@@pekka1900 I mean Germany defeated france, denmark, netherlands, poland, etc etc.... but it only took one defeat to make them lose the war. Even though they won dozens of victories but that didnt make them win the war
@@jerolvilladolid Yes, both countries defeated weaker neighboring countries with fast and bold campaigns, but neither really lost because of one defeat. Maybe you mean one bad decision? The bad decision being that you fight in too many places at once.
@@pekka1900 france wasnt weaker, they had more men, better tanks and were considered a great power, england wasnt weaker either but refused to fight the germans until the russians and americans came who were also much more powerful than germany
@@milorules2729 I am not happy either. No Tour de France in 1940. And the Germans couldn't be the winners of the Tour in 1940 as they didn't make a whole tour of France. They stayed in the North and on the western coast. The tour wasn't complete
how not to understand them when you see the number of deaths because of the first world war on the side of France, the Germans were revengeful and united but France divided politically there would have been a civil war in France if the war had lasted
@@4oiseau208 Yet they fought on for 6 weeks after the ENGLISH ran away, just as they did at Corunna in 1809, and lost more soldiers than they lost in the first 3 months of the Battle of the Somme. Personally, I think the main reason that you ENGLISH resent France, is that they beat you, hands down, to win the Hundred Years War. You just can't get over it, can you?
@@Demun1649 Pourquoi ce ton ? Celui à qui tu réponds est probablement français vu son pseudo, et en tout cas, il ne se montre pas accusatif envers la France, bien au contraire.
I'm not sure humiliation is the right word. This is humiliating, yes but it's also the thought that you wasted a few years in the trenches, saw countless of comrades die, eventually ended disabled or crippled and in the end, 20 years later, the ennemi you fought came back and won a crushing victory to gain control of your country. More than the humiliation, it's the feeling of a terrible waste, and a kind of treason.
The Germans legitimately thought that France was going to put up a better fight than the USSR. They were shocked not only at their own success in beating France but in how few casualties they took in beating every single country they managed to defeat before July 1941
@@sigma_frenchie4075 France had better equipment and weapons than Germany at the time. The Battle of Hannut was the largest tank battle in history (before Barbarossa) in which the French managed to inflict great casualties against the Germans. The French might have been able to single handedly beat Germany were it not for Germany's superior tactics. France didn't lose because they were weak, France lost because they got outsmarted
@@lelouchvibritannia7809 France Lost because of some old general who didn't improve their strategy since the first World War . Youngest caporal understood before the second war how important was the communication, the tanks and mobility. But they were not listen On every fight where this new ideology was planed by french militaries, french beats the Germans.
@@alitheonekhatarnak5163 i'm sorry to tell you that USA had nothing to do with outcome of War. France and other European countries were allready winning, USA just came and give some material.
@@thedesertrat_9514 France didn’t understand that modern warfare was different and they were poorly prepared and like you say, the underestimated the Germans.
@@salvagemonster3612 That actually wasn't the cause though for the stop of the German army in the Eastern campaign. Yes it did cause problems but the Germans dealt with that before as shown in WW1 when the Germans defeated the Russian army.
They literally had no idea what hit them: german tanks fighting in full squadrons while french generals still believed using one tank in support of a few infantry squads was the proper way to fight. An effective german air force crushing all hope at the first sight of a french victory on the ground... high ranking officers and leaders of the french army were out matched strategically and morally speaking, french troops at the front were like a headless chicken.
@@sigma_frenchie4075 Original poster said the look on the french soldier faces were devastating. The one you replied to said the look on the french soldier faces were similar to the look on the german soldier faces when paraded like cattle through Moscow.
It's always fascinating to me how when a war end and a peace treaty is signed, the soldiers aren't treated that well and shamed, but the losing side's generals still get salutes from their opposing officers and are treated with respect
Sometimes, after being defeated in battle, the soldiers get the recognition they deserved: At the French defense at the siege of Lille at the end of May 1940, ~40,000 French (w/ 50 tanks) faced ~160,000 Germans (w/ 800 Panzer tanks)). The French defense allowed to add 2 or 3 days for the Soldiers trying to leave Dunkirk - and save at least 100,000 more troops in Dunkirk (source: W. Shirer). The German commander, General Alfred Wäger (general of the 27th Army Korps), allowed the French the honours of war. The garrison paraded through the Grand Place, as German troops stood to attention. [Note that a part of these soldiers at Lille, were part of North African colonial units - but even in these units, some units of these troops were French settlers living in Algeria and native French as well; they were not only North African men]
@@krips22 he did, but the average german soldier would've still shamed their french counter parts, but the french generals would've been treated with salutes and utmost respect, like when when germany surrendered their generals were getting saluted
Oh yes, while Germany was at the height of their power, and had the strongest military in europe at the time. Not to mention the abysmal leadership France had. Seriously, do people actually not do research anymore?
The Germans did even better against the Soviet Union, but the Soviets could keep retreating until German supplies ran low. The French could not keep fighting from Spain. The Soviets had room to be unprepared.
Birds xD. WW2 was no middle ages, you know. Both sides had radios (much more numerous on German side, that's true, but still) and they were using telegraph extensively.
To compare, Poland lasted 35 days attacked from two sides, first by Germany at first of September and then by Russia 17th of September. 66 thousands soldiers killed, 133,700 wounded.
@@assgoblin-uh9zu the battle of France was lost when 70% of the army had been incirlced in dunkirk. France fought but you can't stop an entire army with like 30% of your with organisation issues. France also déclare paris open city to preserve it from destruction
So you despise the 100,000 French who gave their life fighting ? Nobody knew how to counter Blitzkrieg by then, neither the Poles nor the French nor the British. Only the Russian succeeded.
@@gengis737 technicaly, the french were the one to invent a counter to the blitekrieg call "l'hérisson" who consist in letting the tank pass and then cut them from their supplies sources" the russian on the other hand were helped a lot by the winter and the very large front that germany cannot hold and ressuplied correctly
i think France is in the same situation again ! but this time we are just going to disappear! we are blind ! we don't want to see what is obvious! c'est l'idéologie des temps modernes adios!
@@MichaelJ44 (I think he meant life of person) it depends 40 years like from 1910-1950 had really big impact on societal progress (changes) 40 years like 1350-1390 not such big 40 years isn't equal to 40 years
@@MichaelJ44 40 years can make a HUGE difference when it comes to human aspects like society and technology. The world of today has nothing to do with that of the 1980's: better in some aspects, worse in others, but different overall.
Y'all are forgetting it took us just 60 years to go from flying for the first time, to walking on the moon That's the scale to scale equivalent of reaching Andromeda just 60 years after the first manned mission to Mars
@Daniel Aloysius Gumulyo The Americans only came in both world wars when they were sure to win. They now dare to tell us we owe them something and even spit on the graves of our ancestors.
Let's remember that the Brits, who bravely fled without even warning the French and the Belgiums, used them to cover their retreat and had to be saved by the French who protected their rescue operation at Lille and Dunkirk. Now their descendants spit on the grave of the French who saved their ancestors from being completely captured.
Weil it wasn‘t just France! Almost the whole british mainland army fought at their side. Lucky brits they are an island which got HUGE amount of supplies from the US.
Except at the time of Battle of Britain the US were neutral and didn't do a thing except sending a handful of planes through their border with Canada. And add on top a partial blockade of the islands by Kriegsmarine U-boats. The brits put up a pretty fine fight, same as the french soldiers, but the main difference was in policies. While the french gave up too quickly, the brits held on until the germans simply gave up on the idea of daytime bomber raids or sending troops
@@Doctor_ko "and even pilots". Yeah, a whole 9 people with american citizenship who volunteered to serve in the RAF. Not to underestimate the folks' participation, they did what they could. The point still stands: the US out of neutrality did less than what they could, and every person without a severe case of the US bias gets it.
@@MDzmitry Europe was doomed without the Arms and Supplies from USA, I have zero clue were you get your data. USA started sending thousands of tons of supplies by 1940, same year as BOB
How embarrassing that must have been. That still gnaws at the national pride of the French today. Every country in the world should learn from France's mistakes.
Its not a question of pride its history Germany take the entire Europe in 1940 like France do with Napoléon earlier in the past its not good or bad its history
1:04 You can vividly see look of sorrow and dread on the French commander's face as he looks into the eyes of his counterpart, knowing full well that they are now entirely at his mercy.
Here are a few words from the Général, after Pétain’s capitulation: « Beaucoup de Français n'acceptent pas ni la capitulation ni la servitude, pour des raisons qui s'appellent : l'honneur, le bon sens et l'intérêt supérieur de la patrie. » « A lot of french people do not accept neither capitulation nor slavery, because of reasons called: honour, common sense and the superior interest of the fatherland » The resistance was launched a day after the capitulation. It wasn’t the best resistance, sure. But it deserves to be recognised.
The Resistance was absolutely nothing until late 1942, when the Germans began to deport Frenchmen to Germany for Force Labour. Before then, most didn't have the money nor weapons to fight back & just let things play out
What was the resistance's main goals? Wouldn't Germany just go back home once the Allies sued for peace? The Germans would get war reparations from Paris as well as territories such as Poland and Estonia, amongst others. Maybe a bit of disputed territory lost after WWI from France, but there would probably be no long term occupation.
@easter worshipper deportations are the words many have used for what the Germans did in ww2. And no, they were sending the civilians to Germany to work the Factories
The First World War had a lot to do with the performance of the French Army in 1940. That war had been so horrific and badly managed, Battle of the Frontiers, Verdun, Chemin des Dames etc., the army did not have the capability to fight another war.
@@haydengalloway5177 To be fair, it's not hard to understand the attitude of the French, after all, they had been invaded by the Germans who had occupied a large part of Northern France and killed a great many Frenchmen. Had Germany won the war then doubtless their terms would have been equally as hard.
