German occupation of France in World War II

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Location of Vichy France (green). The red represents German occupied France (extended to Vichy France in November 1942), and the blue the Alsace-Lorraine region annexed by the Third Reich.

German signs of occupied Paris

The German occupation of France in World War II occurred during the period between May of 1940 to December of 1944. As a result of the disastrous defeat of the Allied armies in the Battle of France, the French Cabinet sought a cessation of hostilities. The armistice was signed 22 June 1940 at Compiègne. Under its terms the north and west of France were occupied by the German Army, the remaining one third of the country was ruled by a French government located at Vichy.

[edit] The Drive Through the Ardennes

Despite France being one of the worlds strongest military powers Germany managed to successfully invade and occupy France. Germany's generals saw the weak points in their line, the French generals did not place many troops near the Belgian border expecting the main attack to come over the German border. The Germans were about to perform the most decisive and crushing attack in the entire battle of France, the push through the Ardennes. The Germans encountered little resistance in the Ardennes crushing the obstacles that the French Generals thought to be impassable. On the 13th of May German soldiers paddled across the Meuse in rubber dinghies at the same time 300 twin engined bombers and 200 Junkers 87 Stukas pulverised French defenses. The German combat engineers quickly built a bridge for the panzer divisions to cross over. All of the Fench counter-attacks were demolished as they were too small and too late.

When the Allies invaded North Africa 8 November 1942, the Germans and Italians immediately occupied the remaining free part of France. The liberation of France began on June 6, 1944 with the Allied forces landing on D-Day and the Battle of Normandy and ended in December. Paris itself was liberated 25 August 1944.