Mallory Riggins Don McDowell December 2, 2013 508 words The Fall of France When Adolf Hitler came

to power in Germany, Winston Churchill remarked, thank God for the French Army. To him, France seemed like a strong force that could possibly defeat or contain the Nazi forces. The take down of France in only six weeks remains one of the most shocking military campaigns in the world. To understand why this overtake went the way it did, we must first look back to World War I. The French suffered massive casualties in this war. The French lost a large portion of their population in an effort to protect their frontier with Germany. This large loss of life by the French greatly impacted the way they handled WWII. The start of the attack in WWII was May 10, 1940. Germany started air raids in Belgium and Holland. With many of the Allies fighting in Belgium, there was little to stop the German forces as they started across the English Channel. The Germans launched a major attach on Paris on June 9th and by June 13th Paris was considered an open city because the French government had fled to Bordeaux. The first German troupes entered France the next day, just a little more than a month after the campaign began. There were some random breakouts of fighting, but the end came on June 22nd when France surrendered. The country was humiliated.

Not until D-Day on June 6, 1944 did the British army return to France. The collapse of France was sudden and unexpected. Some resistance groups formed, but risked the attack of their families and their communities. France was split, with one side being run by Marshal Philippe Petain. He was a WWI veteran and had a capital in Vichy in central France. While this was happening, de Gaulle formed and army and a government in exile in Britain. The French societies that were created during this arrangement are thought not to be healed even to this day. The French defeat can be linked to many factors. Some say it was their large amount of loss from WWI, others say it was the fact that the German forces were just so powerful. Some historians have linked the defeat to low-morale and divided pre-war society. After their attack on France, the Nazis gambled with their risky blitzkrieg approach. Their attempt to invade Russia ultimately failed and led to their demise. The French history leading up to WWII is long and rich. People often call the French cowards, but I think they valued the life of their sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers much more than the opinions of other countries. There will always be disagreement on whether or not the French made the right choice, but I think they did. There was not enough allied forces to even try to fight back against the very strong Nazi regime. It was a loose-loose situation for the French.

Work Cited

Sheffield, Gary. "The Fall of France." BBC News. BBC, 30 Mar. 2011. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.