My Polish grandfather told me that when he was exiled in France on his way to Britain, all the French people cheered when the Germans entered in the city, as "the war was over". The only man he saw discontent was an Algerian recruit, he was crying disconsolately.
You have to understand the french situation, bad economy, they lost 50% of the 25-50 years old generations in WW1, they simply couldn’t do it again. France was about 37millions people while Germany had twice that
@@TheMourot Hahaha, because you were there. He was talking about the scene he saw in Bayonne, he picked the last comercial ship that is known about. Why would he lie?
@@alaindubarry2350 I commented it because I thought it was related to the video. I don't mean anything, I just said it. I could have done an essay on my particular opinion about it based on my historical knowledge, but I didn't, I leave that up to the readers.
@@kayzenl7911 we don't give a F* if france lost 50% of it's generations, great britain suffered in the same way, and they fought bravely against germans.
Funny how the Anglo version of history NEVER talks about the Dutch and. Belgians surrendering in days, the Brits fleeing pants down and hands up while the French kept the fight. Too shameful for you guys to bear?
That is basically it yes, offourse being ruler of the world (and still are technically they just gave the throne over to america) they will dominate history.
@@kirklenagh3095 they did? or did they just let their american children and the soviets act as the meat grinder for them (like they did with the french in WW1) because they were to scared to break a nail.
The Germans combined their modern equipment with modern tactics, and to devastating effect against the immense but strategically stagnant French firepower. I think Sun Tzu would have been proud of the invasion of France...
@@abdirahmanidris290 No, they were scared. There's many documented cases of the French soldiers just outright refusing to engage with the enemy. Most notably, they'd refuse orders to engage German's with artillery despite having the German's location because they were afraid that if they fired artillery, the Germans would fire artillery back... in a war... lol
The war for France was lost in less than 6 days, the day the German special units moved around the Machaon line ,the war was lost and the regular army units did what they were trained for which was to guard and occupy with little fighting required. The war in the west won by Germany was carried out principley by special units tanks para gliders while the regular army units followed up in second dairy movements. sorry about the spelling
Horrible, but I'm glad that nowadays we work together with France as our closest ally. May there never be war between us again. I hope that at one point we can ensure that there's no war in europe and maybe in a distant future, no war on earth.
agreed but it’s crazy to me how unlike you a few americans and europeans thirst for a war on their soil, they talk about civil wars as if it’s a wonderful thing their country must have
When the German surrender act was signed in Berlin in May 1945, a representative of the German command, seeing the representatives of France, asked sarcastically: "Did they defeat us too?" France was included among the victorious powers at the insistence of Stalin. This is something that in Europe they carefully want to forget.
@@mrworldwide7387 that didn't count dude, France lost the war and only ussr and the us and the uk were the biggest threat to Germany but France was nothing compared to them
@@腎臓魂 we still took back west Africa and Algeria despite our entire mainland being occupied and our navy destroyed by the British. Not having a big impact on a war isn’t the same as losing a war, a war is lost when its government completely stop fighting, that’s what some traitors like Petain did but some others like De Gaulle continued.
@@腎臓魂 Remember the battle of Bir Hakeim : Free french forces stopped Rommel army of 37 000 thousands with 3700 soldiers ( ratio 10/1) enduring 16 days of enemy fire in order to help british retreat, retreat that led to the famous battle of El Alamein We the french lost a battle ( Battle of France) but we tried as much as we could to contribute to the war effort, AT least the France led by De Gaulle
That is not very respectful towards the 48 000 German soldiers who lost their life during the Battle of France. Only Paris was declared Open City but the Germans had to fight for other places.
@@EthanL21800 Although I would say a lot of German soldiers weren't actually Nazis and were really forced into the war,that only started in Operation Barborossa,or so I think.The Germans simply needed to numbers and just poured everything they could muster onto the Soviets,even people who weren't actually Nazis.
I like how the clip is about French surrender in 1940, but the thumbnail for the video is the Royal Castle in Warsaw burning after being bombarded by German artillery in September 1939. Because that scene is nowhere in the video, so it wasn't auto-generated by TH-cam.
Paris was the open city nothing was burning So filmmakers stretched the truth a "little" bit and used picture material from Warsaw The destruction started with a bombardment on September 17, 1939, which the castle caught fire. In 1939-40, German forces drilled holes for explosives in the whole building. Under cover of night,
2:10 just look at him. he probably fought through the previous war, and now all is lost. France for the first time in its History is a great power no more. they dont know yet that the allies will prevail...
@@h4rck04 A bunch of people beg to differ. If you haven't heard the backlash France has gotten for its surrender about 80 years ago, I don't know what to tell you.
Greece: *Surrenders in 6 months* Norway: *Surrenders in 8 weeks* France: *Surrenders in 6 weeks* Poland: *Surrenders in 18 days* Belgium: *Surrenders in 18 days* Yugoslavia: *Surrenders in 11 days* Netherlands: *Surrenders in 5 days* Denmark: *Surrenders in 6 hours* Everyone: Hahaha France is so week. They always surrender
@@BTClips522 "Stories that the French troops would not fight were not true. They had fought magnificently, but the organization behind them was totally inadequate" - Edward VIII, former King of England, Duke of Windsor. By the way, France stood no chance. It has been sold to AH by a traitor.
@無名賢者 Yeah. Poland definitely invited Germany in to fix their country. Love how Germany decided to remove the Polish from Poland. That would totally fix the country. And Yugoslavia whose resistance post surrender was so fierce they actually liberated themselves without any help. They totally invited Germany in to fix their country. That's why they resisted harder than anyone else. And who can forget France. One of the two countries most willing to fight Germany definitely invited Germany to beat them and humiliate them. So relatable And of course, Greece. They loved Germany so much that they beat up the Italians so that way it was the Germans that would defeat them! You can definitely tell how much the Greeks loved the Germans!
@@solid786snake there was no Russia then, it was just Soviet Union and the winter killed most of the Nazis not the soviets.. when the Nazis were on the way they actually had a big chance of taking Moscow but the winter ruined it all..
I don’t know about national will. The command structure itself collapsed, but the civilian populace continued the fight and what remained of the French army evacuated and would play a key role in some battles along with the Poles and Belgians
Yeah , it’s annoying to see that France surrender so quickly even though their army was as powerful as Germany . Leadership was just a bunch of old cowards who thought it was still WW1
Paris was the open city nothing was burning So filmmakers stretched the truth a "little" bit and used picture material from Warsaw The destruction started with a bombardment on September 17, 1939, which the castle caught fire. In 1939-40, German forces drilled holes for explosives in the whole building. Under cover of night,
Germany actually gathered an alliance from the countries that were robbed in WWI or had the same enemies. Austria, Italy, Japan, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia and even partially Ukraine at some point. Tens of thousands of volunteers each from Holland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Balkans. Still impressive because USA and the Soviets both had near limitless resources. Whether we like it or not it was a European civil war and all of Europe had lost it.
If you put all manpower together then Germany only had slightly less soldiers than the combined amies of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Luxembourg so it was rather even if we don't take into account superior German tactics
Smithsonian, I hope you are aware of the fact that the thumbnail of this film depicts the burning Royal Castle in Warsaw after it's been bombed by Germans in September of 1939. Also, the description of the film has a little to do with its content.
Paris was the open city nothing was burning So filmmakers stretched the truth a "little" bit and used picture material from Warsaw The destruction started with a bombardment on September 17, 1939, which the castle caught fire. In 1939-40, German forces drilled holes for explosives in the whole building. Under cover of night,
The same way the Russians did initially. You're being attacked so fast and brutally that your generals don't have time to think. The discombobulation falls down the ranks and before you know it you have an aggressive and organised army decending on you. The soldiers look to their leaders, and the leaders to theirs and ask "what do I do?" and no one knows. Before you can retaliate or plan it's too late, you surrender or face slaughter.
"The French troops fought like lions" German general Von Reichenau. "The French soldiers are the best of the world" German general Von Kuchler. 1.2 million French soldier at the end of the war, more than 20 divisions. Who said that France stopped to fight in 1940 ? (Weakened Germany so hard it couldn't invade Britain btw. You know, those 28% of the German Luftwaffe which dissapeard during the battle of the Alps, AFTER THE ARMISTICE, where the French Alps army continued to fight. Ah you like to say 6 weeks. And you like to forgot that the battle of France was a defeat for the german high command because their Luftwaffe will never recover such heavy casualties that happened in just 6 WEEKS.) Here's : "The battle of France is a defeat for us" German general Von Kuchler.
@ragerblitz2361 No bro not always, the british propaganda during the napoleonic wars never said that France was brave and strong. Absolutely not always. And even more with a crushing defeat like 1940, the germans could have just laugh and celebrate, but it wasn't just respecting the French soldiers they faced and, like you can see, fought like lions.
The channel itself was defendable because Germany could not out match the RN and RAF. Britain was always a maritime power with small land forces. France was always a land power.
The big difference between the French leaders of the First and Second World War, was the leadership! In the First World War the French army was much inferior in number to the German army, but it had great leaders, such as Clemenceau, Foch, Poincare, etc. in the second world war they did not have leaders of this magnitude
@@titcab8159same could be said about the French soldiers😂 they were still in their glory days of defeating Germany in ww1 that they refused to fire artillery cannons at opposition forces being afraid that they would fire back 😂 they were cowards too afraid to attack the enemy in a war.
@@APS378my great grandpa was one of the first French volunteers to go to the East to stop germany. He was later captured to work in a german camp, he then escaped and joined French resistance. What you are saying is false and its a big stereotype.
@@titcab8159 I’m sorry I didn’t mean to label all French soldiers as cowards as they fought for their motherland, what I should’ve said that some of the French soldiers were too afraid too attack the Germans in a war during the early stages of ww2
@@titcab8159 whoa, French army the best in the world before WW2? I'm not contradicting you, I'm only surprised. I thought the armies of Germany, the US and even England were more powerful than the French.
