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On May 10,
German armed forces began their offensive against France itself. The
French had only 60 divisions, and the French general Weygand termed
their deployment “a line of troops without depth or
organization.”
Artillery
shelling and air cover helped the German army to breach the
ostensibly impermeable Maginot defense line. The Wehrmacht routed
the French army within a few days; the 37 French divisions were
defeated or surrendered en masse. The government fled from Paris to
Bordeaux; German forces marched into Paris. The next day, June 14,
French military forces began to retreat from the Maginot Line.
Columns of refugees attempting to escape the conquering German army
were savaged by Luftwaffe bombing raids on the roads.
France
surrendered to Nazi Germany on June 22. The armistice agreement,
tailored to Hitler’s terms, was signed in the same railroad car in
which Germany had surrendered to France 22 years previously. Hitler
personally witnessed the humiliation of the French. For him and the
Germans, it was sweet revenge. Marshal Pétain blamed his
country’s stinging defeat on “too few children, too few
armaments, too few allies.” Hitler now expected the conflict to
end quickly: “The British have lost the war, but they do not know
it. Give them time and they will realize it.”
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