Battle of France
▶ Explore on the map
The Battle of France (10 May – 25 June 1940), also called the Fall of France, was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and France during the Second World War. After France and Britain declared war on Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, the French army began the limited Saar Offensive but withdrew by mid-October. On 10 May 1940, Wehrmacht armies invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and parts of France. In Fall Gelb (Case Yellow), German armoured units advanced through the Ardennes, crossed the Meuse and raced down the Somme valley, cutting off and surrounding Allied units that had advanced into Belgium. British, Belgian and French forces were pushed back to the sea, where Operation Dynamo evacuated encircled elements of the British Expeditionary Force and French and Belgian armies from Dunkirk. German forces began Fall Rot (Case Red) on 5 June 1940. The remaining Allied divisions, sixty French and two British, made a stand on the Somme and Aisne rivers but were defeated by German air superiority and armoured mobility. Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and began the Italian invasion of France. German armies outflanked the Maginot Line and occupied Paris unopposed on 14 June. On 22 June 1940, the Second Armistice at Compiègne was signed by France and Germany. The Vichy government led by Marshal Philippe Pétain replaced the Third Republic, and German military occupation began along the French North Sea and Atlantic coasts. After the armistice, Italy occupied a small area in south-east France; the Vichy regime retained the zone libre.