Ironically , Charles De Gaulle wrote books years before WW2 about uses of tanks in a similar way than Blitzkrieg , it was kind of a best seller among militaries , specially in Germany...
It was British colonel JFC Fuller's book about armoured warfare, written in 1923, which inspired Guderian and the other Germans. Guderian himself: "I am indebted to Colonel Fuller for much of my inspiration in the development of armoured warfare".
It didn't take a genius to think that armored vehicles would be useful for maneuver warfare. What's news is all those WW1 heads who still wanted to fight with light infantry.
It was the French High command that failed the nation, not the army. We only started making fun of France because they protested our invasion of Iraq in 2003
and because USA didn't wanted France to have nuclear weapon but France paid a lot to create its own nuclear weapon. While brits and USSR used american research to got them
@@mattsmith5421 Largest army in the world, got THRASHED so badly that their great, grand-children are being made fun of to this day. No excuse whatsoever. No one remembers France’s past victories because they surrendered in THE BIGGEST, BLOODIEST war in human history which involved almost the entire world. I would rather lose a thousand battles, or even smaller wars, before losing a freaking World War, because that’s the one which will be remembered the most throughout history. The French soldiers in this video knew that just by looking at their faces. They can have all the resistance fighters they want, but the second Germany broke their army, France fell into shame
@@abba-Flammenfresser I can see you know absolutely nothing about Napoleon or the second world war. Really over 200 countries were involved in ww2 I think not. I'm guessing you're a whiney American who's a bit hurt by facts
That’s why you showed on video’s miniature The Royal Castle in Warszawa, Poland? Oh, yes, you wanted to give an example - Poland has never surrendered like France :)
@@filipkopec525 well, the defeat doesn’t mean you give up fighting or surrender. There were a significant number of soldiers on the West, working government and the biggest European resistance army.
@@phlm9038 people talking about france surrender meme but no one talking about france taking germany in 6 DAYS LOL and while germany took france 6 weeks with motorized and and french use their on foot on napoleonic wars
Les soldats français de 1940 se sont battus et n’ont pas démérité. Je tiens à rappeler que , en l’espace de plus de 44 jours de combats , un peu moins de 90 000 soldats français ont été tués au combat ou sont morts des suites de leurs blessures. Durant ces durs combats , plusieurs milliers de soldats français mourraient donc chaque jours. Ayez donc un peu de respect envers ces soldats qui ont fait de leur mieux.
Murat Oguz C’est toujours simple de critiquer quand on vit 80 ans après les faits. De plus, Napoléon n’était pas italien, il était français (originaire de Corse). De plus, la France est l’un des pays ayant le plus grand nombre de victoires militaires.
Not french, but I had the old “if the Nazis won, we’d all be speaking German” meme shoved down my throat since I was aware of ww2. Well, I’d take sprecken z deutsch over the mess Europe is in now any day, all day.
USSR and Western Allies destroyed Berlin but Germany didnt speak english or russia, they kept speaking german, thats the difference between allies and axis. Europe's today situation cant be changed from past people of EU should do something themselves or shut the F about it
If the Brits had gotten captured alongside the French the situation would have been even worse. Since they were able to get away, they were able to repel the Germans from Great Britain. Great Britain was an important launch point for the invasion of Western Europe. It might seem heartless, but it probably helped France in the long run, as the British were able to comeback later with more allies and better equipment to help push out the Germans. They lost the battle, but ultimately won the war.
@@LetzLaughh How about quitting rewriting history, cyber-badasses well-protected behind your seas? In ww2, France had ~210 k military deaths and ~390 k civilian deaths, in total and ~600 k killed - that's more than the US individuals killed in ww2, and that's also more than the Brits killed in ww2 (for reference, the USA gad ~407 k soldiers killed, ~419 k Americans killed in all; The UK had 383.7 k soldiers killed, 450.9 British people killed in all). Are you British? A little respect for the Frenchmen that stubbornly and valliantly fought so that you could reach back your shore from Dunkirk... German general Georg Von Küchler, General of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht, about the battles around Dunkirk at the end of may 1940: "Despite our crushing numerical and material superiority, the French counter-attack in several places. I fail to understand how these soldiers fighting sometimes at 1 against 20, can find enough strength to make an assault. It's just stunning." (...) "By resisting ten days or more to our much bigger forces, the French army has accomplished, in Dunkirk, a superb achievement that one must commend. They have certainly saved Great Britain from the defeat by allowing the British professional army to reach back the English coast." General Walther Von Reichenau, general of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht: "The French troops have fought like lions!" At the French defense at the siege of Lille at the end of May 1940, ~40,000 French (w/ 50 tanks) faced ~160,000 Germans (w/ 800 Panzer tanks)). The French defense allowed to add 2 or 3 days for the Soldiers trying to leave Dunkirk - and save at least 100,000 more troops in Dunkirk (source: W. Shirer). The German commander, General Alfred Wäger (general of the 27th Army Korps), allowed the French the honours of war. The garrison paraded through the Grand Place, as German troops stood to attention. [Note that a part of these soldiers at Lille, were part of North African colonial units - but even in these units, some units of these troops were French settlers living in Algeria and native French as well; they were not only North African men]
Imagine surrendering with 1.8 million active soldiers, germany dodged a bullet there, imagine the fight the french could have put up if they had the guts, they let down their whole country and reputation.
The moral was destroyed. They faught brave even loosing thousends so the british could flee- The elite was dead and now just simple recruits were fighting professionals. The German controlled the sky and the Luftwaffe was bombing their Bunkers etc. Also they tried to make fallback lines but due to the fast movements of the tanks many were overrun before they could reach the line. The French had the guts they just didnt have the cannons and the allies! The French were betrayed by the british right there u can see it by just looking how the brits portrait Dunkirk.
@@jungeoida4327 All that might be true but just because you are outgunned and outclassed, dosent mean you give up and surrender, what kind of mentality is that for a army? You fight on. The french didnt want to fight, they gave up. the brits wouldnt have surrendered if the nazis invaded.
@@yarp123123123123123 ce n’est pas l’armée qui voulait ce rendre, c’est le gouvernement corrompu de Pétain. Il voulait collaborer, mais pas le reste de la France
Regardless of how the war ended, Germany's conquest of France was the greatest and most impressive story of WW2. Maybe even the greatest military success of the 20th Century.
Not really. More like one of the greatest military *failures* on Frances part. Something like 2 million soldiers surrendered. They were cowards. Germany didn't do anything special the French were just incompetent.
They didn’t surrender easily. They were completely outclassed and surrounded time and time again. They fought until they were beaten. Sure they could’ve fought to the last man and destroyed their county but what use is that. France wasn’t big like Russia, there was nowhere to run. Lots of French soldiers evacuated with the British at Dunkirk only to be sent back shortly after to fight in the south.
@@bestieswithtesties I used to think this until researching this much farther. It is true that French military doctrine did not keep up with the times. But where they fought, they fought with every bit of bravery expected of them. There are numerous examples of this: the french tanks at Stonne, destroying a German tank column (13 tanks & 2 anti-tank guns), taking over 120 rounds. There's the 40,000 French troops that held Dunkirk which allowed the BEF and many French to retreat. The French armies had many problems, but they were all problems from the top. Communication, separate arms (tank, artillery, infantry vs. combined arms), a lack of strategy concerning German maneuver plans. But the men fighting were not cowards.
To bestieswithtesties: cowards for signing an armistice in an impossible situation to win? (In june1940, France (then with a much smaller army) was in a 1 vs 2 against Germany and Italy). About 2.8 M German soldiers surrendered between june 1944 and august 1945. Cowards, according to you? How many German soldiers surrendered in 1918?
@@muhammaduzairkhawaja7774 That's why France won more wars than everybody else, that's why you can't tell jokes about ww2, that's why you can't speak when your sense of history comes from instagram memes
@@muhammaduzairkhawaja7774 there is no nation, no democracy on earth that can write it's own history without acknowledging a debt and influence to France.
No. It is wrongly attributed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger on Fox News. Patton had a French division fighting on his side, the 2nd AD of General Leclerc that he greatly appreciated
Fighting after a ceasefire - what does that mean for the victorious enemy? Take up arms again and fight civilians now that civilians have joined the hostilities?
@@avocadotoast6369 part 1: In my mind, "surrendering" meant giving up the fight without any conditions (basically abandon yourself at the mercy and will of the enemy). After verification, this nuance is not in the meaning of the word apparently. My mistake. Anyway, the German plan was a giant trap for the Franco-english army. It worked. To answer the OP: it was ~3 M French + ~300 k British (~3.30 M) VS ~3.35 M Germans (filled with pervitin, a methanphetamine that made fatigue vanish and increased courage.
@@avocadotoast6369 part 2: In june 1940, France _(then with a much smaller army, after the Germans encircled a big part of the French army and captured it near Dunkirk following the surprise attack in the Ardennes, and the Brits had fled back to England)_ was in 1 vs 2 against Germany and Italy with no chance of winning and thus asked for an armistice, like Germany had done in 1918 before the allies could enter Germany, and made it look like the north-east of France. Also: Populations in 1940: France: ~40 M Germany: ~77 M (Germany: 69.8 M + pop. Of annexed Austria and Sudetenland. That's almost twice the population of France)
Just like Napoleon, you can win 1,000 battles, have 100 victorious treaties, but it only takes 1 defeat to make you lose the war
Are you saying that N-germany was like napoleons france? I'd beg to differ..
@@pekka1900 I mean Germany defeated france, denmark, netherlands, poland, etc etc.... but it only took one defeat to make them lose the war. Even though they won dozens of victories but that didnt make them win the war
@@jerolvilladolid Yes, both countries defeated weaker neighboring countries with fast and bold campaigns, but neither really lost because of one defeat. Maybe you mean one bad decision? The bad decision being that you fight in too many places at once.
