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(peal of bells)
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(narrator) Forlorn monsters today.
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In May 1940,
these forts of the Maginot line
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were France's first-line defence
against the Germans.
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Half a million French soldiers
lurked beneath these man-made hills.
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These were the most extensive,
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the most elaborate forts
ever constructed.
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Here the guns would halt the Hun—
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provided the Hun came this way.
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“Thank God for the French army,”
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said Winston Churchill
when Hitler came to power.
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But in 1933
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the French army was no longer
the superlative weapon it once had been.
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French military manuals
devoted page after page
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to the tactics of the First War,
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although Hitler had said, “The next war
will be very different from the last.”
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The French had helped introduce
the tank and the aeroplane,
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but now did little to extend their use.
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They had pioneered motor transport
in warfare,
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but went back now
to relying on railways and the horse—
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especially the horse.
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(man) It was a period
of very deep decay,
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probably caused by the excess of effort
during the First World War.
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We suffered from an illness
which is not peculiar to the French—
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the illness of having been victorious
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and believing that we were right
and very clever.
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Victory is a very dangerous
opportunity.
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(chanting in French)
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(narrator) France between the wars
was deeply divided.
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Factions clashed, alliances altered,
cabinets came and went in the cascade,
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some lasting a few hours,
some a few months.
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Rarely did one last a whole year.
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On the very day Hitler came to power
France was without a government.
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It was again without one when he
marched into Austria five years later.
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The Left in France
was concerned more
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with hounding rogues
in high places at home,
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than curbing fascism elsewhere.
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The Right so hated the Left
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it was prepared to countenance
dictatorship.
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As early as 1934
the victor of Verdun, Marshal Pétain,
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was proposed as France's saviour
from communism,
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although he was then nearly 80.
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These deep divisions
were to fetter France
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when she faced the need to re-arm.
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The whole of the possessing classes,
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the Right if you like,
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preferred the idea of the Germans
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to their own communists.
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You didn't have to walk round
these streets
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and see “pour qui et pourquoi”
written on them,
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or the hammer and sickle, to realise
nobody was going to lift a finger.
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(narrator) France in the '30s
built a series of great forts
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along her frontier with Germany,
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and because her war minister
then happened to be one André Maginot,
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these forts came to be known
as the Maginot line.
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The Maginot forts
were truly 20th-century wonders.
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Electric trains took the troops
from barracks to gun turret,
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from arsenal to canteen.
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There were cinemas underground,
sun-ray rooms, air conditioning,
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the lot.
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Theirs was a vast
Jules Verne type of world
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hundreds of feet below ground.
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They called it The Shield of France.
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The Maginot line failed to protect
all of France's eastern flank.
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It was only 87 miles long
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and it stopped 250 miles
short of the Channel.
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Should the alarm
ever have to sound in grim earnest,
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French strategists argued that
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their troops would need to confront the
Germans on Belgian, if not German, soil.
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Besides, to extend the Maginot line
along the Belgian frontier
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would not only be expensive,
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but would make the Belgians think that
if war came, France would forsake them.
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The folly of this thinking
was shown up in 1936
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when, without consulting the French,
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the Belgian King Leopold
opted for neutrality
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and closed his borders,
even to French military observers.
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All too late France began extending
the Maginot line to the sea.
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But by May 1940
it was far from finished.
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(shouting in French)
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France had suffered a terrible
loss of life in the Great War.
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Now French military thinking
became wholly defensive,
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forgetting Napoleon's favourite maxim:
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“The side that stays
within its fortifications is beaten.”
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Since the French spurned any notion
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of taking the offensive,
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the Maginot line ironically protected
Germany better than it protected France.
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A German colonel, Heinz Guderian,
the year the Maginot line was completed,
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published a book with a prophetic title:
Achtung Panzer.
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A book never properly studied by
the French or English general staff,
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yet these pages expound
a new kind of warfare—
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the concentrated use of tanks with
infantry and air force in close support:
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Blitzkrieg.
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We had had tanks
in the First World War,
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we knew all the difficulties
of the game,
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while the Germans,
who didn't have them,
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had the feeling of those
who are attacked by tanks.
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And while we considered
that the tanks were a little awkward
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and difficult to use,
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the Germans jumped at the new weapons
with the appetite of the new rich.
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(narrator) Paris, July 14th, 1939.
