Western Europe · 10 May 1940 – 25 Jun 1940
Battle of France
Germany invaded the Low Countries and France on 10 May 1940. Armoured spearheads severed Allied armies in the north, forced the Dunkirk evacuation, and overran mainland France, concluding with an armistice on 22 June.
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On 10 May 1940, German forces executed Fall Gelb, invading the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Allied supreme commander Maurice Gamelin ordered the French First Army Group and the British Expeditionary Force to advance into central Belgium under the Dyle Plan to meet Army Group B. This advance engaged Allied mobile reserves in the north, while the primary German operational thrust developed through the Ardennes forest with Army Group A under Gerd von Rundstedt.
Between 12 and 14 May, Heinz Guderian's XIX Panzer Corps and Georg-Hans Reinhardt's XLI Panzer Corps crossed the Meuse River near Sedan and Monthermé, while Hermann Hoth's XV Panzer Corps breached French defenses at Dinant. Supported by close air support from Luftwaffe Stuka dive-bombers, German motorized forces shattered the defending French Ninth and Second Armies. French armored reserves attempted fragmented counterattacks at Flavion and Stonne, but failed to seal the expanding bridgeheads.
From 16 May, German motorized divisions drove west across northern France toward the English Channel. Moving along the Somme valley, XIX Panzer Corps reached Noyelles-sur-Mer and Abbeville on 20 May, cutting off the British Expeditionary Force, the Belgian Army, and three French armies in Flanders from their supply depots and the French interior. Maxime Weygand relieved Gamelin on 20 May and attempted coordinated counterthrusts toward Arras and Cambrai, but Allied communication breakdowns and heavy air interdiction thwarted the effort.
The encirclement collapsed inward toward the port of Dunkirk. King Leopold III signed the Belgian surrender on 28 May. British and French commanders established a defensive perimeter around Dunkirk, held primarily by French 16th Corps and British rearguards, while Operation Dynamo evacuated 338,226 Allied personnel to Britain by 4 June. The French First Army rearguard held out at Lille until 31 May, diverting significant German pressure from the perimeter.
On 5 June, the German Wehrmacht launched Fall Rot against the Weygand Line along the Somme and Aisne rivers. Outnumbered and lacking air cover and mobile reserves, French armies were split apart by Panzer Group Guderian and Panzer Group Kleist. Paris, declared an open city, fell on 14 June. German spearheads crossed the Loire River and reached the Swiss frontier, encircling French garrison troops in the Maginot Line fortifications. Marshal Philippe Pétain took office on 16 June and sought an armistice, which was signed at Compiègne on 22 June and took effect on 25 June.