@@pekka1900 france wasnt weaker, they had more men, better tanks and were considered a great power, england wasnt weaker either but refused to fight the germans until the russians and americans came who were also much more powerful than germany
@@PrvnCoke lol, most of UK professionals soldiers was deployed in France hence Dunkirk. They didn't just sit back and watch
Germany was the winner of the first Tour De France
@@JacobA6464 ...
Yeah my bf 109's are soo fast
@@JacobA6464 Germany was the winner of the 1940 tour de France. Happy?
@@milorules2729 I am not happy either. No Tour de France in 1940. And the Germans couldn't be the winners of the Tour in 1940 as they didn't make a whole tour of France. They stayed in the North and on the western coast. The tour wasn't complete
Geez this reply make me cringe, get some jokes and dont be so serious, its just a jokes.
100k dead, 1.85M prisoned all in a month. Wow
Mokka incredible you should see the Soviet Campaign the numbers there are staggering.
20th Century im glad those numbers r high
@yep less no
@User Name It would have costed about 1.6 Million GI's to take Japan in an Invasion
@@threadworm437 so are nazis.
What an absolute humiliation that was. Imagine being French ww1 veteran and seeing this unfold before your eyes.
how not to understand them when you see the number of deaths because of the first world war on the side of France, the Germans were revengeful and united but France divided politically there would have been a civil war in France if the war had lasted
France and the British Empire started two world wars they could not win.
@@4oiseau208 Yet they fought on for 6 weeks after the ENGLISH ran away, just as they did at Corunna in 1809, and lost more soldiers than they lost in the first 3 months of the Battle of the Somme.
Personally, I think the main reason that you ENGLISH resent France, is that they beat you, hands down, to win the Hundred Years War. You just can't get over it, can you?
@@Demun1649
Pourquoi ce ton ? Celui à qui tu réponds est probablement français vu son pseudo, et en tout cas, il ne se montre pas accusatif envers la France, bien au contraire.
I'm not sure humiliation is the right word. This is humiliating, yes but it's also the thought that you wasted a few years in the trenches, saw countless of comrades die, eventually ended disabled or crippled and in the end, 20 years later, the ennemi you fought came back and won a crushing victory to gain control of your country.
More than the humiliation, it's the feeling of a terrible waste, and a kind of treason.
"I defeated Austrians just by marching " ~Napoleon.
130 years later Austrian painter took that revenge.
😂
He was half Czech from Austria.
@@tongobong1he was still Austrian
@@Defence69104 the other half was German. He was just born in Austria.
@@tongobong1 Austrians are Germans 💀💀💀
The Germans legitimately thought that France was going to put up a better fight than the USSR. They were shocked not only at their own success in beating France but in how few casualties they took in beating every single country they managed to defeat before July 1941
"how few casualties"
proceeds to lose about 60k soldiers, comparable to France
@@sigma_frenchie4075 France had better equipment and weapons than Germany at the time. The Battle of Hannut was the largest tank battle in history (before Barbarossa) in which the French managed to inflict great casualties against the Germans.
The French might have been able to single handedly beat Germany were it not for Germany's superior tactics.
France didn't lose because they were weak, France lost because they got outsmarted
@@sigma_frenchie4075 Germany lost 27k
@@lelouchvibritannia7809 France Lost because of some old general who didn't improve their strategy since the first World War . Youngest caporal understood before the second war how important was the communication, the tanks and mobility. But they were not listen
On every fight where this new ideology was planed by french militaries, french beats the Germans.
@@sigma_frenchie4075 cope
Look how happy the Germans were
It was a huge deal. They fought France for 4 years in WW1 and lost.
@@kevinswift8654 BECAUSE OF USA ..not loser France
@@alitheonekhatarnak5163 WHO us
@@hugopelkonen3249 usa
@@alitheonekhatarnak5163 i'm sorry to tell you that USA had nothing to do with outcome of War. France and other European countries were allready winning, USA just came and give some material.
I just know Napoleon was rolling in his grave seeing how badly France did during WW2
I wonder what would have happened if he were in charge at that time.
@@Laocoon283 he’d probably halt the German offensive. And maybe might gain some German grounds.
@@LostSpaceGuy He knew about blitzkrieg anyways
he was rolling since Napoleon the third lost Paris to Prussia in 6 months
@@noah95v99 hes sharp he would figure it out.
The generals saluting eachother was cool
Please
Yeah, they are not the one's who are killing each other.
Wow time I saw while reading
Professional courtesy
French was a commonly spoken language among aristocrats uptill the French revolution, after that I am not sure
Blitzkrieg is no joke
Same with underestimating your enemy. Had the Ardennes been well defended, the flanking maneuver wouldn’t have succeeded.
@@thedesertrat_9514 France didn’t understand that modern warfare was different and they were poorly prepared and like you say, the underestimated the Germans.
@@avarmauk De Gaulle understood Modern Warfare, but unlike Guderian, no old officer listened to him.
Yeah until you hit mud in Russian spring and snow in Russian winter
@@salvagemonster3612 That actually wasn't the cause though for the stop of the German army in the Eastern campaign. Yes it did cause problems but the Germans dealt with that before as shown in WW1 when the Germans defeated the Russian army.
The look on the French soldiers faces is devastating
Kinda like German prisoners being marched thru Moscow in 1944.
They literally had no idea what hit them: german tanks fighting in full squadrons while french generals still believed using one tank in support of a few infantry squads was the proper way to fight. An effective german air force crushing all hope at the first sight of a french victory on the ground...
high ranking officers and leaders of the french army were out matched strategically and morally speaking, french troops at the front were like a headless chicken.
@@sigma_frenchie4075 Original poster said the look on the french soldier faces were devastating. The one you replied to said the look on the french soldier faces were similar to the look on the german soldier faces when paraded like cattle through Moscow.
deserving
Poor french baguette
It's always fascinating to me how when a war end and a peace treaty is signed, the soldiers aren't treated that well and shamed, but the losing side's generals still get salutes from their opposing officers and are treated with respect
Sometimes, after being defeated in battle, the soldiers get the recognition they deserved:
At the French defense at the siege of Lille at the end of May 1940, ~40,000 French (w/ 50 tanks) faced ~160,000 Germans (w/ 800 Panzer tanks)). The French defense allowed to add 2 or 3 days for the Soldiers trying to leave Dunkirk - and save at least 100,000 more troops in Dunkirk (source: W. Shirer).
The German commander, General Alfred Wäger (general of the 27th Army Korps), allowed the French the honours of war. The garrison paraded through the Grand Place, as German troops stood to attention.
[Note that a part of these soldiers at Lille, were part of North African colonial units - but even in these units, some units of these troops were French settlers living in Algeria and native French as well; they were not only North African men]
@@krips22 he did, but the average german soldier would've still shamed their french counter parts, but the french generals would've been treated with salutes and utmost respect, like when when germany surrendered their generals were getting saluted
I guess it depends. Given the battle was short lived, I don't think anyone was treated with disrespect.
Officers are expected to treat other officers with respect no matter the side
Well, shouldn’t have treated us with Versailles if you don’t want to get shamed
One of the biggest armies in the world at the time got smashed in weeks!
Embarrassing
Bruh
Oh yes, while Germany was at the height of their power, and had the strongest military in europe at the time. Not to mention the abysmal leadership France had. Seriously, do people actually not do research anymore?
@@JacobA6464 Germany wasn't at their height of power. Their height of power would be in 1942 before Stalingrad.
@@brrrrrtenjoyer That's what im referring too...
@@JacobA6464 no, Germany wasnt the strongest at that time and actually never has been. France has the stronger army that's why its so humiliating
Why are the streets of Paris lined with trees?
Because Germans like marching in the shade.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh
That’s an old one 😬
but all the germans are dead
@Sanctus Paulus Oh sorry i meant nazis
@@ForeskinWillis no my grandpa still well and kicking it
France invades algeria:
Germany invades france :
Also algeria: how the tables have turned
*KaRMAa*
What's supposed to be the relation with this?
This happened all the time in europe, they were at war with themselfes and against the colonies
@@makky6239 noop the war gainst colonies started after ww2
And Haiti, Senegal, Mali, Egypt, Cotê d'Ivory, etc
The Germans did even better against the Soviet Union, but the Soviets could keep retreating until German supplies ran low. The French could not keep fighting from Spain. The Soviets had room to be unprepared.
Stalin didnt even do anything in 3 weeks when the ussr was being invaded
The French should have reteated into the Atlantic.
@@SemperMagnus The French army did keep fighting. The Free French forces numbered around 300,000 by 1944. They were mostly colonial troops.
@@pontifixmax 😅😅😅
Facts
France was using birds to communicate while Germans used radio soon as it was developed.
This should be a lesson for future wars
Birds xD. WW2 was no middle ages, you know. Both sides had radios (much more numerous on German side, that's true, but still) and they were using telegraph extensively.
The French absolutely did not use birds for communication.
French were using swords and shields while the Germans were using full automatics and tanks
French were swinging baguettes at them evil germains 🥖🤬
The real lesson we get from WW1 and WW2 is that WWs happend when we think they are impossible to start up, and lean on our security.
To compare, Poland lasted 35 days attacked from two sides, first by Germany at first of September and then by Russia 17th of September. 66 thousands soldiers killed, 133,700 wounded.
But most of Poland was reduced to rubble and countless civilians were slaughtered
@@StoneOcean595 That's becuse Poland never surrendered, fighting to the last man instead.
@@assgoblin-uh9zu the battle of France was lost when 70% of the army had been incirlced in dunkirk. France fought but you can't stop an entire army with like 30% of your with organisation issues. France also déclare paris open city to preserve it from destruction
So you despise the 100,000 French who gave their life fighting ?
Nobody knew how to counter Blitzkrieg by then, neither the Poles nor the French nor the British. Only the Russian succeeded.
