The period of occupation in France is preferred to be remembered as a heroic time. Charles de Gaulle, the Resistance... However, the impartial footage of the photo chronicle shows that everything was not quite the way the veterans tell and write in the history books. These photographs were taken by a correspondent for the German magazine Signal in Paris 1942-44. Color film, sunny days, smiles of the French, welcoming the occupiers. 63 years after the war, the selection became the exhibition "Parisians under the Occupation". She caused a huge scandal. The mayor's office of the French capital banned its display in Paris. As a result, permission was achieved, but France saw these shots only once. Second - public opinion could no longer afford. The contrast between the heroic legend and the truth turned out to be too striking.
photo by Andre Zucca from the exhibition in 2008
2. Orchestra on Republic Square. 1943 or 1944
3. Changing of the guard. 1941
5. The public in the cafe.
6. Beach near the Carruzel Bridge. Summer 1943.
8. Parisian rickshaw.
Regarding the photographs "Parisians during the Occupation". What hypocrisy on the part of the city authorities to condemn this exhibition for the "lack of historical context"! Just the photographs of the journalist-collaborator remarkably complement other photographs on the same topic, talking mainly about Everyday life Wartime Paris. At the cost of collaborationism, this city avoided the fate of London, or Dresden, or Leningrad. Carefree Parisians sitting in a cafe or in a park, roller-skating boys, and fishermen on the Seine are the same realities of wartime France as the underground activities of the Resistance. For what it was possible to condemn the organizers of the exhibition, it is not clear. And there is no need for the city authorities to become like the ideological commission under the Central Committee of the CPSU.
9. Rue Rivoli.
10. Showcase with a photograph of Collaborator Marshal Pétain.
11. Kiosk on Avenue Gabriel.
12. Metro Marbeuf-Champs Elysees (now - Franklin Roosevelt). 1943
13. Shoes made of fiber with a wooden block. 1940s.
14. Poster for the exhibition at the corner of rue Tilsit and the Champs Elysees. 1942
15. View of the Seine from the St. Bernard embankment, 1942.
16. Famous milliners Rosa Valois, Madame le Monnier and Madame Agnes during Longchamp, August 1943.
17. Weighing jockeys at the racetrack Longshan. August 1943.
18. At the grave unknown soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, 1942
19. In the Luxembourg Gardens, May 1942.
20. Nazi propaganda on the Champs Elysees. The text on the poster in the center: "THEY GIVE THEIR BLOOD, GIVE YOUR WORK to save Europe from Bolshevism."
21. Another Nazi propaganda poster, issued after the bombing of Rouen by British aircraft in April 1944. In Rouen, as you know, the French national heroine Joan of Arc was executed by the British. The inscription on the poster: "KILLERS ALWAYS RETURN.. ..TO THE CRIME SCENE."
22. The caption to the picture says that the fuel for this bus was "city gas".
23. Two more automonsters from the time of the Occupation. Both pictures were taken in April 1942. The top picture shows a car fueled by charcoal. The bottom picture shows a car running on compressed gas.
24. In the garden of the Palais Royal.
25. The central market of Paris (Les Halles) in July 1942. The picture clearly shows one of the metal structures (because the pavilions of Baltar) of the era of Napoleon III, which were demolished in 1969.
26. One of the few black and white photographs of Zukka. On it is the national funeral of Philip Enriot, Secretary of State for Information and Propaganda, who advocated full cooperation with the occupiers. On June 28, 1944, Enrio was shot dead by members of the Resistance.
27. Playing cards in the Luxembourg Gardens, May 1942
28. The public in the Luxembourg Gardens, May 1942
29. In the Parisian Central Market (Les Halles, the very "womb of Paris") they were called "meat dressers".
30. Central market, 1942
32. Central Market, 1942
33. Central market, 1942
34. Rue Rivoli, 1942
35. Rue Rosier in the Jewish quarter of the Marais (Jews had to wear a yellow star on their chest). 1942
36. in the Nation quarter. 1941
37. Fair in the Nation quarter. Pay attention to the funny carousel device.
What does France have to do with the victory over fascism?
