KEY FIGURES OF 12 WORLD WAR I THE WA R DURING 1940 Early in April Germany invaded Denmark and Nor way Denmark accepted the protection that Germany offered the two countries Norway how ever declared war British troops landed in Norway but they were unable to stop the German advance In May the Brit ish forces were evacuated On June 9 Norway fell IN VASION OF THE LOW COUNTRIES On May 10 German forces invaded Belgium the Netherlands and Luxembourg Luxembourg was occupied without resistance Belgium and the Netherlands declared war In Britain Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill replaced him as prime minister The Allies sent troops into the Low Countries but by May 14 the Dutch army had to give up the fight The Netherlands was quickly brought under the rule of German occupation forces On May 13 German armored forces broke through Allied lines in the lightly defended Ardennes Forest of southern Belgium Their columns drove through to the English Channel cutting off British and French troops in northern France and Belgium King Leopold of Belgium surrendered his army on May 28 The Allies had no choice but to escape by sea evacu ating 360 000 soldiers from Dunkirk France between May 29 and June
IN British and other Allied troops wade through the water to board ships at Dunkirk France in 1940 About 198 000 British and 140 000 French and Belgian troops were saved during the
KEY FIGURES OF 14 WORLD WAR I THE FALL OF FRANCE The Battle of France began on June 5 The Germans attacked along a 100 mile 160 kilometer front from near Laon to the English Channel They smashed through the French forces and headed for Paris The French army fell apart At this point Italy declared war on Britain and France The French government fled Paris The Germans occupied the city on June 14 The French cabinet defeatist and deeply divided asked for an armistice Marshal Philippe Pétain the 84 year old hero of World War I became premier More than half of France was now occupied by German troops Pétain built a fascist state with head quarters at Vichy in the unoccupied part of France The Vichy government worked with the Germans This was called collaboration Some of the French fighting forces escaped to Britain Called the Free French they carried on the fight against Germany under the leadership of the French general Charles de Gaulle French partisans also known as the Resistance secretly supported the Free French in France THE BATTLE BRITAIN OF Hitler expected that the fall of France would cause Britain to surrender However the British were deter mined to fight on Starting in August 1940 the Germans launched mass air attacks against England Almost daily hundreds of German planes swarmed
A national hero for his victory at the Battle of Verdun in World War Philippe Pétain became discredited as chief of state of the French government at Vichy in World War