@@gengis737 technicaly, the french were the one to invent a counter to the blitekrieg call "l'hérisson" who consist in letting the tank pass and then cut them from their supplies sources" the russian on the other hand were helped a lot by the winter and the very large front that germany cannot hold and ressuplied correctly
Words of Stalin,"couldn't they put up any resistance" it was the biggest embarrassment of any country in Europe in morden times.
OK Stalinist
get a weapon and fight for Palestine
i think France is in the same situation again ! but this time we are just going to disappear! we are blind ! we don't want to see what is obvious! c'est l'idéologie des temps modernes adios!
@@TusharSharma-cy9xo Aren't there some Palestinian kids in wheelchairs you have to take "care" of?
Same could be said of the soviet army during the first few months of Barbarossa
From a leader who did nothing for 6 weeks while his country was invaded. Yeah that’s who I would quote
Incredible footage. If the war happened just 40 years before we’d never have this
Just 40 years. Y’know, half a lifetime
@@MichaelJ44 (I think he meant life of person)
it depends
40 years like from 1910-1950 had really big impact on societal progress (changes)
40 years like 1350-1390 not such big
40 years isn't equal to 40 years
@@MichaelJ44you should’ve said 20 years. We literally didn’t have the IPhone/smartphone 20 years ago.
@@MichaelJ44 40 years can make a HUGE difference when it comes to human aspects like society and technology. The world of today has nothing to do with that of the 1980's: better in some aspects, worse in others, but different overall.
Y'all are forgetting it took us just 60 years to go from flying for the first time, to walking on the moon
That's the scale to scale equivalent of reaching Andromeda just 60 years after the first manned mission to Mars
France was overrun in 6 weeks. Seems like it would take 6 weeks to overrun a country the size of France even if they lacked any army at all.
Most of theyr millitary had been cutt off at belgium and dunkirk
So, after that, it was minimal resistance all the way to Paris
Denmark surrendered in 5 hours
This was before the US got involved until the Pearl Harbor attack which prompted entry and turned the tide in Europe by a long shot.
@Daniel Aloysius Gumulyo The Americans only came in both world wars when they were sure to win.
They now dare to tell us we owe them something and even spit on the graves of our ancestors.
Let's remember that the Brits, who bravely fled without even warning the French and the Belgiums, used them to cover their retreat and had to be saved by the French who protected their rescue operation at Lille and Dunkirk.
Now their descendants spit on the grave of the French who saved their ancestors from being completely captured.
France knew how it feel to be invaded
Very true facts without Britain and USA or Soviet union it was shiet
@@raulsaico9389 that's why Germany lost It had so many enemies but it din't have any allies
Frynox japan?
@@hoalongsabo6243
That's 1
Sentinal Entity italy?
Weil it wasn‘t just France! Almost the whole british mainland army fought at their side. Lucky brits they are an island which got HUGE amount of supplies from the US.
Except at the time of Battle of Britain the US were neutral and didn't do a thing except sending a handful of planes through their border with Canada.
And add on top a partial blockade of the islands by Kriegsmarine U-boats.
The brits put up a pretty fine fight, same as the french soldiers, but the main difference was in policies.
While the french gave up too quickly, the brits held on until the germans simply gave up on the idea of daytime bomber raids or sending troops
@@MDzmitry USA was sending boatloads of arms and even pilots to help out during, and before the battle of Britain, get your facts right.
@@Doctor_ko "and even pilots". Yeah, a whole 9 people with american citizenship who volunteered to serve in the RAF.
Not to underestimate the folks' participation, they did what they could. The point still stands: the US out of neutrality did less than what they could, and every person without a severe case of the US bias gets it.
@@MDzmitry Europe was doomed without the Arms and Supplies from USA, I have zero clue were you get your data. USA started sending thousands of tons of supplies by 1940, same year as BOB
@@Doctor_ko would you kindly list your sources? Preferably books or at least articles by proper historians.
2:20 not a phone is sight, just people living in the moment.
there were no phones back then
@@ememmeme8722 u don't say
How embarrassing that must have been. That still gnaws at the national pride of the French today. Every country in the world should learn from France's mistakes.
Its not a question of pride its history Germany take the entire Europe in 1940 like France do with Napoléon earlier in the past its not good or bad its history
That is why french people always hate on the british war 2
@@evelyn3693 on the what? The reason the french hate us is because we beat them so badly in wars
@@jamesharrison9336 they say is becus the british ran away
@@evelyn3693 “British ran away” no, the reason they left, is the entire army was going to be wiped out, for a lost cause
I'm so thankful that we were able to record the second world war so that we today can see it.
French when 100k soldiers die : I surrender
USSR when 20 million people die : What a nice victory
Разница в том,что Россию б уничтожили полностью,если бы она поиграла
I guess the French valued human life more than the communists who sacrificed those 20 million so Stalin could stay in power.
@@silverletter4551
I guess the soviet valued their country more than French
@@geo-crystallized3853 the Soviet Union’s population in 1940 : 194,000,000
France population in 1939 : 40,000,000
@@blacktimjack6137 and 10% of 40M is 400k, what’s the point of letting 300k more men dies of France’s is already lost ?
1:04 You can vividly see look of sorrow and dread on the French commander's face as he looks into the eyes of his counterpart, knowing full well that they are now entirely at his mercy.
The German General Felt Like The Main Boss
yeah
France did the same towards its many colonies. so do not take pity on it.
@@Pear_slingshot Not for long
Here are a few words from the Général, after Pétain’s capitulation:
« Beaucoup de Français n'acceptent pas ni la capitulation ni la servitude, pour des raisons qui s'appellent : l'honneur, le bon sens et l'intérêt supérieur de la patrie. »
« A lot of french people do not accept neither capitulation nor slavery, because of reasons called: honour, common sense and the superior interest of the fatherland »
The resistance was launched a day after the capitulation. It wasn’t the best resistance, sure. But it deserves to be recognised.
@El Mauro based
The Resistance was absolutely nothing until late 1942, when the Germans began to deport Frenchmen to Germany for Force Labour. Before then, most didn't have the money nor weapons to fight back & just let things play out
@El Mauro you'll never be as based as Robespierre.
What was the resistance's main goals? Wouldn't Germany just go back home once the Allies sued for peace? The Germans would get war reparations from Paris as well as territories such as Poland and Estonia, amongst others. Maybe a bit of disputed territory lost after WWI from France, but there would probably be no long term occupation.
@easter worshipper deportations are the words many have used for what the Germans did in ww2. And no, they were sending the civilians to Germany to work the Factories
The main picture appearing on your video is the Polish Royal Castle in Warsaw. It would be good to mention it in your introductory part of the video.
You mean the thumbnail
@@Qdavk Yeah
Guess they couldn't find any apocalyptic photo about German invasion of France
@@sudnoss Have a look at photos of Dunkirk in 1940. It's how France looked like in 1940.
@@phlm9038 Most of France was untouched by the war in 1940, the Allies did more damage and killed more French people when they invaded in 1944.
Must've felt exhilarating for some of the older officers who served in the First War and got to live to see the occupation of France.
The First World War had a lot to do with the performance of the French Army in 1940. That war had been so horrific and badly managed, Battle of the Frontiers, Verdun, Chemin des Dames etc., the army did not have the capability to fight another war.
France deserved it. The way they extorted Germany after the first world war (when germany didn't even start it) was unreasonable and punitive.
@@haydengalloway5177 To be fair, it's not hard to understand the attitude of the French, after all, they had been invaded by the Germans who had occupied a large part of Northern France and killed a great many Frenchmen. Had Germany won the war then doubtless their terms would have been equally as hard.
@@haydengalloway5177 and coerced the Brits into their entente ww1
@@rogueriderhood1862 Britain should have sided with the Kaiser
My Polish grandfather told me that when he was exiled in France on his way to Britain, all the French people cheered when the Germans entered in the city, as "the war was over". The only man he saw discontent was an Algerian recruit, he was crying disconsolately.
You have to understand the french situation, bad economy, they lost 50% of the 25-50 years old generations in WW1, they simply couldn’t do it again.
France was about 37millions people while Germany had twice that
Such a lie.
@@TheMourot Hahaha, because you were there. He was talking about the scene he saw in Bayonne, he picked the last comercial ship that is known about. Why would he lie?
@@alaindubarry2350 I commented it because I thought it was related to the video. I don't mean anything, I just said it. I could have done an essay on my particular opinion about it based on my historical knowledge, but I didn't, I leave that up to the readers.
@@kayzenl7911 we don't give a F* if france lost 50% of it's generations, great britain suffered in the same way, and they fought bravely against germans.
Funny how the Anglo version of history NEVER talks about the Dutch and. Belgians surrendering in days, the Brits fleeing pants down and hands up while the French kept the fight.
Too shameful for you guys to bear?
That is basically it yes, offourse being ruler of the world (and still are technically they just gave the throne over to america) they will dominate history.
Thing is they kept fighting and came back to liberate France.
@@kirklenagh3095 they did? or did they just let their american children and the soviets act as the meat grinder for them (like they did with the french in WW1) because they were to scared to break a nail.
@@delta2372 A walk through any Commonwealth War graves cemetery in Western Europe will attest to the sacrifice British and dominion troops made.
@@kirklenagh3095 I'm not questioning the sacrifice of the dominions, they had guts than their overlord that's for sure.
The Germans combined their modern equipment with modern tactics, and to devastating effect against the immense but strategically stagnant French firepower. I think Sun Tzu would have been proud of the invasion of France...
And as Michael Douglas quoted Sun Tzu in Wall Street, "Every battle is won before it's ever fought."
Sun Tzu was far too wise to be even close to proud of anything the Nazi's did.
@@combatwombatstl5598 wdym
@@combatwombatstl5598militarily i dont see a problem
2:19 pay back for 1923 probably felt so good
Just so sad seeing the french people weep and those French soliders fought with all their heart.Such a brutal time on earth so many dead
No they didn't. They surrendered almost immediately in terms of casualties. The French were infamously scared of conflict through out World War 2.
