The Fall of France
...al was so low that one French officer said that he had more respect for the German officers then he did for his own French officers.7 The center of the French army’s defense had been broken, their moral completely destroyed, and all of their reserves were gone. The fall of France and German occupation of the country was inevitable. The French army’s greatest failure during the German invasion was that they had no plan of attack or method of defending themselves against the German army’s attacks. They were unorganized, untrained, and without leadership. In fact, during the course of the German advance, the French leader, Petain ordered the general of the French army not to put up any “resistance” and to maintain a “stationary war” if the Germans attacked them.8 Who ever heard of an army being ordered not to defend themselves against their enemies? In addition to the French army’s lack of leadership and low moral, their weapons were old and rusty. According to a French author, their “short coming in their equipment, morale, and command” contributed to their defeat.9 Being ordered not to fire on the Germans as they were advancing was probably their biggest mistake. One historian said “the failure of 1940 was above all the failure of military planning.”10 However, lack of military planning is the direct result of poor leadership. Without strong leaders training them, they did not stand a chance against the well organized and trained German army. 4 Another historian believes “poor training and leadership” was the actual cause of the fall of France.11 Whether it was poor leadership, training, weapons, or all three that resulted in the French army’s failure to defend themselves against the Germans, the French thought the Germans were going to approach them through Belgium. This strategical error in the French army’s expectations led them to put their best qualified fighting men in the wrong area for battle. That left the French reserve units to defend the line against the Germans in the heavier battles. The reserve units had “poor unit cohesion, inexperience leadership, and inadequate training.”12 Then they thought the Germans would not come through the Ardennes because they would have to cross a river to get through the forest but they were wrong again. The German army plowed through the forest with their tanks. Their biggest misconception was thinking that the German army would attack Paris first. As a result, the French used two thirds of their army to protect the route to Paris enabling the German army take control of Dinant, Sedan, and Dunkirk. In a last ditch effort to save themselves, the French troops “blew the bridges at Dinant” but again miscalculated the German army’s ability.13 The Germans simply built bridges and made it to Dinant with their tanks. They used “drive-bombers with light bombs” to leave “Sedan in flames” before moving on to Dunkirk.14 The French army tried to create an offensive to get rid 5 of the pressure the Germans were putting on Dunkirk, but it failed. About six to ten million people ended up fleeing Dunkirk to go south before the Germans took control of the area. The “lory-borne infantry and motor-cyclist” impact of the German military left the French incapable of any offensive move which made them an “inefficient tool” in battle.15 The battles cost the French troops sixty divisions of men and left them sitting ducks for the Germans. They were outflanked to the right by the Germans, cut off from getting anymore French troops, and the panzer divisions were coming in from their back. One French officer said “the startling defeat of the French army has stunned our staff officers.”16 The French government met to decide whether they should keep fighting a losing battle or allow France to fall into the hands of the Germans. They were worried about what would happen to their government if they fell under German occupation. Petain had tried to establish a new Vichy government in the “free zone” to protect the French people’s freedom but it failed.17 Most French people believed France should sign a cease fire so that peace could be restored because they had already paid too high a price for it. Petain gave a speech on the radio saying “the fight must stop” to protect France from any more loss, preserve what is left of its military, and maintain a French government.18 6 The decision to sign a cease fire was not a very difficult one for the many of the young people in France. Jeanette Brunod, my great-grandmother’s sister, said she was only twenty-one years old when the Germans came to occupy Paris. My great-grandfather and her husband were drafted the year before into the French army to fight the occupation of the Germans. Her father led the exodus of my family to the “free zone” in Orleans when President Petain formed the new Vichy government.19 They could only bring the clothes they had on their backs and had to travel in a small truck with Livestock so that they would have food to eat on the journey. The pigs and chickens smelled and her daughter was only two years old. My grand-mother was four years old and still remembers the experience. Two days after arriving in Orleans, they heard that the Germans had just crossed the La Roi River and were heading towards the “free zone” in Orleans.20 That is when they decided that they would rather be home under the occupation of Germany than in Orleans under the new French government that was destined to fall soon. They returned to Paris and prayed that Petain would agree to sign a cease fire. Although they knew that they would be under German occupation, they did not care because they just wanted to raise their family in peace as did most French people at the time. The underground movement to save their freedom was not worth the price they felt they were paying by up...