80 years ago, on June 14, 1940, German troops entered Paris without a fight. As a result of the successful offensive of the Wehrmacht, the main forces of the French army were defeated, fled or surrendered.
Operation "Mouth" ("Red Plan")
After the end of the fighting in the Dunkirk area, the German High Command embarked on the second phase of the Battle of France. Directive of the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) No. 13 of 23 May 1940 determined the concept and the main stages of the operation. On May 31, the High Command of the Ground Forces (OKH) sent a plan for Operation Rot to the troops. The Germans planned to break through the remaining enemy forces in France with a swift offensive, break through the front, hastily created by the French south of the Somme and Aisne rivers, with a quick breakthrough into the depths, prevent them from retreating into the depths and create a new line of defense.
At the first stage of the operation, the right flank of the German army advanced from the coast to the Oise; on the second, the main forces struck between Paris and the Ardennes (the area in northeastern France, not far from its border with Belgium, is distinguished by high hills and dense forest) to the southeast, in order to defeat the French grouping in the triangle of Paris, Metz and Belfort, and on the Maginot line. The third stage - auxiliary operations with the aim of mastering the Maginot Line.
The Germans regrouped their troops. Army Group "B" under the command of Bock in the 4th, 6th and 9th armies (48 divisions, including 6 tank and 4 motorized, 2 motorized brigades) took up positions from the coast along the Somme, the Oise-Aisne Canal to the river Ena. Boca's armies were to make a breakthrough to the southwest from the Somme line, take Le Havre and Rouen. With the left flank, reach the Soissons, Compiegne area, ensuring the actions of the main forces. Mobile connections were to play an important role. Gotha's 15th Panzer Corps from the Abbeville area was supposed to go to the mouth of the Seine. Panzer group Kleist (16th Panzer and 14th Motorized Corps) was to attack east of Paris and capture bridgeheads on the Marne.
Army Group "A" under the command of Rundstedt in the 2nd, 12th and 16th armies (45 divisions, including 4 tank and 2 motorized) was located on the river. Aisne and further east to Luxembourg. The Germans were supposed to attack in the Rheims direction, go to Bar-le-Duc, Saint-Dizier. To strengthen the attacking capabilities of Rundstedt's troops, Guderian's Panzer Group (39th and 41st Panzer Corps) was formed. German mobile units were to go to the rear of the Maginot Line.
Army Group C under the command of Leeb in the 1st and 7th armies (20 infantry and 4 fortress divisions) occupied positions on the Siegfried line and along the Rhine in readiness to seize the French fortified line. The 18th Army (4 divisions) was left in the Dunkirk area, providing defense of the coast. At the same time, the 18th Army played the role of a reserve, it was planned to enter the battle in the course of the development of the offensive. Also, 19 infantry divisions remained in the reserve of the main command.
French defense
After crushing defeats in Belgium and Flanders, the French were stunned, demoralized and severely weakened. 71 divisions remained under the command of Weygand. Affected by the relaxation of France during the "strange war". The French military-political leadership did not form strategic reserves in case of failures, did not carry out a total mobilization of the country, population and economy. At the same time, mainly second-rate divisions remained, the best ones fell into a trap in Belgium and Northern France and were defeated. Many of the remaining units were weakened in battles, had a large shortage of personnel, weapons and equipment. The soldiers lost heart. Four tank divisions had 50-80 vehicles each. From the troops that were able to evacuate from Dunkirk, reduced divisions were formed.
On a 400-kilometer front, from the mouth of the Somme to the Maginot Line, the French deployed two army groups (49 divisions in total). General Besson's 3rd Army Group, consisting of the 10th, 7th and 6th armies, occupied positions from the coast to Neuchâtel. The Army Group consisted of two British divisions under General Brooke: the 51st Scottish, transferred from the Maginot Line, and the 1st Armored Division, which arrived from England. Positions on the Somme were weak. Attempts by the allies to eliminate enemy bridgeheads in the area of Abbeville, Amiens and Peronne were unsuccessful.
General Hüntziger's 4th Army Group, consisting of the 4th and 2nd Armies, took up defenses from Neuchâtel to the Maginot Line. General Pretel's 2nd Army Group, consisting of the 3rd, 5th and 8th Armies, defended the Maginot Line. Only 17 divisions remained in the 2nd Army Group. Despite the losses, the French still had a large air force fleet. However, the command was unable to organize and use all the aircraft in battles. In particular, a significant aviation group remained in North Africa. The British also did not begin to transfer aircraft to France, obviously assuming the imminent collapse of the ally and the need to defend the British Isles from the air.
Course to surrender
On May 25, the French commander-in-chief Weygand outlined a defense plan at a meeting of the military committee. It was planned to meet the enemy on the borders of the Somme and Aisne, covering the capital and the central part of the country. The command gave instructions to create defensive lines, strongholds in which the troops were to hold even in the event of an encirclement. That is, the French plan was a continuation of the old: a solid front line, stubborn and tough defense. No ideas, decisive action, if the enemy breaks through the line of defense, were not proposed.
True, the stubborn defense of the army made sense if total mobilization began at the same time in the rear. The government and the military will call on the people to defend the country and will hold major mobilization measures. France, even in the conditions of the catastrophe, had more human and material resources than the Third Reich. If the French leadership could drag out the war, then Germany would have had a bad time. In particular, the occupation of all of France would require enormous efforts from the Reich, the presence of a huge contingent of troops to control the hostile territory. However, French politicians and the military did not want total war and mobilization, a life-and-death confrontation. When large cities become a battlefield, they bind the forces of the enemy, but lead to numerous casualties and material losses.
