Thông tin tài liệu
FALL GELB (May 10–June 22, 1940) air forces pushed away from forward air bases along the German frontier, German bombers struck at strategic targets well behind the front line in early June They bombed Paris for the first time, along with Marseilles and other cities Like the earlier German bombing of Rotterdam, these attacks were most important for their psychological effect: they persuaded the French not to defend Paris or other cities, but to declare them “open cities” instead But they also helped persuade the RAF and the British government to reduce operational targeting limits on bombing German cities in the Ruhr Meanwhile, the French Army and government fell apart French leaders were asked directly by Churchill if they intended to continue to fight from the overseas empire Of special interest to the British prime minister was the fate of the major warships of the Marine Nationale: would they evacuate to ports in the French empire beyond German reach, surrender, or be scuttled? Weygand advised that the land battle for France was over, but the naval question in the air General Alan Brooke convinced Churchill to pull out the last BEF troops, just as Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding had persuaded the prime minister not to send any more RAF fighter squadrons to France: they were needed to defend Britain itself against Axis invasion The evacuation was organized from Cherbourg; it rescued 156,000 British, Canadian, and Polish troops, some of whom had just been landed in France On June 16, Marshal Philippe Pétain, hero of Verdun and savior of France and its Army in 1916, was recalled from his ambassadorship in Madrid to replace Paul Reynaud as leader of the French government Pétain’s deep pessimism during the last years of the Great War had long since morphed into outright defeatism Defeat was in fact confronting France In the name of saving the Army and ending suffering of the French people, Pétain asked for an armistice Hitler accepted the French request to prevent last-ditch resistance, departure for overseas bases by the great warships of the Marine Nationale (which he greatly coveted), or long-term resistance by French overseas garrisons Hitler especially needed to deny French warships to the British, as he was still contemplating a cross-Channel invasion of Britain He forced the French and Italians to agree to a second armistice, telling Mussolini to accept limited territorial and other gains in exchange for a minimal Italian effort and achievement The document of formal surrender to Germany was signed at Compiègne on June 22, in the same railway carriage where German representatives signed the Armistice of November 11, 1918 The car had been preserved as part of a monument to France’s victory in the Great War, a confl ict in which Hitler served for four years as a trench runner and soldier He attended the signing but said nothing He sat briefly where Maréchal Ferdinand Foch had sat in 1918, then abruptly left once the document was signed Hitler made his only visit to Paris the next day, touring the center of the city with his architect, Albert Speer Afterward, Hitler had the Compiègne monument blown apart The surrender carriage was taken to Berlin as a trophy, but was later destroyed during an Allied air raid The armistices with Germany and Italy both came into effect on June 24–25 Total German losses in the seven-week FALL GELB campaign were 50,000 killed and wounded Over the course of the battle the BEF lost 64,000 military vehicles, 2,500 guns, 931 aircraft, and 67,000 men killed, wounded, or captured 366
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