1940 in France

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See also: 1939 in France, other events of 1940, 1941 in France.

Events from the year 1940 in France.

1 Events
2 Sport
3 Births
4 Deaths
5 References

[edit] Events

21 March - Édouard Daladier resigns as Prime Minister. He is replaced by Paul Reynaud.
10 May - Battle of France begins - German forces invade Low Countries.
13 May - German armies open 60-mile wide breach in Maginot Line at Sedan.
18 May - Marshal Henri Petain named vice-premier of France.
19 May - General Maxime Weygand replaces Maurice Gamelin as commander-in-chief of all French forces.
20 May - German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reach the English Channel.
26 May - Dunkirk evacuation of British Expeditionary Force starts.
3 June - Paris is bombed by the Luftwaffe for the first time.
4 June - Dunkirk evacuation ends - British forces complete evacuating 300,000 troops.
10 June - Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
10 June - French government flees to Tours.
12 June - 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux.
13 June - Paris is declared an open city.
14 June - French government flees to Bordeaux.
14 June - Paris falls under German occupation.
15 June - Verdun falls to German forces.
17 June - Philippe Petain becomes Prime Minister and immediately asks Germany for peace terms.
17 June - Operation Ariel begins - Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
17 June - Luftwaffe Junkers 88 bomber sinks British ship RMS Lancastria, that was evacuating troops from near Saint-Nazaire, France. Death toll is over 2500. Wartime censorship prevents the story going public.
18 June - General Charles de Gaulle broadcasts from London, calling on all French people to continue the fight against Nazi Germany: "France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war."
21 June - Vichy France and Germany sign armistice at Compiegne in the same wagon-lit railroad car used by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to accept the surrender of Germany in 1918.
23 June - Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris.^[1]
24 June - Vichy France signs armistice terms with Italy.
28 June - General Charles DeGaulle is officially recognized by Britain as "Leader of all Free Frenchmen, wherever they may be."
3 July - British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the Algerian ports of Oran and Mers-el-Kebir.
4 July - Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain.
10 July - Vichy France begins with a constitutional law where only 80 members of the parliament voted against.
12 September - Lascaux: 17,000-year-old cave paintings are discovered by a group of young Frenchmen hiking through Southern France. The paintings depict animals and date to the Stone Age.