@@namethej9349 I don't think they were scared. They just got destroyed by Blitzkrieg and decided to surrender before the Germans attacked Paris
@@abdirahmanidris290 No, they were scared. There's many documented cases of the French soldiers just outright refusing to engage with the enemy. Most notably, they'd refuse orders to engage German's with artillery despite having the German's location because they were afraid that if they fired artillery, the Germans would fire artillery back... in a war... lol
@@namethej9349 That wasn't the whole army. Plenty fought the germans and wer injured and killed in action.
@@abdirahmanidris290 germans didnt attack paris. Paris was declared an open city and the germans took it with almost no fighting.
War is weird to watch, everyone knows what's happening and how serious it is while soldiers pretend like they hate each other until they surrender
well french and germans actually did hate each other at that time, not "pretend to"
You think those soldiers stopped hating the Nazi's and Japanese after the surrender? Most definitely not lol.
@@combatwombatstl5598 who would ever stop hating Nazis I mean 😂
@@combatwombatstl5598 exactly
The narrator: The French put up a great fight they died like flies!
that's martin sheen. trying times
😂
6 weeks...how stunning and brave
Paris looked better in 1940 than today in 2023
Too much tourist
@@Deimosbasic That's not why.
@Peter Svensson oof gotta be careful man
@peterSV11went to paris once a few years back, that place is even worse than cities in china now geez
Certainly “looked” more French
The war for France was lost in less than 6 days, the day the German special units moved around the Machaon line ,the war was lost and the regular army units did what they were trained for which was to guard and occupy with little fighting required. The war in the west won by Germany was carried out principley by special units tanks para gliders while the regular army units followed up in second dairy movements. sorry about the spelling
Are you English?
Horrible, but I'm glad that nowadays we work together with France as our closest ally. May there never be war between us again. I hope that at one point we can ensure that there's no war in europe and maybe in a distant future, no war on earth.
👍
@@phlm9038 daddt putin is comming and war in eu will never stop until western stop killing middle eastern its karma
Sike
As an European myself I'm telling you that today's Europe sucks and has learned nothing from the past.
agreed but it’s crazy to me how unlike you a few americans and europeans thirst for a war on their soil, they talk about civil wars as if it’s a wonderful thing their country must have
When the German surrender act was signed in Berlin in May 1945, a representative of the German command, seeing the representatives of France, asked sarcastically: "Did they defeat us too?" France was included among the victorious powers at the insistence of Stalin. This is something that in Europe they carefully want to forget.
What about free France ? They fought in the African campaign
@@mrworldwide7387 that didn't count dude, France lost the war and only ussr and the us and the uk were the biggest threat to Germany but France was nothing compared to them
@@腎臓魂 we still took back west Africa and Algeria despite our entire mainland being occupied and our navy destroyed by the British. Not having a big impact on a war isn’t the same as losing a war, a war is lost when its government completely stop fighting, that’s what some traitors like Petain did but some others like De Gaulle continued.
@@腎臓魂 right. Just forget about canada lol
@@腎臓魂 Remember the battle of Bir Hakeim : Free french forces stopped Rommel army of 37 000 thousands with 3700 soldiers ( ratio 10/1) enduring 16 days of enemy fire in order to help british retreat, retreat that led to the famous battle of El Alamein
We the french lost a battle ( Battle of France) but we tried as much as we could to contribute to the war effort, AT least the France led by De Gaulle
German Soldier after the war: "I didn't even know that we were at war I just walked right into Paris and no one stopped me"
That is not very respectful towards the 48 000 German soldiers who lost their life during the Battle of France. Only Paris was declared Open City but the Germans had to fight for other places.
@@phlm9038 disrespectful to the Nazis that invaded France? Good.
@@EthanL21800 Although I would say a lot of German soldiers weren't actually Nazis and were really forced into the war,that only started in Operation Barborossa,or so I think.The Germans simply needed to numbers and just poured everything they could muster onto the Soviets,even people who weren't actually Nazis.
@@EthanL21800 The SS were Nazis, most of the Wehrmacht weren't
@@gaminglichgamer4035 they knew what the regime stood for and they willingly supported it. They were Nazis
I like how the clip is about French surrender in 1940, but the thumbnail for the video is the Royal Castle in Warsaw burning after being bombarded by German artillery in September 1939. Because that scene is nowhere in the video, so it wasn't auto-generated by TH-cam.
Paris was the open city nothing was burning So filmmakers stretched the truth a "little" bit and used picture material from Warsaw The destruction started with a bombardment on September 17, 1939, which the castle caught fire. In 1939-40, German forces drilled holes for explosives in the whole building. Under cover of night,
Shows how much research they did
2:10 just look at him. he probably fought through the previous war, and now all is lost. France for the first time in its History is a great power no more. they dont know yet that the allies will prevail...
Well this one moment is a VERY BIG STAIN ON FRENCH MILITARY
Even though today its a nuclear power
Their History of winning was destroyed in SIX WEEKS
@@imperator791 destroyed by american propaganda, not by facts.
@@h4rck04 It's history of winning had a huge stain on it after surrendering to Germany. Is that better?
@@iranianintelligenceagency9337 No, because France ended in winner side of this war
@@h4rck04 A bunch of people beg to differ. If you haven't heard the backlash France has gotten for its surrender about 80 years ago, I don't know what to tell you.
Germany army before: *ATACC ATACC ATACC*
Germany army now: *Make moni Make moni*
Germany now : benz, mercedes, audi, ford, bmw, porsche, and volkswagen go vroom vroom amd money go cha ching
Best economic country in europe like Germany always on top
@@theblackguy7865Yes, with every country in the world mocking their failures and demonizing their ancestors, what a great glory!!
@@theblackguy7865 many migrants lol
Greece: *Surrenders in 6 months*
Norway: *Surrenders in 8 weeks*
France: *Surrenders in 6 weeks*
Poland: *Surrenders in 18 days*
Belgium: *Surrenders in 18 days*
Yugoslavia: *Surrenders in 11 days*
Netherlands: *Surrenders in 5 days*
Denmark: *Surrenders in 6 hours*
Everyone: Hahaha France is so week. They always surrender
when you look at the numbers and the history of the French army, as well as the size of their country, you'd expect them to put up more of a fight
@@BTClips522 "Stories that the French troops would not fight were not true. They had fought magnificently, but the organization behind them was totally inadequate" - Edward VIII, former King of England, Duke of Windsor.
By the way, France stood no chance. It has been sold to AH by a traitor.
Britain never surrendered
@無名賢者 Yeah. Poland definitely invited Germany in to fix their country. Love how Germany decided to remove the Polish from Poland. That would totally fix the country.
And Yugoslavia whose resistance post surrender was so fierce they actually liberated themselves without any help. They totally invited Germany in to fix their country. That's why they resisted harder than anyone else.
And who can forget France. One of the two countries most willing to fight Germany definitely invited Germany to beat them and humiliate them. So relatable
And of course, Greece. They loved Germany so much that they beat up the Italians so that way it was the Germans that would defeat them! You can definitely tell how much the Greeks loved the Germans!
in what part of history you saw 1.8million troops surrender?
*Under a month... 100,000 french soldiers die?!?! Are you kidding me 😳*
92k
@@oksowhat 92,000.00
Nothing compared when the Germans invaded Russia by the time they got close to Moscow they killed an astonishing 3 million soldiers
@@solid786snake there was no Russia then, it was just Soviet Union and the winter killed most of the Nazis not the soviets.. when the Nazis were on the way they actually had a big chance of taking Moscow but the winter ruined it all..
search Battles of Rzhev where 2 million soviets died in 2 months
Note that the Wehrmacht lost 40,000 men in this operation and the French collapsed due to a lack of leadership as well as a national will.
I don’t know about national will. The command structure itself collapsed, but the civilian populace continued the fight and what remained of the French army evacuated and would play a key role in some battles along with the Poles and Belgians
Dont bother, this comment section is full of Wehraboos. As we know, if it isn't German it shouldn't exist.
@@JacobA6464 facts
@@JacobA6464 Well said on that last part.
germany lost 60.000 men not 40.000 during campaign of france !
Guys, guys, you might want to change the miniature for this video. Its a photo from Polish 1939 campaign, not the french one
Thankful we have historical videos like this
I gotta say I was not expecting to hear Martin Sheen
what a humiliating defeat
Yeah , it’s annoying to see that France surrender so quickly even though their army was as powerful as Germany . Leadership was just a bunch of old cowards who thought it was still WW1
not impact on french history
Why on the miniature picture, there is king's castle in Warsaw, Poland?
As a keepsake for our "allies".
Paris was the open city nothing was burning So filmmakers stretched the truth a "little" bit and used picture material from Warsaw The destruction started with a bombardment on September 17, 1939, which the castle caught fire. In 1939-40, German forces drilled holes for explosives in the whole building. Under cover of night,
germany took on like 9 different nations and did a 9v1 and still took a while to beat. Quite amazing actually.
Germany actually gathered an alliance from the countries that were robbed in WWI or had the same enemies. Austria, Italy, Japan, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia and even partially Ukraine at some point. Tens of thousands of volunteers each from Holland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, the Balkans. Still impressive because USA and the Soviets both had near limitless resources. Whether we like it or not it was a European civil war and all of Europe had lost it.
France did the same back then, with Napoléon
If you put all manpower together then Germany only had slightly less soldiers than the combined amies of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Luxembourg so it was rather even if we don't take into account superior German tactics
I wish Britain sided with the Kaiser. And I do admire Germany.
Germany was not alone.. they had Italy , Japan on their side, as well as Russia for a portion of the war.
A little big moment in history that needs to be remembered because things like this can happen to you!
German losses indicate France wasn't a complete pushover.
nor was Poland.