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The last Bastille Day parade
of the Third Republic.
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A few days earlier, Britain's
war minister, visiting Paris, had said,
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“France has the greatest army
in the world.”
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Like the parade itself, such statements
were meant merely to raise morale.
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Parisians had hardly got back
from their holidays
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before they found themselves
once more at war
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with their traditional foe.
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But whereas in 1914
the cry had been “On to Berlin”,
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this time it was
“Let's get it over with.”
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Ironically, French mobilisation
was too efficient.
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The call-up of skilled technicians
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brought many vital war industries
almost to a halt.
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It was only after weeks of confusion
that these men were released.
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Nor was France going to war united.
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The bitternesses of French politics
continued.
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Ministers looked to their own futures
instead of their country's
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and many took their cue
from such leadership.
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Paris didn't alter much with
the coming of war, save in appearance.
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The most popular song that autumn of
1939 was Paris Will Always Be Paris.
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(Maurice Chevalier)
♪ As a precaution, we put
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♪ Cross bars on our windows
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♪ Turn our storefronts blue
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♪ And even the tires of our cars
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♪ Remove canvas from all our museums
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♪ Shake up the Champs-Elysées
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♪ Swaddle with clay
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♪ All the beauties of our statues
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♪ Veil the street lights in the evening
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♪ Diving into the dark
the City of Light
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♪ Paris will always be Paris
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♪ The most beautiful city in the world
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♪ Despite the deep darkness
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♪ Its brilliance cannot be dimmed
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♪ Paris will always be Paris
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♪ The more you reduce your lighting
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♪ The more we see his courage shine,
his good humor and his spirit
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♪ Paris will always be Paris
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(narrator) While their Polish allies
were routed in the East,
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the French, like the British,
did little in the West.
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There was the so-called
Sarre offensive—
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the only French offensive,
in fact, of the war.
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A few French divisions
advanced five miles,
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but they didn't even try
to penetrate the Siegfried line,
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at that time still unfinished.
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And while Poland fought on,
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there were no German tanks at all
on the Western Front.
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The newsreel commentators of the day,
though, didn't doubt the French resolve.
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(newsreel) We read the communiqués
from the French High Command.
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This is the living story
behind those brief, unvarnished reports.
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Our cameramen in the advanced
lines on German territory
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watch observation posts
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at the bridge over the Rhine
between Kehl and Strasbourg.
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This was a German railway station,
now in the hands of French troops.
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From fortified outposts
the vigilant watch is never relaxed.
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The Maginot line, built as
the first line of defence for France,
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has become the second line
behind the attack.
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The gradual but steady advance
of French troops
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has brought their camouflaged artillery
in range of the Siegfried outposts.
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There is no haste,
only a grim, relentless pressure
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on the Nazi emplacements.
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Metre by metre the poilus
are moving forward.
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If the French army would have attacked
at the beginning of September
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with their very strong superiority
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in division, in armoured cars—
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we lacked all armoured cars
on the Western Front at that time—
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in artillery and air force,
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the German forces
on the so-called Western Front
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could stand no more
than one or two weeks.
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(narrator) Before Poland surrendered,
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the French commander ordered
his men back behind the Maginot line—
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a withdrawal the Germans
did nothing to prevent.
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One Frenchman wrote at the time,
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“After the prologue
of the phoney offensive,
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we were ripe for the phoney war.”
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(Charles Trenet)
♪ The wind in the woods goes hoo-hoo
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♪ The doe at bay makes mê-ê-ê
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♪ Broken dishes make
fric-fric-frac
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♪ And wet feet
font cop-flic-flac
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♪ But… boom!
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♪ When our heart goes boom
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♪ Everything with him says boom
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♪ The bird says boom, it's a storm
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♪ Brrrrr!
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♪ Boom! The lightning that goes boom
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♪ And the good Lord says boom…
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(narrator) For several minutes each day
the Maginot guns boomed out,
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usually to impress visitors
such as the Duke of Windsor.
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♪ And if it goes boom,
if he gets angry
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♪ He brings with him wonders
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♪ Boom!
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♪ The whole world goes boom
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♪ Everything with him says boom
when our heart goes boom-boom…
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(narrator) Little attempt was made
to harass the enemy.
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Even bombing the Ruhr
was forbidden
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00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,880
in case the Luftwaffe retaliated
against French factories.
