Battle of France
| Battle of France | |||||||||
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| Part of the Western Front of World War II | |||||||||
 Clockwise from top left: German Panzer IV tanks passing through a town in France; German soldiers marching past the Arc de Triomphe after the surrender of Paris, 14 June 1940; column of French Renault R35 tanks at Sedan, Ardennes; British and French prisoners at Veules-les-Roses; French soldiers on review within the Maginot Line fortifications. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Germany Italy (from 10 June)
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 Belgium United Kingdom Canada Netherlands Luxembourg Poland Czechoslovakia
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Walther von Brauchitsch Gerd von Rundstedt Fedor von Bock Wilhelm von Leeb Albert Kesselring Hugo Sperrle Erwin Rommel Heinz Guderian Umberto di Savoia
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 Maurice Gamelin (until 17 May) Alphonse Georges (until 17 May) Maxime Weygand (from 17 May) Leopold III (POW) Lord Gort Henri Winkelman (POW) Władysław Sikorski Jan Kratochvíl
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| Units involved | |||||||||
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Axis armies
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Allied armies
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| Strength | |||||||||
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Germany: 141 divisions 7,378 guns 2,445 tanks 5,638 aircraft 3,350,000 troops Alps on 20 June 300,000 Italians |
Allies: 144 divisions 13,974 guns 3,383 tanks 2,935 aircraft 3,300,000 troops Alps on 20 June ~150,000 French |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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Germany: Total: 163,676 casualties |
360,000 dead or wounded, 1,900,000 captured (after the armistice) 2,233 aircraft lost Total: 360,000 casualties |
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Germany:
27,074 dead 111,034 wounded, 18,384 missing, 1,129 aircrew killed (c. 27,000 dead)
1,236 aircraft lost
795 tanks destroyed 157,621 total casualties
Italy: 6,055
The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940 during the Second World War. In six weeks from 10 May 1940, German forces defeated Allied forces by mobile operations and conquered France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, bringing land operations on the Western Front to an end until 6 June 1944. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France.
The German plan for the invasion of France consisted of two main operations. In Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes and then along the Somme valley, cutting off and surrounding the Allied units that had advanced into Belgium, to meet the expected German invasion. When British, Belgian and French forces were pushed back to the sea by the mobile and well-organised German operation, the British evacuated the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and several French divisions from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo.
After the withdrawal of the BEF, the German forces began Fall Rot (Case Red) on 5 June. The sixty remaining French divisions made a determined resistance but were unable to overcome the German air superiority and armoured mobility. German tanks outflanked the Maginot Line and pushed deep into France. German forces occupied Paris unopposed on 14 June after a chaotic period of flight of the French government that led to a collapse of the French army. German commanders met with French officials on 18 June with the goal of forcing the new French government to accept an armistice that amounted to surrender.
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Wikipedia