - predicted for tomorrow good weather. Hitler confirmed the order to attack and went to bed early.

However, more unpredictable than the weather was his own intelligence service. Of the few to whom the Fuhrer entrusted information about the start of the offensive, Admiral Canaris was the one who informed his assistant Oster about this. After lunch, he stopped by the OKB headquarters and learned that there would be no reprieve. “The pig is going to the Western Front,” he told the Dutch attache, who informed his Belgian colleague about this, and then gave an encrypted telephone message to The Hague: “Tomorrow at dawn. Hold on!”

At 4.25 in the morning on May 10, the Fuhrer's train arrived at its destination station - the town of Euskirchen near the border with Belgium and Holland, and Hitler went to his new headquarters "Felsennest" ("Mountain Nest"). It was getting light. Looking at his watch, Hitler was unpleasantly surprised: dawn came fifteen minutes earlier than expected.

And forty kilometers to the west, his troops rushed forward across the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg borders. The sky darkened from Luftwaffe bombers: for air attack 2,500 aircraft were assembled - much more than the Allies. Wave after wave, they flew west to bomb more than seventy enemy airfields. Airborne troops captured key points in Holland, and gliders were launched to surprise Belgian fortresses. The Fuhrer was especially interested in Fort Eben-Emel. He personally gave instructions to the participants in the glider operation and looked forward to information from the combat area. By noon on May 11, this supposedly impregnable fortress and the bridge over the Meuse River were in German hands. Upon learning of this, Hitler was overjoyed. Later, even more important information arrived: the enemy was striking back. “When I received the report that the enemy was advancing along the entire front,” Hitler recalled, “I was ready to cry with joy. They've fallen into a trap! They believed that we remained faithful to the old Schlieffen plan."

On May 10, England and France were taken by surprise: their general staffs ignored warnings from Brussels and The Hague and reports from their own intelligence services. Back in 1938, the English Intelligence Service bought the secret of a German encryption machine called Enigma (“Riddle”) from a Polish mathematician. He was paid 10 thousand pounds, given an English passport and allowed to live with his wife in France. He reproduced drawings of the main parts of the machine and, in his Paris apartment, assembled a working model of the Enigma, which was installed in the Bletchley Park mansion, sixty kilometers north of London. When England declared war in 1939, the machine, codenamed Ultra, was already operational. This made it possible to warn the British General Staff about Hitler's plan to invade the West.

Chamberlain resigned and proposed to appoint Halifax as Prime Minister. But it was clear that only Churchill enjoyed the country's confidence, and soon the king invited him to the palace. Hitler considered Churchill his worst enemy, a tool of the English Jews who disrupted the Anglo-German alliance. This hatred of Churchill was somehow strangely combined with the admiration that the Fuhrer felt for Stalin.

While German troops and tanks were advancing deep into Holland and Belgium, Goebbels was rapidly spinning the wheel of his propaganda machine. At a meeting of his ministry staff on May 11, he said that it is necessary to refute everything that is incorrect in the enemy’s materials or “even what is true, but dangerous for us. There is no need to check whether the facts are true or not - the main thing is that they are useful to us." Even more important is to repeat and repeat to the French and British that their governments are to blame for everything: “They brought the war upon themselves and are the aggressors.”

The offensive in Western Belgium was most successful. This maneuver diverted the enemy's attention from the main attack through the Ardennes. By May 13, troops in this direction had crossed the Meuse River in several places and approached Sedan, where Hitler hoped to break through the weak link in the fortified Maginot Line.

