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Why France Surrendered in WWII

On February 6, 1934, tens of thousands of fascist armed thugs held a demonstration in Paris against the Stavsky corruption case and rushed to the Palais Bourbon, the parliament building. The Daladier government was forced to resign, and the republic once again faced a crisis.

On September 1, 1939, the German army invaded Poland, and France implemented a national mobilization. On September 3, France declared war on Germany, but France was losing ground.

The Battle of France, from May 10, 1940 to June 24, 1940, was an offensive campaign by the Germans against the British and French Allied forces for the occupation of France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg during World War II. On May 10, 1940, the German army began to attack and the Dutch army surrendered. Crossed the Meuse with air support and began to expand from the Dinant and Sedan areas to the mouth of the Somme.

On the 14th, they occupied Sedan and Dinant and broke through the defenses of the French 9th and 2nd armies, advancing to the English Channel. The British cabinet ordered the implementation of the “dynamo” plan to organize the retreat of Dunkirk.

On May 28, 1940, Belgium surrendered. The French resistance was disorganized. The German tank corps advanced rapidly towards the French interior. Marshal Pétain, who led the new government, requested a truce from the German Armed Forces High Command. The French government announced a cessation of resistance. The Compiègne Armistice was signed, agreeing to Germany’s occupation of northern France and the Atlantic coast, and announced its withdrawal from the war and the disarming of the French fleet.

The French and Italian governments signed an armistice agreement. According to the agreement, German and Italian troops occupied most of France, and the French government was responsible for their food and wages. A complete ceasefire in France.

In June 1940, after Petain formed a cabinet, he surrendered to Germany, and the French Third Republic fell . A puppet government established in July in Vichy, central France.

Germany occupied northern France and the entire Atlantic coast in order to fight against Britain. French North Africa and French West Africa and French Indochina and other overseas colonies and territories also remained under the leadership of the Vichy government. Although the Vichy government succumbed to Nazi Germany, it did not join the Axis powers as requested by Germany, nor did it declare war on Britain.

After the Pétain government announced its surrender, on June 18, 1940, French generals led by General Charles de Gaulle, deputy minister of defense in the cabinet, called on the BBC to continue to resist German aggression, and the “Free French Movement” began.

“Free France” is the French government in exile in England . Although the French mainland surrendered, France’s basic strength elsewhere remained. It is in urgent need of war against Germany and is regarded as the legitimate government and ally of France by allies such as the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the German-occupied areas of France, there are two major resistance systems: the underground resistance organization of the “Free French Movement” supported by Britain and the United States, and the guerrilla organization of the “French National United Liberation Front” headed by the French Communist Party.

France has been fighting against Germany in Africa (such as Chad, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, etc.), and has been fighting against Japan in Asia (such as French India and Indochina). These French overseas colonies have reached more than 20. In nearly 20 million square kilometers of land, the resistance forces still participate in or support the combat missions of the allies in various ways.

In 1942, when Britain and the United States landed in Algiers, the French North African colonial authorities and troops fell to the Allies and participated in the Tunisian campaign. Shortly afterward, French West Africa also turned to the Allies.

In 1944, the Free French Army participated in the Normandy landings, and the French 2nd Armoured Division took the lead in entering Paris under the support of the British and American troops.

In September 1944, the Vichy government moved to Germany. Roosevelt decided to recognize France as an allied country fighting together, and divided an area for France from the original German-American occupation. France miraculously changed from a defeated country to one of the five victorious countries .

The Vichy government disintegrated in August 1944 under attack by the French Resistance and Allied forces.

From the collapse of the Third Republic to the establishment of the Fourth Republic, it experienced the battle against German and Italian fascism and the struggle to formulate a new constitution.

The resistance movement led by General Charles de Gaulle developed rapidly. In June 1944, a provisional government was established to unite domestic and colonial anti-fascist forces to continue the war of resistance. With the cooperation of the Allied countries and the resistance movement led by the French Communist Party , Paris was recovered on August 25, 1944, and then National Restoration.