Freedom-loving, democratic and left-leaning France (which is the historical image that many of us are used to) was nothing more than a myth. Historian Zeev Sternhel in his works he repeatedly raised the question of the “French roots of fascism”.
Of course, in the Soviet Union it was well understood that the "great" French resistance could not in any way be compared with partisan movement V Belarus or Yugoslavia, since, according to some estimates, it was inferior in its scope even Italy And Greece. But, nevertheless, France was seen by Soviet politicians as the weakest link in the capitalist system, again Charles de Gaulle did not hesitate to demonstrate his frankly skeptical attitude towards US and NATO, and therefore some myths of French history were looked through with fingers.
Now the situation has changed dramatically. From the former French independent policy no trace left. France - regardless of which party government is in power - behaves like an obedient satellite of the United States. And this gives us, the Russians, citizens of the country that suffered the most damage in the world from the war, finally an impartial look at the so-called French ally in the anti-Hitler coalition ...
War of haute couture
When the Second World War began in September 1939, French society met it in the highest degree strangely: did ... an abundance of new "patriotic" hats appear ?! So, the so-called "Astrakhan fez" became a bestseller. In addition, checkered fabric began to be intensively imported from England, which was used to cut women's berets. This style of headwear immediately brought to life many new hairstyles. Much was borrowed from military baggage.
So, for example, a hat designed Rosa Desca, very reminiscent of an English cap. In addition, a new accessory came into fashion almost immediately. Many wore the obligatory gas mask on their side. The fear of gas attacks was so great that for several months the Parisians did not even dare to go out without it. The gas mask could be seen everywhere: in the market, at school, in the cinema, in the theater, in a restaurant, in the subway. Some of the French women showed a lot of ingenuity in disguising gas masks. High fashion felt this trend almost immediately. So fancy bags for gas masks, made of satin, suede or leather, began to appear.
A woman with a wheelchair equipped against gas attacks. England 1938
Advertising and trade immediately joined this process. A new style has appeared - in the form of miniature gas masks they began to produce perfume bottles And even tubes of lipstick. But the cylindrical hatboxes that Lanvin made were considered special chic. They even stepped across the Atlantic. With cylindrical handbags, very reminiscent of cases for gas masks, Argentine and Brazilian fashionistas began to walk around, who were by no means threatened by the horrors of war.
The war and its first consequences (air raids and power cuts) dictated a change in the behavior of the French, especially the townspeople. Some of the eccentric Parisians began to wear khaki shirts with gilded buttons. Epaulettes began to appear on jackets. Traditional hats were replaced by stylized shakos, cocked hats and fezzes. Attributes came into fashion operetta military. Many young women, with their summer tan still on their faces, refused to style their hair. They fell on their shoulders, resembling a kind of hood that had previously been called upon to protect from the cold. Curls and curls went out of fashion almost immediately.
Against the backdrop of the official military propaganda in the press, again strange at first glance questions sounded the loudest: how would it be better to sell all collections of fashionable clothes - to the French and foreign clients? How to keep the palm, which has traditionally been reserved for Parisian haute couture? In one of the French newspapers, the following phrase flashed: "Where are those glorious old days when people from all over the globe flocked to Paris? When the sale of one luxurious dress allowed the government to buy ten tons of coal? When selling a liter of perfume allowed you to buy two tons of gasoline? What will happen to the 25,000 women who worked in fashion houses?”…
As you can see, at first the war for the French was just inconvenience that interfered with fashionable life. This is the only way to understand the essence of the proposal with which the famous French fashion designer Lucien Lelong addressed the authorities. He wanted guarantees state support ... French couturier! He tried to explain that in the conditions of war such support was vital, and the continuation of high-class tailoring in France would allow him to maintain a presence in foreign markets! He said:
« Luxury and comfort are national industries. They bring millions of foreign exchange reserves, which we now so badly need. What Germany earns with the help of mechanical engineering and the chemical industry, we earn with transparent fabrics, perfumes, flowers and ribbons "...