Along with the successful advance in the north, the advancing German units met stubborn resistance from Dutch troops. On the morning of May 14, the Fuhrer gave the order to overcome this resistance. Luftwaffe planes took off from Belgian airfields and dropped 98 tons of bombs on Rotterdam. Bombs hit the city center, killing 814 civilians. In the democratic press, the facts were presented in an exaggerated form: the number of killed increased to 30 thousand. Western newspapers also failed to report that the tacit agreement of both sides to limit bombing sites to military purposes was violated for the first time by the British. Three days before this event, despite the objections of the French, 35 British bombers raided an industrial city in the Rhineland. The raid killed four civilians, including one Englishwoman. Despite Hitler's terrible retribution in Holland, he rejected proposals to bomb London itself. The Nazi dictator did not yet dare to go that far.

The Rotterdam tragedy broke the resistance of the Dutch. A few hours later, the commander-in-chief of the Dutch armed forces ordered the laying down of arms. On the same day, German tanks broke through the French defenses in the Sedan area. Supported by dive bombers, three long columns of tanks moved towards the English Channel.

The next morning, Churchill was awakened by a telephone call from Paris. “We are defeated!” said Prime Minister Reynaud. Churchill couldn't believe it. His generals could not imagine this either: France is not Poland, there was nothing there to hold back the German tanks, but the French had a powerful line of defense!..

The horror that gripped France was fueled by Goebbels. On May 17, he told his employees: “From now on, the task of the secret radio station is to use all means to create panic in France. It is necessary to hint at the danger of the “fifth column”, which includes all German refugees. It must be argued that in the current situation, even Jews from Germany are simply German agents.”

On the morning of this day, Hitler left for the Ardennes. “The whole world is looking at us!” he declared triumphantly. The Führer visited the headquarters of the army group led by General Gerd von Rundstedt to discuss the progress of the advance to the English Channel.

Germany rejoiced. Even those who were afraid that the Fuhrer had started an overly risky game believed in Hitler’s infallibility...

By the morning of May 19, several armored divisions were already eighty kilometers from the English Channel, and in the evening of the next day the 2nd Division entered Abbeville at the mouth of the Somme. The trap slammed shut, and the Belgians, the entire English expeditionary force and three French armies were caught in its gigantic net. When Brauchitsch informed the Fuhrer, Hitler was so delighted that he was almost speechless.

The situation turned out the way he wanted. Three days later, German tanks turned north towards the ports of Calais and Dunkirk, the capture of which deprived the British of the opportunity to evacuate. Hearing this message, Goering slammed his heavy fist onto the table with all his might. “This is great work for the Luftwaffe!” he exclaimed. - I must talk to the Fuhrer. Connect me with him! He assured Hitler that the Luftwaffe was capable of destroying an enemy trapped in a trap without the participation of ground forces. The only thing the Reichsmarschall asked was to withdraw the German tanks so as not to hit their own. Hitler gave Goering his consent to attack the enemy from the air.

“We have achieved our goal!” Goering said to Milch with satisfaction, returning to Air Force headquarters. “We will finish off the British on the beaches.” I persuaded the Fuhrer to stop the army." But Milch did not share his enthusiasm and objected that the bombs would bury too deep in the sand before exploding. In addition, the Luftwaffe is not ready for such a responsible operation. “Leave it to me,” Goering snapped. – The army always wants to fight like a gentleman. These land rats are going to take the English prisoners alive and unharmed. But the Fuhrer will teach them a lesson they are unlikely to forget."

On the morning of May 24, Hitler went to the headquarters of the army group under the command of Rundstedt. In high spirits, the Fuhrer predicted that the war would end in six weeks, after which the way to an agreement with the British would open. All Germany needs from them is recognition of its dominant position on the continent. Rundstedt did not object to the use of aviation to completely defeat the enemy at Dunkirk. He proposed stopping the tanks south of the besieged city. Hitler agreed, noting that the tanks should be saved for operations against the French. At 12.45, on behalf of the Fuhrer, the order was given to the 4th Army to stop the offensive.

In the evening, four armored divisions were stopped at a minor water barrier. The tankers were at a loss. There was no fire on them; quiet Dunkirk was visible ahead. Have they gone crazy at headquarters? The division commanders knew that they could take Dunkirk without too much trouble, since the British were still embroiled in heavy fighting at Lille. Why are they not allowed to capture this last port from which the enemy can flee?

