Battle o Fraunce

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Battle o Fraunce
Pairt o the Wastren Front o the Seicont Warld War
Date10 Mey – 22 Juin 1940 (1-month, an 12 days)
LocationFraunce, Law Kintras
Result Decisive Axis victory
Replacement o French Third Republic bi Vichy Fraunce
Belligerents
Allies:
France
 Belgium
 Unitit Kinrick
 Netherlands
 Canadae
Poland
Czechoslovakie
 Luxembourg
Axis:
 Germany
 Italy (frae 10 Juin)
Commanders an leaders
Maurice Gamelin (till 17 Mey)
Alphonse Georges (till 17 Mey)
Maxime Weygand (frae 17 Mey)
Leopold III  (POW)
Lord Gort
Henri Winkelman  (POW)
Gerd von Rundstedt
Heinz Guderian
Fedor von Bock
Wilhelm von Leeb
Erich von Manstein
Erwin Rommel
Hermann Hoth
H.R.H. Umberto di Savoia
Units involved
Strenth
Allies: 144 diveesions[1]
13,974 guns[1]
3,383 tanks[1]
2,935 aircraft[2]
3,300,000 truips
Alps on 20 Juin
~150,000 French
Germany: 141 diveesions[1]
7,378 guns[1]
2,445 tanks[1]
5,638 aircraft[3][4]
3,350,000 truips
Alps on 20 June
300,000 Italians
Casualties an losses
360,000 deid or woondit,
1,900,000 captured
2,233 aircraft[5]

Tot: 2,260,000 casualties

Germany: 157,621 casualties[nb 1]
1,236[6]-1,345[10] aircraft destroyed
323[6]-488 aircraft damaged[10]
795 tanks destroyed[11]
Italy: 6,029[nb 2]


Tot: 163,650 casualties

In the Seicond Warld War, the Battle o Fraunce, kent as the Faw o Fraunce an aw, wis the successfu German invasion o Fraunce an the Law Kintras, beginnin on 10 Mey 1940, defeatin primarily French forces. The battle consistit o twa main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb (Case Yellae), German airmoured units pushed throu the Ardennes tae cut aff an surroond the Allied units that haed advanced intae Belgium. When Breetish an adjacent French forces wur pushed back tae the sea bi the heichly mobile an well organised German operation, the Breetish govrenment decidit tae evacuate the Breetish Expeditionary Force (BEF) as well as several French diveesions at Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo.

Efter the widrawal o the BEF, Germany launched a seicont operation, Fall Rot (Case Reid), which wis commenced on 5 Juin. While the depletit French forces put up stiff initial resistance, German air superiority an airmoured mobility owerwhelmed the remainin French forces. German airmour ootflanked the Maginot Line an pushed deep intae Fraunce wi German forces arrivin in an undefendit Paris on 14 Juin. This caused a chaotic period o flicht for the French govrenment an effectively endit organized French militar resistance. German commanders finally met wi French offeecials on Juin 18 wi the goal o the new French govrenment bein an airmistice wi Germany. Chief amang the new govrenment leaders wis Marshal Philippe Pétain recently made Premiere o Fraunce an ane o the supporters o seekin an airmistice wi Germany.

On 22 Juin, an airmistice wis signed atween Fraunce an Germany, which resulted in a diveesion o Fraunce whaurbi Germany wad occupy the north an wast (an keep nearly twa million French soldiers as prisoners in Germany an aw), Italy wad control a smaa Italian occupation zone in the sootheast, an an unoccupied zone, the zone libre, wad be govrened bi the newly fairmed Vichy govrenment led bi Marshal Pétain. Fraunce remained unner Axis occupation till the liberation o the kintra efter the Allied landins in 1944.

Notes[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. 27,074 dead (The final count of the German dead is possibly as high as 49,000 men when including the losses suffered by the Kriegsmarine, because of additional non-combat causes, the wounded who died of their injuries, and the missing who were confirmed as dead.[6] However this higher figure has not been used in the overall casualty figure), 111,034 wounded, 18,384 missing,[6][7][8] as well as 1,129 aircrew killed[9]
  2. 1,247 dead or missing, 2,631 wounded, and 2,151 hospitalised due to frostbite[citation needit]; Italian forces were involved in fighting in the French Alps, where severe sub-zero temperatures are common even during the summer.

References[eedit | eedit soorce]

  1. a b c d e f Maier and Falla 1991, p. 279.
  2. Hooton 2007, p. 47–48: Hooton uses the National Archives in London for RAF records. Including "Air 24/679 Operational Record Book: The RAF in France 1939–1940", "Air 22/32 Air Ministry Daily Strength Returns", "Air 24/21 Advanced Air Striking Force Operations Record" and "Air 24/507 Fighter Command Operations Record". For the Armee de l'Air Hooton uses "Service Historique de Armee de l'Air (SHAA), Vincennes".
  3. Hooton 2007, pp. 47–48: Hooton uses the Bundesarchiv, Militärarchiv in Freiburg.
  4. Luftwaffe strength included gliders and transports used in the assaults on the Netherlands and Belgium.
  5. Hooton 2007, p. 90.
  6. a b c d Frieser (1995), p. 400
  7. L'Histoire, No. 352, April 2010 France 1940: Autopsie d'une défaite, p. 59.
  8. Shepperd (1990), p. 88
  9. Hooton 2010, p. 73.
  10. a b Murray 1983, p. 40.
  11. Healy 2007, p. 85.