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Journalists were taken up to the lines
to see the inactivity.
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I stayed at an observation post
on the Rhine
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watching the Germans washing,
playing football,
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and I said to the sentry,
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“Why don't you shoot them?
Why don't you shoot at them?”
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00:15:29,440 --> 00:15:31,680
“No,” he said,
“They're behaving all right.”
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“They don't shoot at us,
why should we shoot at them?”
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♪ Boum! Le monde entier fait boum
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♪ Tout avec lui dit boum
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♪ Quand notre coeur
fait boum-boum-boum
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♪ Fait boum-boum
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♪ Brrrrr! Boum!
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(narrator) Life at the front
was dreary and drab.
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Badly paid, leave became an obsession
for the French soldier
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and was used mainly
to make a little on the side.
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00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:24,000
The winter of 1939
was the coldest for half a century.
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Even the Channel froze at Boulogne.
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00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,440
The French halted work
on the Maginot extension.
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00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:36,240
The Germans, however,
forged ahead with their plans.
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00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,360
As winter wore on, French morale sank.
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00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:45,080
Discipline deteriorated
and drunkenness became rife.
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Special rooms were set aside
in railway stations
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where men could recover
before rejoining their units.
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00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:02,520
Few French generals ever bothered to
inspect, let alone meet, their troops,
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00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,800
but then their commander-in-chief,
General Gamelin,
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rarely set foot
outside his headquarters.
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Already 68 at the beginning of 1940,
his military record was so impeccable
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that no one dreamed of asking him
to make way for a younger man.
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(Beaufre) Gamelin was very clever,
but with no guts at all,
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and he was liked by the politicians
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00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:27,560
because he was an easy
commander-in-chief.
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(narrator) Gamelin chose for his
headquarters this château at Vincennes,
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00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:34,720
just outside Paris.
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00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:39,040
(Beaufre) That choice reveals
what the man was, you know.
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The enemy were not the Germans.
It was the French government.
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(narrator) Vincennes
was where England's Henry V died
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00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,840
and where the spy Mata Hari
was executed.
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00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:58,720
It was described by one visitor as
“a submarine without a periscope”.
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00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,880
Almost unbelievably,
it had no radio communications,
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00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,560
it was not linked by teleprinter with
any other headquarters in the field.
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00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:11,240
Instead, messages were dispatched
regularly on the hour by motorcycle.
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00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:15,840
Gamelin seldom bothered his staff
with orders,
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00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:18,720
preferring simply to suggest guidelines.
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00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:26,840
His long-term strategy was to wait
until the Allies could match the Germans
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00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:30,400
in numbers and equipment
before launching any major offensive,
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00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,800
even though that would mean
waiting until 1941.
242
00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:38,200
Meanwhile, he was concerned
to keep the war away from French soil—
243
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:42,760
hence his interests in any odd stratagem
pushed his way.
244
00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:50,280
We had a plan to go to attack Russia
through Norway—Narvik—
245
00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:53,120
which led to the landing in Narvik.
246
00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:59,680
We had a plan to attack
the oil plants in Baku from Syria.
247
00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:04,360
We had the plans to raise
the Balkans with us
248
00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:09,880
by landing in Salonika
and joining the Yugoslavs, and so on.
249
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:16,400
But all this was dreams, absolutely
foolish and out of the reality.
250
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:18,200
But that stemmed from the fact
251
00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,080
that we thought that the war
couldn't be decided on the main front
252
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,280
because of the inviolability
of that front.
253
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:29,600
(narrator) Gamelin had 100 divisions
on that front in May 1940,
254
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:33,400
plus another ten of the British
expeditionary force.
255
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:39,440
40 manned the Maginot line,
while five guarded the Swiss frontier.
256
00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:45,680
Another 40, the best, were to go into
neutral Belgium once Germany attacked.
257
00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:47,240
But when that happened
258
00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:51,280
the pivot of Gamelin's front
would be here, in the Ardennes.
259
00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:58,520
The impenetrable Ardennes.
260
00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:00,600
But was it?
261
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:11,560
On maps back at headquarters
262
00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,080
its thick woods
and narrow, winding roads
263
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,280
probably did make the Ardennes
seem impenetrable—
264
00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:21,720
which is presumably why Gamelin chose
to guard this 100-mile stretch of front
265
00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:27,360
with ten of his weakest,
least-trained, worst-equipped divisions.