They repeated their request to send tanks and infantry to Dunkirk, but Hitler did not want to hear about it. Only on May 26, after receiving a report of a large concentration of ships in the English Channel (are the British really preparing to evacuate their troops?), the Fuhrer reluctantly agreed to advance to Dunkirk from the west. But that same day Goering assured him that the Luftwaffe had destroyed Dunkirk harbor.

With English and other allied forces caught in the cauldron, a strange flotilla rushed from English ports to the continental coast. It contained almost 900 vessels: warships and sailing ships, boats, pleasure yachts with crews of sailors and water sports enthusiasts. Thus began Operation Dynamo to evacuate 45 thousand besieged soldiers of the English Expeditionary Force in two days. A motley group of amateurs and professionals coped with the task brilliantly. By 30 May, 126,606 people had returned to England.

When the German command finally realized the scale of the evacuation, massive bombing began. But the fog that fell on Dunkirk and German airfields came to the aid of the British.

The dive bombers of the 8th Air Corps did not cause damage to the flotilla of small ships, and the bombs dropped on the beaches were buried so deep in the sand before exploding that the damaging effect was small. The Germans were also surprised by the new British Spitfire fighters, which inflicted great damage on Goering's fighters.

Strangely, the English evacuation did not seem to alarm Hitler very much. At the meetings these days, it was not he who showed nervousness, but the generals. Usually in such cases the Fuhrer pounded the table with his fist, threatened, called for urgent measures, but now he was surprisingly calm...

The precarious line of defense at Dunkirk held out until June 4, but by this time a third of a million English and Allied soldiers had been transported to England. On both sides of the English Channel there were speculations about strange behavior Hitler. Why did he give Goering permission to bomb the encircled army, and then actually facilitate its escape? Hitler admitted to Bormann that he had deliberately spared the British. “Churchill,” he complained, “was unable to appreciate my gentlemanly gesture. I didn’t want to deepen the gap between us and the British.”

The military did not really believe this version. “The fact that the Fuhrer deliberately allowed the British to escape is a fairy tale,” Puttkamer, one of Hitler’s adjutants, later claimed. Other people close to Hitler, on the contrary, were sure that he had respect for England and therefore felt sorry for the British. The Fuhrer, for example, told Frau Troost, the wife of his old architect friend: “The blood of every Englishman is too valuable to be shed. Our two peoples are traditionally and racially very similar. Bringing them closer has always been my goal, even if our generals cannot understand it.” Competent foreign observers consider this theory plausible. For example, the former French ambassador to Germany, François-Poncet, was convinced that Hitler did not really want a war with England, he only wanted to neutralize a powerful rival.

This may be why Hitler sent Unity Mitford home on a special train via Zurich. He admitted to his adjutant Engel that he deeply regretted her fate: “She was confused - and this was precisely at the moment when for the first time I could have used our acquaintance.” The former journalist returned to her homeland, which greeted the favorite of the Nazi dictator with hostility. Her sister's husband, Oswald Mosley, was jailed along with other leaders of the British Union of Fascists three days after Hitler invaded Belgium. This was despite the fact that Mosley urged his Blackshirts to remain loyal to their homeland. His position consisted in the words: “I will fight until the end of my life for the friendship of England with Germany and the prevention of war between them. But the moment war is declared, I will go to fight for my country.” On the orders of her relative, the Prime Minister, Lady Diana Mosley soon followed her husband to prison, although she had two young children in her arms: the eldest was only one and a half years old, and the youngest was not even three months old. By law, the mother could only take one child with her, but she did not want to separate them. The prisoners were placed in a damp cell without even a bed. When Mosley became seriously ill three years later, he and his wife were released from custody. And Unity Mitford died eight years later in a state of deep depression.