The situation changed little when the period of the “strange war” passed and real fighting. The inhabitants of France saw the catastrophe mainly only in the fact that fashionable shops, variety shows and restaurants were closed. Now the war was perceived not just as an inconvenience, but like a ruinous mom nt. As a result, the defeat of France in the war was met, albeit wary, but without tragic moods.
Interrupted daily life resumed almost immediately after the occupation by the Germans Northern France. Already on June 18, 1940, almost all stores opened iron shutters on their windows. Large department stores in Paris: Louvre, Galeries, Lafayette, etc. - started working again. Years later, France will have a new literary genre- “How I did not like boches” (in Germany, its analogue will be “How I sympathized with the anti-fascists”).
However, the actual diary entries made by the French in the second half of 1940 showed a completely different picture. Many almost rejoiced that they could reopen their establishments. The owners of shops, stalls and restaurants were pleased with an unprecedented number of " new visitors". They were even more delighted that they were ready to buy everything Germans paid in cash…
A crowd of women, children and soldiers with the signature Nazi salute. France
Large groups of "tourists" in field gray uniforms and armbands with swastikas actively photographed all Parisian sights: the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower. And although the majority of the population was wary of what was happening, there were also many who openly welcomed the occupying troops. Gradually the fear went away. Young schoolgirls with braided pigtails sometimes mustered up the courage to smile at the conquerors. In Paris, gradually scattered: « How polite are they?!», « How cute are they!». The Germans became charming invaders". In the subway, without hesitation, they gave way to the elderly and women with children. Not only trade has revived, but also public life, although this happened in a very specific way.
Path to the Nazi EU
“The European idea is deeply rooted in France. Since Europe has become associated primarily with Germany, then this idea works exclusively for us. Currently, the exhibition "France-European", the opening of which was organized by our diplomatic services attracts the attention of many visitors. We have connected the radio, the press and literary reviewers to continuously propagate the European ideology.”
These were the words contained in the message of the German ambassador Otto Abeza, which was sent on 23 June 1941 to the Reich Foreign Minister Ribbentrop. It must be said that " European ideas for France were not new.
It was the French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand at the end of the 20s put forward the idea of uniting Europe. It immediately began to be actively discussed both in the left and in the right circles of the republic. There are many new magazines appearing in France: “ New order», « New Europe”,“ Plans ”,“ The struggle of the young. From the titles it already follows that young French intellectuals, holding different political views, were looking for new ways to transform the "old Europe" with its disputed territories, mutual reproaches, economic crises and political scandals. Questions were actively discussed as to whether it was possible for the emergence of pan-European patriotism, supra-class socialism, and whether these phenomena could become the basis for the unification of all Western European peoples.
It should be noted that these discussions did not stop during the Second World War. No European country under German control wrote so much about " European idea like in France! The so-called. "Vichy government", as its youngest representatives immediately turned to the German ambassador Abetsu. They presented to the German diplomat a plan for the reorganization of France, which was supposed to not only meet the "standards" of the "axis" countries, but also integrate your economy into a common (read German) economic space. The policy statement did not at all resemble the request of the occupied country - the representatives of the "Vichy government" intended "through the defeat of France to gain the victory of Europe."
Specifically, their memorandum stated:
“We are forced to take an active position, as our country is in distress. Military defeat, growing unemployment, the specters of hunger disorientated the public. Being under the pernicious influence of old prejudices, false propaganda, which feeds on facts alien to the lives of ordinary people, instead of looking to the future, our country turns into the bygone past, content with voices heard from abroad. We offer our countrymen an extremely useful and exciting field of activity that can satisfy the vital interests of the country, revolutionary instincts and demanding national self-consciousness.