266
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:31,400
(man) The Ardennes came to be chosen
for the main thrust
267
00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:36,160
since it offered an opportunity
to circumvent the Maginot line.
268
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:39,600
And besides we were conscious
of the fact
269
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,040
that there were only minor French troops
270
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:48,280
which held the positions
in this section of the French front.
271
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:53,080
We knew that the French High Command
272
00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:57,560
had dispersed his tanks.
273
00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:03,720
The French had more tanks
and some better tanks, heavier tanks,
274
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:06,720
than we have had panzers.
275
00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:11,440
But we managed our panzer troops—
276
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:16,600
what Guderian said in his instructions.
277
00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:22,040
(man) “Strike hard and quickly
and don't disperse your forces.”
278
00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:32,080
(narrator) The spring of 1940
was remarkably sunny.
279
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,280
Nowhere was it more peaceful
than here in the Ardennes,
280
00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:38,800
where the generals had said
the Germans would never attack.
281
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:40,600
Yet reports had been pouring in
282
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:43,680
that nearly 50 Wehrmacht divisions
were on the move—
283
00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:46,080
reports which the French
chose to ignore.
284
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,880
They even learned the date
of the attack, but still did nothing.
285
00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,840
As Gamelin put it,
they preferred “to await events”.
286
00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:57,520
Their waiting was almost over.
287
00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:07,520
5:30am precisely.
288
00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:09,960
May 10th, 1940.
289
00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:24,720
The German offensive
began spectacularly enough
290
00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,080
with the invasion of neutral Holland
from the air.
291
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,920
Their target: the bridges
over the broad Meuse estuary.
292
00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:39,640
If they could be captured
before the Allied troops reached them,
293
00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:41,720
Holland would be cut in two.
294
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,760
The boldness of the German move
stunned the Dutch.
295
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:53,880
Their soldiers were soon
surrendering in droves.
296
00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:57,200
Further south in Belgium,
297
00:22:57,280 --> 00:23:00,920
the Germans had another
spectacular success that first day—
298
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:02,880
the capture of Eben-Emael,
299
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:07,600
the strongest fort in the world
and the linchpin of Gamelin's line.
300
00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,960
That line had been breached
before any Allied troops arrived.
301
00:23:16,160 --> 00:23:18,760
(whistle blows)
302
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:26,720
Gamelin persisted in moving his armies
north into Belgium and Holland.
303
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,360
40 of his best divisions,
almost half his strength,
304
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:32,040
including all of the British
expeditionary force,
305
00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:35,160
and they were moving
straight into the trap
306
00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,120
Hitler and his generals
had set for them.
307
00:23:42,800 --> 00:23:45,240
It wasn't long before the troops
were passing
308
00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,040
the first pitiful, straggling lines
of refugees.
309
00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:51,280
Lines that were to hamper
the Allied reinforcements,
310
00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:53,280
just as the Germans had planned.
311
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:57,520
The great idea on the Germans' part
was speed,
312
00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:02,000
and they sent ahead of the army
313
00:24:02,080 --> 00:24:06,680
policemen with truncheons and white
gloves who went on motorbicycles.
314
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,160
They all had their Michelin Guide
for France,
315
00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:13,240
they knew exactly
where the roads were.
316
00:24:18,280 --> 00:24:22,000
The German panzers were pouring over
the border into Luxembourg.
317
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:23,920
Their column stretched 100 miles,
318
00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,760
presenting a prime target
to any would-be bomber,
319
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,360
but Allied air activity
that first day was busy
320
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:34,400
supporting the British and French
move north into Belgium.
321
00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,600
The Luftwaffe were striking
at Allied aeroplanes on the ground.
322
00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:50,800
At one RAF base near Reims,
the planes lined up in neat rows
323
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,160
were destroyed
in the opening minutes of the attack.
324
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,880
50 British and French airfields
were attacked that first day
325
00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,280
and the losses were heavy.
326
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,960
But while Allied air chiefs
were counting their losses,
327
00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:18,000
the panzers had just about penetrated
the impenetrable Ardennes
328
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,600
and were set to fall upon the weak
French garrisons
329
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:23,800
along the Meuse here at Sedan.
330
00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:28,360
The panzers reached Sedan
late on the third day of the offensive,
331
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,600
although Gamelin had calculated
332
00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:34,080
they couldn't possibly be here
before the ninth day.
