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Guard (Vichy France) Scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon. Service du travail obligatoire - the provision of French citizens as forced labour in Germany. Axis occupation of France: German occupation of France during World War II - 1940–1944 in the northern zones, and 1942–1944 in the southern zone. The Holocaust in France.
The Battle of France (French: bataille de France; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (German: Westfeldzug), the French Campaign (Frankreichfeldzug, campagne de France) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and France.
Maurice Gustave Gamelin (French pronunciation: [mɔʁis ɡystav ɡamlɛ̃]; 20 September 1872 [1] – 18 April 1958 [2]) was a French general.He is remembered for his disastrous command (until 17 May 1940) of the French military during the Battle of France in World War II and his steadfast defence of republican values.
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle [a] [b] (22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France.
Vichy France (French: Régime de Vichy, lit. 'Vichy regime'; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State (État français), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established after the French capitulation after the defeat against Germany.
France had lots of armed forces in World War II, in part due to the German occupation. In 1940, General Maurice Gamelin commanded the French Army, headquartered in Vincennes on the outskirts of Paris. It consisted of 117 divisions, with 94 committed to the northeastern front and a commander, General Alphonse Georges, at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre.
The southern part of France, except for the western half of Aquitaine along the Atlantic coast, became the zone libre ("free zone"), where the Vichy regime remained sovereign as an independent state, though under heavy German influence due to the restrictions of the Armistice (including a heavy tribute) and economic dependency on Germany.
Army Group A (Generaloberst Gerd von Rundstedt) defeated the French at the Battle of Sedan from 12 to 15 May and crossed the Meuse. A French counter-attack at the Battle of Montcornet on 17 May by the 4e Division Cuirassée (4e DCr, Colonel Charles de Gaulle), from Montcornet to the south, was defeated by an improvised defence and the 10th Panzer Division, which was rushed forward on the ...