The proposed transformation of France included seven important components: the adoption of a new political constitution, the transformation of the French economy, which was supposed to integrate into the European economy, the adoption of a public works program in the field of construction, the creation national socialist movement, new landmarks in foreign policy France.
Of all this list, we should be primarily interested in the question of the "new" foreign policy. On this issue, the document stated the following:
“The French government does not want to abuse the confidence placed in it, and therefore won't let you recreate the past system of unions, focused on the preservation of the so-called. equilibrium in Europe. In addition, France should not be a weak point, but a zone through which non-European political ideas would seep. France is forever connected with the fate of the continent, it emphasizes solidarity, which in the future should unite our country with all the peoples of Europe. Based on this, we believe that France should become the defensive frontier of Europe, which is predetermined by our sea coast, and therefore can become a European bastion in the Atlantic. France will be able to cope with this task if the same harmonious distribution of responsibilities is applied in this area as in the areas of the economy. France must protect Europe primarily through the strength of her fleet and colonial troops.
For the most part " European idea” in France was clearly Anglophobic in nature. This was not surprising, given the details of the meeting between Marshal Pétain and Hitler, which took place on October 24, 1940 in the town of Montoire-sur-le-Loire. During these negotiations, Hitler told the marshal, who became the head of France:
“Someone has to pay for the lost war. It will be either France or England. If England covers the costs, France will take her rightful place in Europe and can fully maintain her position. colonial power».
Activists who rallied around the New Europe magazine actively developed this topic. In the course was the story of the deceased at the stake Joan of Arc, treacherous flight of British troops from Dunkirk, attacks on french navy near Mers el-Kebir and much more…
… It would seem that all these historical facts you could continue to look through your fingers, which, in fact, was done at one time Soviet politicians. However, the first wake-up call for us came in 1994, when the Russian delegation was not invited to the celebrations dedicated to the opening of the Second Front. At the same time, the Western community openly hinted that they say France is a real victorious country, and Russia "as it were, not very much." And today these sentiments to distort history in the West are only intensifying.
So it makes sense for our historians and diplomats (before it is too late) to pose a number of questions to the world community that require an extremely clear answer:
- why for one Frenchman who went into partisans, there were several of his compatriots who voluntarily enlisted in the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS?
- why did one hundred pilots from the Normandie-Niemen squadron account for many thousands of Frenchmen who were captured by the Soviets when they fought on the side of Hitler?
- why the radical French fascist Georges Valois ended his days in the Sachsenhazuen concentration camp, and the French communist Jacques Doriot volunteered for Eastern front to fight against the USSR?
- why the last battles in Berlin at the Reich Chancellery, the Red Army had to fight not against fanatical Germans, but against French SS?
- why not differing in length historical memory did the Europeans begin to attribute the arbitrariness perpetrated by the French occupation authorities in Germany to units of the Red Army?
- why the Vichy administration Francois Mitterrand after the end of the war he became a respected politician, and the great French writer Louis Ferdinand Celine was subjected to "public dishonor"?
- why did the fashion designer who collaborated with the invaders Lucien Lelong was hailed as a figure of "cultural resistance" ("He saved French fashion"), and the French novelist and journalist Robert Brasillach was shot as an accomplice of the invaders?
And finally, the most important two questions:
- Can France be considered the winner of fascism, if it was her predatory policy, carried out under the guise of the Versailles Peace Treaty, on the one hand that provoked the emergence of Italian fascism and German National Socialism, and on the other hand laid the foundation for global geopolitical conflict which eventually escalated into World War II?
France during the occupation in World War II.
Poll in France: Who made the most significant contribution to the victory over Germany in World War II? 60 years of propaganda...
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The period of occupation in France is preferred to be remembered as a heroic time. Charles de Gaulle, the Resistance... However, the impartial footage of the photo chronicle shows that everything was not quite the way the veterans tell and write in the history books. These photographs were taken by a correspondent for the German magazine Signal in Paris 1942-44. Color film, sunny days, French smiles welcoming the occupiers. 63 years after the war, the selection became the exhibition "Parisians under the Occupation". She caused a huge scandal. The mayor's office of the French capital banned its display in Paris. As a result, permission was achieved, but France saw these shots only once. The second is that public opinion could no longer afford it. The contrast between the heroic legend and the truth turned out to be too striking.