333
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,880
All the bridges over the Meuse were
blown up by the French on May 12th—
334
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:47,760
all except one.
335
00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:51,760
This old weir some 40 miles
north of Sedan had been left
336
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:56,400
for fear of lowering the water level
so much that the river could be forded.
337
00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:59,800
But the French also left it
relatively unguarded,
338
00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:04,720
as one panzer commander,
Erwin Rommel, soon found out.
339
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:22,040
Next morning the Luftwaffe's resources
were hurled into action above Sedan.
340
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,680
Gamelin still refused to believe
the Germans could cross of the Meuse
341
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:31,560
before another three or four days.
342
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,200
Hitler was unwilling to wait that long.
343
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,680
He was working
to the timetable of 1940, not 1914.
344
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:46,240
What's more, the French generals
still had their eyes firmly fixed
345
00:26:46,320 --> 00:26:49,920
on what was happening
in Belgium and Holland.
346
00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:59,040
There were big French guns
on the west bank of the Meuse,
347
00:26:59,120 --> 00:27:01,920
but they limited firing
in case they ran out of ammunition
348
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,520
before the battle proper began.
349
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:10,000
So the German panzers were able to pick
off the French pillboxes one by one.
350
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,640
Soon thousands of French gunners
had taken to their heels.
351
00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:30,200
As suddenly as it had started,
the German bombardment stopped.
352
00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,800
As though still performing
one of their winter war games,
353
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,640
the German infantrymen
prepared to cross the Meuse.
354
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:09,200
By midnight on May 13th,
still only day four of the offensive,
355
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,800
not only were German infantrymen
across the Meuse in force,
356
00:28:12,880 --> 00:28:15,920
but German sappers
were bridging the river
357
00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,960
and making ready
for the panzers to cross.
358
00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:23,960
That night of May 13th,
359
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:28,000
the British expeditionary force,
far to the north in Belgium,
360
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,160
had still not seen serious fighting,
361
00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:34,680
yet the battle was now virtually
decided.
362
00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:45,280
(Beaufre) The morale of the French
High Command was very quickly broken.
363
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:51,000
When we happened to know that the front
had been broken through at Sedan,
364
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,600
the feeling was that everything
was lost.
365
00:28:54,680 --> 00:29:00,400
I saw General Georges,
who was commanding the northeast front,
366
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:05,200
I saw him sobbing and saying,
367
00:29:05,280 --> 00:29:11,040
“There has been some… deficiencies,”
368
00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:15,320
and he fell in a chair and sobbed.
369
00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,840
(narrator) French counterattacks
were poorly organised
370
00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,240
and seldom pressed home
with any persistence.
371
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,200
Tank for tank, the French
were a match for the Germans,
372
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:53,720
but the panzers always fought
en masse
373
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:57,320
and the French tanks
were prone to mechanical trouble.
374
00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,760
Time after time they had to be
left behind on the battlefield.
375
00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,560
German infantry divisions
were now catching up with the panzers
376
00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:22,240
at the Meuse crossing point.
377
00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:27,080
Everything on the German side at least
was going according to plan.
378
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:43,280
For the Allied air forces,
379
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:47,840
after their almost total inactivity
on May 13th, May 14th was hectic.
380
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:51,640
British and French bombers raided
the pontoon bridges across the Meuse
381
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:53,200
with reckless abandon.
382
00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:58,400
Too late, the French generals
383
00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,560
had recognised this sector's
vital importance.
384
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:07,000
But despite the courage of the Allied
pilots, the result was disastrous.
385
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:16,480
Nearly half the Allied planes
did not return.
386
00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:18,960
In the words of the official
RAF history:
387
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:24,760
“No higher rate of loss has ever been
experienced by the Royal Air Force.”
388
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:30,120
After May 14th
the skies were undeniably German.
389
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:36,080
On that day too Holland surrendered.
390
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:41,280
Nothing short of a miracle
could save France now.
391
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,920
With the bridgehead secure,
the panzers were poised to break out.
392
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,800
The battle for Sedan was now
giving way to the battle for France.
393
00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,880
The most crucial phase of the whole
German plan was about to begin—
394
00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:06,520
the swing north to the coast that would
trap the Allied armies in Belgium.
395
00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:11,800
As soon as news of the Sedan defeat
reached Paris, panic set in.