Smithsonian, I hope you are aware of the fact that the thumbnail of this film depicts the burning Royal Castle in Warsaw after it's been bombed by Germans in September of 1939. Also, the description of the film has a little to do with its content.
Paris was the open city nothing was burning So filmmakers stretched the truth a "little" bit and used picture material from Warsaw The destruction started with a bombardment on September 17, 1939, which the castle caught fire. In 1939-40, German forces drilled holes for explosives in the whole building. Under cover of night,
If you think this is bad, at least these guys put up more resistance than their grandchildren.
@Texas Man dude, half of Texas has been overrun by the Aztec Empire
@@davidprice5678 Pretty much every state now.
@@davidprice5678 at least they're culturally compatible
@@davidprice5678 if you are talking about mexicans, then you really don't have too much of a leg to stand on. Texas is a former Spanish colony
@@abdirahmanidris290 Spaniards ≠ Mexicans
I bought a French WW2 rifle on eBay.
It was described as "never fired dropped once."
Might have rather been a Belgian Flemish rifle.
The ignorance in the comment section is truly astounding
Even worse.....disgusting !
I agree, lots of uneducated comments.
how does 1.85 million soldiers surrender jesus christ thats embarrassing
They didn't surrender all at the same time and all at the same place.
did made ww2 to know how you would act? ppl like you talking about real soldiers at war had already surrender at birth.
The same way the Russians did initially. You're being attacked so fast and brutally that your generals don't have time to think. The discombobulation falls down the ranks and before you know it you have an aggressive and organised army decending on you.
The soldiers look to their leaders, and the leaders to theirs and ask "what do I do?" and no one knows. Before you can retaliate or plan it's too late, you surrender or face slaughter.
@@thorpsy100 Exactly !
French 🇫🇷 ☕🍵
This comment section is full of children
Look who says it
TH-cam
That's for sure
Wooow look who's talking
@@raibowsiege3605 ohh look! a kid lacking grey matter
verry interesting thanks for this sir .
"The French troops fought like lions"
German general Von Reichenau.
"The French soldiers are the best of the world"
German general Von Kuchler.
1.2 million French soldier at the end of the war, more than 20 divisions.
Who said that France stopped to fight in 1940 ? (Weakened Germany so hard it couldn't invade Britain btw. You know, those 28% of the German Luftwaffe which dissapeard during the battle of the Alps, AFTER THE ARMISTICE, where the French Alps army continued to fight. Ah you like to say 6 weeks. And you like to forgot that the battle of France was a defeat for the german high command because their Luftwaffe will never recover such heavy casualties that happened in just 6 WEEKS.)
Here's :
"The battle of France is a defeat for us"
German general Von Kuchler.
@ragerblitz2361 No bro not always, the british propaganda during the napoleonic wars never said that France was brave and strong.
Absolutely not always.
And even more with a crushing defeat like 1940, the germans could have just laugh and celebrate, but it wasn't just respecting the French soldiers they faced and, like you can see, fought like lions.
Why is there the Warsaw Royal Castle on the thumbnail???
Only the english channel saved britain at this time in the war.
royal air force ,royal navy and our army had escaped
Absolutely correct!
The channel itself was defendable because Germany could not out match the RN and RAF. Britain was always a maritime power with small land forces. France was always a land power.
Erm the british navy always saves them you just make excuzez
@@evelyn3693 The ingratitude of the French is truly breathtaking.
When I heard the narrator, I was just like... Nah, it probably isn't. But I went to check and yes, this actually is Martin Sheen.
I didn't know The Illusive Man made documentaries about WW2
Less than 5 years later, the Germans who were lucky enough to still be alive had no towns to go home to.
Thats cap only the major cities where destroyed
@@swagkachu3784 not even all of them justa few like mainz, berlin, vienna, copenhagen and Hannover
Cuz they Don't surrender like france
The big difference between the French leaders of the First and Second World War, was the leadership! In the First World War the French army was much inferior in number to the German army, but it had great leaders, such as Clemenceau, Foch, Poincare, etc. in the second world war they did not have leaders of this magnitude
French army just before Ww2 was the best army in the world , but the leadership were a bunch of old cowards
@@titcab8159same could be said about the French soldiers😂 they were still in their glory days of defeating Germany in ww1 that they refused to fire artillery cannons at opposition forces being afraid that they would fire back 😂 they were cowards too afraid to attack the enemy in a war.
@@APS378my great grandpa was one of the first French volunteers to go to the East to stop germany. He was later captured to work in a german camp, he then escaped and joined French resistance.
What you are saying is false and its a big stereotype.
@@titcab8159 I’m sorry I didn’t mean to label all French soldiers as cowards as they fought for their motherland, what I should’ve said that some of the French soldiers were too afraid too attack the Germans in a war during the early stages of ww2
@@titcab8159 whoa, French army the best in the world before WW2? I'm not contradicting you, I'm only surprised. I thought the armies of Germany, the US and even England were more powerful than the French.
I can't imagine that speaking german is worse than the state of france nowdays.
This comment section is one of the wildest I've ever seen. I mean who are these people ?
how? this is an extremely tame comment feed especially for youtube lol
Ironically , Charles De Gaulle wrote books years before WW2 about uses of tanks in a similar way than Blitzkrieg , it was kind of a best seller among militaries , specially in Germany...
a n i m e
n
i
m
e
It was British colonel JFC Fuller's book about armoured warfare, written in 1923, which inspired Guderian and the other Germans.
Guderian himself: "I am indebted to Colonel Fuller for much of my inspiration in the development of armoured warfare".
I don't think De Gaulle's work was publicly available. More probably an internal report.
It didn't take a genius to think that armored vehicles would be useful for maneuver warfare. What's news is all those WW1 heads who still wanted to fight with light infantry.
France declared war on Germany.
France declared war on Germany because Germany attacks poland
@Aniruddh Germany never declared war on USSR. They declared war on USA.
@@guillaumelvl9088 france attacked lots of countries in Africa...so whats your problem...poland persecuted German citizens in west...so what...????
Germany also declared war on the moon
@@vaynervayner387 Germany tried to invade the USSR
It was the French High command that failed the nation, not the army. We only started making fun of France because they protested our invasion of Iraq in 2003
And the French were right, in the end...
and because USA didn't wanted France to have nuclear weapon but France paid a lot to create its own nuclear weapon. While brits and USSR used american research to got them
So you've been making fun of them for 18 years while they've been laughing at you since your country formed and you needed them to come and save you.
@@mattsmith5421 Largest army in the world, got THRASHED so badly that their great, grand-children are being made fun of to this day. No excuse whatsoever. No one remembers France’s past victories because they surrendered in THE BIGGEST, BLOODIEST war in human history which involved almost the entire world. I would rather lose a thousand battles, or even smaller wars, before losing a freaking World War, because that’s the one which will be remembered the most throughout history. The French soldiers in this video knew that just by looking at their faces. They can have all the resistance fighters they want, but the second Germany broke their army, France fell into shame
@@abba-Flammenfresser I can see you know absolutely nothing about Napoleon or the second world war. Really over 200 countries were involved in ww2 I think not. I'm guessing you're a whiney American who's a bit hurt by facts
So sad seeing the defeated French soldiers surrendering and marching as prisoners. Much love to France from Australia. Vive la France!
lol
@@miguelpacheco2129 Lol, the man who laughs at sincerity. Is that narcissism or low IQ.
Finaly an english speaker who don't jock about the death of thouthand of ours great great parents who died to defend our country
Finally an intelligent person.
@@eddy_malouempereur_du_cong6536 your country is in mess because of the roulette
5 Years later:
Russians: *Siege Berlin*
Also russians: *Knock knock*
also russians: using theyre people as gun fodder to waste german ammo... wouldnt say they are the good guys either
@@mashedpotato4465 true. They had no honors as the Turkish described them.
@@mashedpotato4465 That’s a myth
the last soldiers defending berlin being french:
That’s why you showed on video’s miniature The Royal Castle in Warszawa, Poland? Oh, yes, you wanted to give an example - Poland has never surrendered like France :)
It was deafeted technically, so the de jure surrender was not necessary
Remember when poland wasn't even a country anymore 🤣🤣
@@filipkopec525 well, the defeat doesn’t mean you give up fighting or surrender. There were a significant number of soldiers on the West, working government and the biggest European resistance army.
@@mateuszmatlak4844 i know but I am just stating that the Polish state no longer controlled any of its territory
@@filipkopec525 If someone holds you controling your body it doesn’t’ mean that you have to surrender :) it doesn’t mean you’re defeated.
Why a photo form burning Warsaw, when the video is about France?!
Because germans did not burn anything in Paris but the content maker had to show some atrocities )
it's not a fun video but i still don't get it why people in comment section making fun of it and telling jokes.....
There is a simple explanation : these people are kids :)
@@phlm9038 people talking about france surrender meme but no one talking about france taking germany in 6 DAYS LOL and while germany took france 6 weeks with motorized and and french use their on foot on napoleonic wars
@@baseplate7566 Germany wasnt even a country during napoleonic wars
@@BiasN there was holy roman empire which was more expanded than germany even if germany united on that time they would have still lose
They are brave warriors, they know how to talk about honor, courage and strategy on a battlefield in Call of Duty.
Les soldats français de 1940 se sont battus et n’ont pas démérité. Je tiens à rappeler que , en l’espace de plus de 44 jours de combats , un peu moins de 90 000 soldats français ont été tués au combat ou sont morts des suites de leurs blessures. Durant ces durs combats , plusieurs milliers de soldats français mourraient donc chaque jours. Ayez donc un peu de respect envers ces soldats qui ont fait de leur mieux.
Oui
🤣🤣🤣👋👋
@@bessabesse2855 ?
