June 22, 1940 | Hitler Gains Victory Over France
By THE LEARNING NETWORK
Source: National Archives and Records AdministrationA Frenchman wept as German soldiers marched into Paris on June 14, 1940.Historic Headlines
Learn about key events in history and their connections to today.
On June 22, 1940, Germany and France signed an armistice in the forest of Compiègne. The treaty provided that hostilities between the two nations would end six hours after the signing of an armistice treaty between France and Italy, Germany’s axis partner. According to the New York Times article, “such procedure, it is predicted, will end the war on the Continent early in the coming week.”
Nazi Germany had invaded Poland in September 1939, starting World War II, and then set its sights on Western Europe. After World War I, France built concrete fortifications along its German border, known as the Maginot Line, to defend against German invasion.
Gen Erich von Manstein of Germany developed a plan to enter France through its much less defended Belgian border, using the overwhelming power of its forces to sweep through Belgium before France could prepare itself.
On June 5, Nazi forces entered France along the Somme River and began a move south toward Paris, reaching the capital on June 14. The French government had abandoned the city, and the Nazis marched through the streets at Parisians watched in shock and sadness.
On June 17, in the southern city of Bordeaux, what remained of the French government decided to seek an armistice. Adolf Hitler insisted on the armistice being signed in the Compiegne Forest, where, in a railroad dining car, 22 years earlier Germany had been forced to sign the armistice ending World War I. The Nazis removed the rail car from a local museum and transported it to the site of the 1918 armistice for the signing on June 22.
On June 6, 1944, “D-Day,” Allied forces invaded German-occupied France at Normandy and began the process of liberating the country. On Aug. 25, 1944, Allied forces joined with the French Resistance to liberate Paris.
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