396
00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:21,640
Those who could, left.
397
00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:31,200
The French High Command,
not yet privy to the German plan,
398
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,880
assumed Hitler intended
to capture Paris immediately.
399
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:36,440
To protect the capital,
400
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,520
troops were pulled back
from elsewhere along the Meuse,
401
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:43,760
which only served
to widen the German bridgeheads.
402
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:55,480
Gamelin refused to believe
his tactics were at fault
403
00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:57,720
and assumed
he must have been betrayed.
404
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,600
While gendarmes searched for
fifth columnists behind the lines,
405
00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:05,400
Gamelin reacted by sacking
20 or so of his front-line commanders,
406
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,040
almost at random.
407
00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:15,040
The Allied troops
were ordered back from Belgium
408
00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:18,920
and on May 17th Brussels fell.
409
00:33:25,440 --> 00:33:28,120
It was also the end for Gamelin.
410
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,560
He was replaced
as commander-in-chief
411
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,520
by General Weygand,
recalled from virtual retirement.
412
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:35,400
France had become desperate.
413
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:39,080
A 73-year-old
was replacing a 68-year-old,
414
00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:43,520
and Weygand had spent the last year
in Syria and was out of touch.
415
00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:48,760
At this time too Marshal Pétain, now 84,
became deputy prime minister.
416
00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,800
Before leaving Spain,
where he'd been France's ambassador,
417
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:53,320
Pétain told General Franco,
418
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:58,640
“My country has been beaten. This
is the work of 30 years of Marxism.”
419
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:02,280
(Spears) He was completely
on the side of the defeatists.
420
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:04,680
He was a very, very old man
421
00:34:04,760 --> 00:34:11,600
and he'd been recalled in the hopes that
his name would bolster French morale.
422
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:13,680
It did nothing of the sort.
423
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,960
(narrator) Trying in their own way
to contain the German break-out,
424
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:21,640
the French generals
drew halt lines on their maps,
425
00:34:21,720 --> 00:34:26,120
only to hear the panzers had passed them
even before the orders had been issued.
426
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:33,240
(gunfire)
427
00:34:33,320 --> 00:34:34,960
In the dash to the coast,
428
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:39,480
the German commanders were always
one jump ahead of the French.
429
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:55,520
Hordes of prisoners
fell into German hands.
430
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,200
Many columns,
10,000 or 20,000-strong,
431
00:34:58,280 --> 00:35:03,000
simply threw away their weapons
and marched without being told,
432
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,360
their officers at their head,
toward the German lines.
433
00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:13,520
(Warlimont) The French troops did not
prove the same soldierly discipline
434
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:15,120
as in the First World War.
435
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:37,840
I think this was caused by the
Maginot spirit and the long phoney war,
436
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:43,120
so that the French soldiers believed
that they will have no more war.
437
00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:47,720
(narrator) Not just ordinary troops
fell into German hands,
438
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:48,840
but generals too.
439
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:50,600
On May 19th General Giraud,
440
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:54,640
newly appointed commander
of France's 9th Army, was captured:
441
00:35:54,720 --> 00:35:57,120
by a group of tanks,
according to the French;
442
00:35:57,200 --> 00:36:00,160
by a field kitchen unit,
according to the Germans.
443
00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:08,000
But most tragic of all
was the plight of the refugees.
444
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:19,240
At one time 12 million people
were on the roads of northern France,
445
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:22,000
bound for goodness knows where.
446
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:44,000
(Waterfield) All the civilians
would ask us what they were to do,
447
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:46,520
because the government
had not told them what to do.
448
00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:50,240
We said, “For heaven's sake, stay
where you are. Don't get on the roads.”
449
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,760
But they all got in a panic and left.
450
00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:56,600
One old lady had a key
which she gave to us
451
00:36:56,680 --> 00:37:00,040
and we said, “Why?
You mustn't give us your key.”
452
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,440
“Oh, well, in the last war
I took away my key
453
00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,080
and when I came back
I had the key but no house.”
454
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:24,280
My worst memory was seeing two German
planes coming along at roof level,
455
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:25,840
machine-gunning,
456
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,720
and one realised then
how awful it was for the refugees.
457
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:31,800
(planes approaching)
458
00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,480
(gunfire)
459
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:14,560
(narrator) The Germans had advanced
200 miles in just seven days,
460
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:18,040
and on May 20th
they reached the Channel.