Les Français ne peuvent pas se battre, ils ne peuvent tuer que leur innocent monarque. Leur général le plus célèbre est en fait un lieutenant italien
Murat Oguz C’est toujours simple de critiquer quand on vit 80 ans après les faits. De plus, Napoléon n’était pas italien, il était français (originaire de Corse). De plus, la France est l’un des pays ayant le plus grand nombre de victoires militaires.
Not french, but I had the old “if the Nazis won, we’d all be speaking German” meme shoved down my throat since I was aware of ww2. Well, I’d take sprecken z deutsch over the mess Europe is in now any day, all day.
USSR and Western Allies destroyed Berlin but Germany didnt speak english or russia, they kept speaking german, thats the difference between allies and axis. Europe's today situation cant be changed from past people of EU should do something themselves or shut the F about it
Also about 340,000 British soldiers fled.
Who would later regroup and defeat the Germans. Why would they fight out of foreign soil?
If the Brits had gotten captured alongside the French the situation would have been even worse. Since they were able to get away, they were able to repel the Germans from Great Britain. Great Britain was an important launch point for the invasion of Western Europe. It might seem heartless, but it probably helped France in the long run, as the British were able to comeback later with more allies and better equipment to help push out the Germans. They lost the battle, but ultimately won the war.
Meanwhile the British quietly slip out the back door and pretend that they weren’t there.
Same thing happening now in Afghanistan ....Why should we fight for a country that's not going to fight for themselves
@@LetzLaughh How about quitting rewriting history, cyber-badasses well-protected behind your seas?
In ww2, France had ~210 k military deaths and ~390 k civilian deaths, in total and ~600 k killed - that's more than the US individuals killed in ww2, and that's also more than the Brits killed in ww2 (for reference, the USA gad ~407 k soldiers killed, ~419 k Americans killed in all; The UK had 383.7 k soldiers killed, 450.9 British people killed in all).
Are you British? A little respect for the Frenchmen that stubbornly and valliantly fought so that you could reach back your shore from Dunkirk...
German general Georg Von Küchler, General of the 18th Army of the Wehrmacht, about the battles around Dunkirk at the end of may 1940:
"Despite our crushing numerical and material superiority, the French counter-attack in several places. I fail to understand how these soldiers fighting sometimes at 1 against 20, can find enough strength to make an assault. It's just stunning." (...)
"By resisting ten days or more to our much bigger forces, the French army has accomplished, in Dunkirk, a superb achievement that one must commend. They have certainly saved Great Britain from the defeat by allowing the British professional army to reach back the English coast."
General Walther Von Reichenau, general of the 6th Army of the Wehrmacht: "The French troops have fought like lions!"
At the French defense at the siege of Lille at the end of May 1940, ~40,000 French (w/ 50 tanks) faced ~160,000 Germans (w/ 800 Panzer tanks)). The French defense allowed to add 2 or 3 days for the Soldiers trying to leave Dunkirk - and save at least 100,000 more troops in Dunkirk (source: W. Shirer).
The German commander, General Alfred Wäger (general of the 27th Army Korps), allowed the French the honours of war. The garrison paraded through the Grand Place, as German troops stood to attention.
[Note that a part of these soldiers at Lille, were part of North African colonial units - but even in these units, some units of these troops were French settlers living in Algeria and native French as well; they were not only North African men]
the narrator sounds exactly like Martin sheen the guy from West Wing, is that actually him?
Can't believe this just happened 5 years ago!
are you making a joke?
no smartphone in sight... just people living in the moment
Imagine surrendering with 1.8 million active soldiers, germany dodged a bullet there, imagine the fight the french could have put up if they had the guts, they let down their whole country and reputation.
The moral was destroyed. They faught brave even loosing thousends so the british could flee- The elite was dead and now just simple recruits were fighting professionals. The German controlled the sky and the Luftwaffe was bombing their Bunkers etc. Also they tried to make fallback lines but due to the fast movements of the tanks many were overrun before they could reach the line.
The French had the guts they just didnt have the cannons and the allies! The French were betrayed by the british right there u can see it by just looking how the brits portrait Dunkirk.
@@jungeoida4327 All that might be true but just because you are outgunned and outclassed, dosent mean you give up and surrender, what kind of mentality is that for a army? You fight on. The french didnt want to fight, they gave up. the brits wouldnt have surrendered if the nazis invaded.
@@yarp123123123123123 ce n’est pas l’armée qui voulait ce rendre, c’est le gouvernement corrompu de Pétain. Il voulait collaborer, mais pas le reste de la France
@@yarp123123123123123 Keyboard warrior.
@@Packard772 yeah, ive put up more of a fight on youtube being a keyboard warrior than the french did in WW2 😂😂😂😂
France: loses more men in the 6 week Battle of France than the US did in the entire 20 years of the Vietnam War
USA: "lol France gives up so easily"
@@metal_fusion 1955-1975
Can you count?
👍
@Ethan Aasen November 1st 1955.
Why are you trying to discuss? 🤷♀️
@@tsarbomba01 Congress authorized the bulk of the US army to move to Vietnam in 1965. Before it was several thousand soldiers.
@@Jay-qb9gi so?
There is gonna be an argument isnt it
IN A WAR FRANCE STARTED... JUST MENTIONING, SOME PEOPLE FORGET
Ah yes when France famously invaded Poland....
@@goodshipkaraboudjan france declared war on germany :)
@@goodshipkaraboudjan France declared war first
@@roninzero12 Since France ensured the independence of Poland which was unjustly attacked by Germany
@@Guillgoo "unjustly"
Do you know what the treaty of Versailles was and what the polish did to germans in Poland during those years?
I had no idea the illusive man was a narrator
0:17 I’m starting to get some BF1 flashbacks looking at that MP-18.
Sorry bro but it is a mp 38
It is mp28(
Regardless of how the war ended, Germany's conquest of France was the greatest and most impressive story of WW2. Maybe even the greatest military success of the 20th Century.
Not really. More like one of the greatest military *failures* on Frances part. Something like 2 million soldiers surrendered. They were cowards. Germany didn't do anything special the French were just incompetent.
It would be most impressive if 1 850 000 French soldiers actually fought instead of their leaders surrendering so effortlessly and quickly.
They didn’t surrender easily. They were completely outclassed and surrounded time and time again. They fought until they were beaten. Sure they could’ve fought to the last man and destroyed their county but what use is that. France wasn’t big like Russia, there was nowhere to run. Lots of French soldiers evacuated with the British at Dunkirk only to be sent back shortly after to fight in the south.
@@bestieswithtesties I used to think this until researching this much farther. It is true that French military doctrine did not keep up with the times. But where they fought, they fought with every bit of bravery expected of them. There are numerous examples of this: the french tanks at Stonne, destroying a German tank column (13 tanks & 2 anti-tank guns), taking over 120 rounds. There's the 40,000 French troops that held Dunkirk which allowed the BEF and many French to retreat.
The French armies had many problems, but they were all problems from the top. Communication, separate arms (tank, artillery, infantry vs. combined arms), a lack of strategy concerning German maneuver plans. But the men fighting were not cowards.
To bestieswithtesties: cowards for signing an armistice in an impossible situation to win? (In june1940, France (then with a much smaller army) was in a 1 vs 2 against Germany and Italy).
About 2.8 M German soldiers surrendered between june 1944 and august 1945. Cowards, according to you?
How many German soldiers surrendered in 1918?
They say the bigger your the harder you fall.
Yeah thats why "the best military in the world" fell so hard 🤗
@@muhammaduzairkhawaja7774 That's why France won more wars than everybody else, that's why you can't tell jokes about ww2, that's why you can't speak when your sense of history comes from instagram memes
@@muhammaduzairkhawaja7774 there is no nation, no democracy on earth that can write it's own history without acknowledging a debt and influence to France.
@@lasalle1042 doesnt change tha fact of surrender? Does it?
@@muhammaduzairkhawaja7774 doesnt change the fact they surrendered once to preserve the citizen's lives
Patton said that as fighters, the French were worth nothing.
No. It is wrongly attributed by former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger on Fox News. Patton had a French division fighting on his side, the 2nd AD of General Leclerc that he greatly appreciated
Not at all, learn history before talking.
Patton??? An anglo??? More useless than a bug
France conquered a vast empire and brought many positive and negative things. Yet the French had their right to resist German conquest??????
resisting against foreign enemy is natural but what I think France didn't have right is to continue their colonial empire after ww2
Fighting after a ceasefire - what does that mean for the victorious enemy? Take up arms again and fight civilians now that civilians have joined the hostilities?
That Quick...History repeats..
a million soldiers at their disposal and they surrendered.
what a shame.
France didn't surrender, it signed an armistice (otherwise France would have been fully conquered - there would have be no Vichy France - DUH!).
One month: 100k killed and 240k wounded. Do the maths.
After 3 months, you have no one left. And no future.
@@krips22Sounds a lot like surrendering!
@@avocadotoast6369 part 1: In my mind, "surrendering" meant giving up the fight without any conditions (basically abandon yourself at the mercy and will of the enemy). After verification, this nuance is not in the meaning of the word apparently. My mistake.
Anyway, the German plan was a giant trap for the Franco-english army. It worked.
To answer the OP: it was ~3 M French + ~300 k British (~3.30 M) VS ~3.35 M Germans (filled with pervitin, a methanphetamine that made fatigue vanish and increased courage.
@@avocadotoast6369 part 2: In june 1940, France _(then with a much smaller army, after the Germans encircled a big part of the French army and captured it near Dunkirk following the surprise attack in the Ardennes, and the Brits had fled back to England)_ was in 1 vs 2 against Germany and Italy with no chance of winning and thus asked for an armistice, like Germany had done in 1918 before the allies could enter Germany, and made it look like the north-east of France.
Also: Populations in 1940:
France: ~40 M
Germany: ~77 M (Germany: 69.8 M + pop. Of annexed Austria and Sudetenland. That's almost twice the population of France)
Why on miniature of this video is a Kings Castle in Warsaw ???