Weygand's plan did not provide for the mobilization of the people to fight the enemy. There was no action plan in case the government left the mother country for the colony to continue the struggle. And France had a huge colonial empire with large resources, a fleet that ruled out the possibility of a quick victory for Germany if the war continued. And the protraction of the war put an end to all Hitler's plans, leading in the end to an internal crisis and defeat. France had everything to continue the war. Human and material resources of the colonies. Representatives of the civil and military administration in the colonies in North Africa, the Levant (Syria and Lebanon), in French Equatorial and West Africa reported to the government about the possibility of continuing the struggle. Only in North Africa there were 10 divisions, they could become the nucleus of a new army. The presence of a large fleet made it possible to take part of the troops, 500 thousand reservists and weapons from the metropolis to North Africa. There was a gold reserve exported from the French bank to the USA, Canada and Martinique. Gold could be used to pay for weapons, ammunition and ammunition. Contracts have already been signed for the supply of weapons from the United States. There was a strong ally Britain, with the world colonial empire.
However, the French government and generals did not timely prepare plans on the prospects for the struggle with Germany, and Weygand rejected all proposals to continue the war outside the territory of the metropolis. Weygand himself did not believe in the possibility of a long defense on the Somme and Aisne, and thought of surrender. "But since he did not want to take responsibility for it, his actions boiled down to persuading the government to surrender," General de Gaulle noted in his memoirs. Weygand and Marshal Pétain (member of the Reynaud government) began to pursue a line of surrender. They gained significant weight in government. True, General de Gaulle, an ardent champion of the struggle to the end, was appointed to the post of Deputy Minister of Defense in the government. But he had recently been promoted to the rank of brigadier general and had no significant influence in the French military-political elite.
The collapse of the defense on the Somme
On the morning of June 5, 1940, German aircraft launched a series of powerful strikes against the enemy's defenses. Then the troops of Army Group B moved into a general offensive. Goth's tanks attacked from the bridgehead at Abbeville, Kleist's group operated from the bridgehead at Amiens and Perron. Gotha's divisions advanced 10 km on the very first day and on June 6 hacked into the defense of the 10th French army of Altmeyer. The Nazis, repelling the counterattacks of the British Panzer Division, cut through the French army. The left flank was blocked by the sea, the right wing of the 10th Army was retreating to the Seine. On June 8, German tanks were on the outskirts of Rouen. Pinned to the sea, the Anglo-French troops surrendered in a few days.
Kleist's troops could not immediately break the resistance of the 7th French army of General Frere. The French fought back stubbornly. However, the breakthrough of Gotha's tanks in the Rouen direction eased the position of the 6th German Army of Reichenau. The French resistance weakened and the Nazis reached Compiegne. The troops of the 9th German army crossed the Aisne at Soissons and pressed the left wing of the 6th French army of Touchon. As a result, under the onslaught of the enemy, the French defense on the Somme collapsed. The French command began hastily to create a new line of defense from the mouth of the Seine to Pontoise on the river. Oise, then through Senlis to the border of the r. Urk. Northwest of the capital, the Parisian army was hastily advanced, created on the basis of the Parisian garrison and some parts of the 7th and 10th armies.
On June 9, Army Group A went over to the offensive. On the very first day, the Germans crossed the Aisne and created a bridgehead in the Rethel area. Guderian's tanks were thrown into battle. The German mobile unit entered the operational space and rushed south, bypassing the Maginot Line. The French tried to counterstrike with the forces of reserve divisions, but the Germans easily parried and continued the offensive.
Germans in Paris
On June 10, Italy entered the war against France (As the Duce tried to capture the southern part of France). However, despite the large numerical superiority of the French over the Alpine army, the Italian troops could not create a serious threat to the enemy. On the same day, the French government fled from Paris to Tours, then to Bordeaux, essentially losing control of the country.
On June 11, the Allied Supreme Council was held in Briar. The British understood that the French were inclined to surrender. Churchill tried to prolong the resistance of the French army. He promised to land additional forces on the mainland, supported the hopes of the French for help from the United States, talked about the possibility of developing a guerrilla war. However, he refused to increase the number of British aircraft that took part in the Battle of France. Weygand in his report outlined a hopeless military-strategic situation. He reported the loss of control, the lack of reserves, the impossibility of continuing the fight if the new line of defense collapsed.
On June 12-13, a meeting of the French government took place in Canges near Tours. The main question was the possibility of concluding a truce with Hitler. Weygand openly demanded surrender. He stated that the continuation of the war would lead the country to riots and revolution (the ghost of the Paris Commune). The commander-in-chief lied that the communists had already started an uprising in Paris. Pétain's Lion of Verdun also argued that surrender was necessary. At the same time, he demanded that the government remain in France. The defeatists did not want some members of the government and parliament to flee to the colonies, where they could create a new center of resistance.
Meanwhile, the front fell apart. The French were unable to organize a new strong line of defense. On June 12, the Nazis crossed the Seine. In the east, south of the border of the river. The Marne Germans reached Montmiraya. Guderian's tanks rushed uncontrollably southward. The organized resistance of the French army was broken. With the consent of the government, Weygand declared the capital an open city and surrendered without a fight. On the morning of June 14, the Nazis entered Paris. The huge city was almost empty, most of the population fled. Millions of French people flocked to southern France.