461
00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:22,120
The Daily Telegraph reported
that telephone lines
462
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:24,880
between Paris and London
had been cut.
463
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:29,120
A Post Office spokesman didn't know
when normal service might be resumed.
464
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:35,600
With the panzers at the coast,
465
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:41,600
the best of the Allied armies drawn into
Belgium were now cut off from the south.
466
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,960
Belatedly the French
tried to force a way through to them.
467
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:47,280
Their attack was too puny.
468
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,200
But they argued
the British had let them down.
469
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:54,680
(Beaufre) The recriminations started
470
00:38:54,760 --> 00:39:00,000
with the unilateral withdrawal
of the British army.
471
00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:05,880
The orders were to attack southwards,
near Arras,
472
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:09,400
and, without warning,
473
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:13,960
we happened to know that the British
were withdrawing to Dunkirk.
474
00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:21,680
We have not the right
to criticise this too much
475
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:24,080
because, after all,
we were the bosses
476
00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:25,720
and we lost the battle,
477
00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:29,800
and this gives a good excuse
for the British to be selfish.
478
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,360
But anyway, they were very selfish.
479
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,600
(narrator) On May 25th Boulogne fell.
480
00:39:52,720 --> 00:39:56,200
On May 26th, Calais.
481
00:39:59,240 --> 00:40:03,240
Weygand's appointment had given
the French a flicker of optimism.
482
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:05,720
It soon faded when
his counterattack failed
483
00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:10,400
and news of Belgium's capitulation
reached Paris on May 28th.
484
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:16,080
Thereafter, the mood became
steadily more and more defeatist.
485
00:40:18,680 --> 00:40:22,440
(Waterfield) I think the defeatism
came at the top.
486
00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:26,680
There was a very strong peace move
among certain politicians,
487
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:30,640
some of them were even pro-German
and wanted jobs with the Germans.
488
00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:36,600
When things went badly, this group got
larger and became more dominant.
489
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:40,520
(narrator) Prime Minister Reynaud
fought back
490
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:42,840
by dismissing from his cabinet
weaker spirits
491
00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:45,320
and bringing in fighting men
like de Gaulle,
492
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,280
now entering the political arena
for the first time.
493
00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:51,080
But the war
was virtually out of their hands.
494
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:54,960
Perhaps it was that that prompted the
special service of prayer at Notre Dame
495
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,520
on that Sunday before Dunkirk.
496
00:40:57,600 --> 00:40:59,560
(organ plays)
497
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:16,360
(Spears) The French very soon accepted
the idea of defeat and surrendered.
498
00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:22,720
To them it was rather a conception
of the old days of the royalty
499
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:26,440
when you just exchanged
a couple of provinces,
500
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,280
paid a certain number of millions,
501
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,720
and then called it a day,
hoping you'd be more lucky next time.
502
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:43,720
(narrator) Dunkirk fell on June 4th.
503
00:41:44,200 --> 00:41:48,400
Hitler ordered church bells to be rung
for three days throughout Germany
504
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:53,080
to mark what he described as
“the greatest German victory ever”.
505
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,880
With the panzers reorganised
and re-equipped,
506
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,680
the day after Dunkirk fell,
507
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:07,920
the second major German offensive
in the West began.
508
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:40,680
Although outnumbered now
by more than two to one,
509
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:42,280
the French fought stubbornly—
510
00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:44,680
much more aggressively, in fact,
511
00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:47,160
than at any time during
the battle for the Meuse.
512
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:06,440
But after three days of bloody fighting,
disaster once more overtook the French.
513
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:16,720
Another breakthrough by Rommel.
514
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:21,760
In a matter of hours
he had reached the Seine at Rouen.
515
00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,960
Elsewhere the panzers
were passing almost effortlessly
516
00:43:41,040 --> 00:43:43,560
through the heartland of France.
517
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:55,240
All roads pointed to Paris.
518
00:43:56,400 --> 00:44:01,200
On June 10th
the French government left the capital.
519
00:44:01,280 --> 00:44:05,080
On that day Mussolini
brought Italy into the war.
520
00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,880
On the day we left Paris
521
00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:18,840
we went to this Vincennes headquarters
of Gamelin
522
00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:23,840
and… we heard on the radio
523
00:44:23,920 --> 00:44:29,080
all the songs and music
of the Italian war, you know.
524
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:32,440
“Giovinezza” and all that, you know.
525
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:34,880
And we thought…
526
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,400
And that is where I heard
the first time somebody say,
527
00:44:38,480 --> 00:44:40,240
“It can't go on like that.”
528
00:44:40,320 --> 00:44:42,560
“We must have an armistice.”
529
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:45,520
We had the greatest difficulty
getting out of Paris
530
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,240
because everybody,
although Paris was empty,
531
00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:53,080
all the roads outside Paris
were absolutely full of motorcars,
532
00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:57,920
people even going in and out of the
trees at the side to try and get ahead.
533
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:03,800
But we were able to get off the
main roads into the countryside,
534
00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,680
and then it was most extraordinary
because it was beautiful weather,
535
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,080
all the villagers were very welcoming
536
00:45:10,160 --> 00:45:13,320
and brought out their best cognac,
their best wine,
537
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:16,280
because they said,
“Why leave it for the Germans?”
538
00:45:16,360 --> 00:45:20,360
Arriving in the airspace over Paris
539
00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:26,440
I observed that great columns of German
infantry had already entered the town.
540
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:33,480
Observing this and remembering
that we had failed to reach this goal
541
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:38,000
all through the First World War,
542
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:42,720
I felt such joy and exultation
543
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:48,560
that I asked the pilot of my
small plane, a so-called Storch,
544
00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:54,720
whether it would be possible to perform
a landing on the Place de la Concorde.
545
00:45:54,800 --> 00:45:59,120
After circling around some time,
546
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:04,200
he and… we came down
on the Place de la Concorde,
547
00:46:04,280 --> 00:46:08,080
which was entirely free of any traffic
548
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:13,480
and landed on the outside
of the Champs Elysées.
549
00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:25,160
(narrator) Two days after Paris fell,
the new prime minister, Marshal Pétain
550
00:46:25,240 --> 00:46:27,320
asked the Germans for an armistice.
551
00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:30,880
Reynaud had been opposed to
a separate peace and resigned.
552
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:36,280
In most of France the news of
an armistice was received with relief.
553
00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:42,520
Hitler insisted on using
for the negotiations
554
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:46,360
Marshal Foch's old railway carriage
in the woods of Compiègne,
555
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:50,160
where the 1918 armistice
had been signed.
556
00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:53,640
It was the supreme humiliation
for France.
557
00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:18,040
(Beaufre) One must have lived
the retreat in France,
558
00:47:18,120 --> 00:47:22,400
with this enormous movement of crowds.
559
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:26,720
It's something which you can't
understand if you haven't seen it.
560
00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:30,040
We thought that really
that had to be stopped.
561
00:47:39,920 --> 00:47:44,720
(narrator) Once the French had signed,
Hitler ordered the site destroyed.
562
00:47:44,800 --> 00:47:47,600
Germany had had its revenge.
563
00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:51,400
(announcement in French)
564
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:04,480
(narrator) Paris radio,
now under German control,
565
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:08,160
broadcast the terms of the armistice.
566
00:48:41,360 --> 00:48:45,320
Paris had now to adapt
to a new wave of tourists.
567
00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:47,720
Among the first was Hitler himself,
568
00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:50,640
making the only trip of his life
to the city,
569
00:48:50,720 --> 00:48:52,880
and a fleeting one at that.
570
00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:10,520
For four bleak years France was to
disappear from the forefront of the war.
571
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:17,520
Some Frenchmen chose a courageous
resistance at home or overseas,
572
00:49:17,600 --> 00:49:21,440
others were to settle into a routine
of apathetic collaboration.
573
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:25,160
Many connived at Hitler's
new order for Europe—
574
00:49:25,240 --> 00:49:27,400
the Vichy version.
575
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:54,160
For Paris there remained
one more humiliation.
576
00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:05,520
The German triumphal parade
577
00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:08,520
followed the exact route
of the French victory procession
578
00:50:08,600 --> 00:50:11,000
after the First World War.
579
00:50:26,200 --> 00:50:31,800
It had taken the Wehrmacht just five
weeks to humble their historic foe.
580
00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:48,640
In the words of Winston Churchill:
581
00:50:48,720 --> 00:50:52,000
“The Battle of France was now over.”
582
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:54,520
“The Battle of Britain
was about to begin.”