Orchestra on Republic Square. 1943 or 1944
Changing of the Guard. 1941
The audience in the cafe.
Beach near the Carruzel Bridge. Summer 1943
Parisian rickshaw. Regarding the photographs "Parisians during the Occupation". What hypocrisy on the part of the city authorities to condemn this exhibition for the "lack of historical context"! Just the photographs of the collaborator journalist remarkably complement other photographs on the same topic, telling mainly about the everyday life of wartime Paris. At the cost of collaborationism, this city avoided the fate of London, or Dresden, or Leningrad. Carefree Parisians sitting in a cafe or in a park, roller-skating boys, and fishermen on the Seine are the same realities of wartime France as the underground activities of the Resistance. For what it was possible to condemn the organizers of the exhibition, it is not clear. And there is no need for the city authorities to become like the ideological commission under the Central Committee of the CPSU.
Rue Rivoli
Cinema for German soldiers.
Showcase with a photograph of Collaborator Marshal Pétain.
Kiosk on Avenue Gabriel.
Metro Marbeuf-Champs Elysees (now Franklin Roosevelt). 1943
Fiberglass shoes with a wooden last. 1940s.
Exhibition poster at the corner of rue Tilsit and the Champs Elysees. 1942
View of the Seine from the Quai St. Bernard, 1942
Famous milliners Rosa Valois, Madame le Monnier and Madame Agnes during the races at the Longchamp Racecourse, August 1943.
Weighing jockeys at the racecourse Longshan. August 1943
At the tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, 1942
In the Luxembourg Gardens, May 1942.
Nazi propaganda on the Champs Elysees. The text on the poster in the center: THEY GIVE THEIR BLOOD GIVE YOUR WORK to save Europe from Bolshevism.
Another Nazi propaganda poster issued after the British bombing of Rouen in April 1944. In Rouen, as you know, the French national heroine Joan of Arc was executed by the British. The inscription on the poster: KILLERS ALWAYS RETURN.. ..TO THE CRIME SCENE.
The caption to the picture says that the fuel for this bus was "city gas".
Two more auto monsters from the times of the Occupation. Both pictures were taken in April 1942. The top picture shows a car that is fueled by charcoal. The bottom picture shows a car running on compressed gas.
In the garden of the Palais Royal.
The central market of Paris (Les Halles) in July 1942. The picture clearly shows one of the metal structures (because the pavilions of Baltar) of the era of Napoleon III, which were demolished in 1969.
One of the few black and white photographs of Zucca. On it is the national funeral of Philippe Enriot, Secretary of State for Information and Propaganda, who advocated full cooperation with the occupiers. On June 28, 1944, Enrio was shot dead by members of the Resistance.
Playing cards in the Luxembourg Gardens, May 1942
The public in the Luxembourg Gardens, May 1942
In the Parisian Central Market (Les Halles, the very “womb of Paris”) they were called “meat dressers”.
Central Market, 1942
Rue Rivoli, 1942
Rue Rosier in the Jewish quarter of the Marais (Jews were required to wear a yellow star on their chests). 1942
Fair in the Nation quarter. 1941
Baths on the Seine.
Fishermen on the Seine. 1943
Place de la Concorde, 1942
Cycle taxi in front of the Maxim restaurant on Mira Street. 1942
After the previous entry about the Parisian Immortal regiment a discussion arose: are they celebrating the Victory here, what was the occupation and liberation for the Parisians? I do not want to give unambiguous answers, as well as draw any conclusions. But I propose to listen to the eyewitnesses, to look through their eyes, to think over a few figures.
German soldiers look at Paris from eiffel tower, 1940
Robert Capa. Parisians at the victory parade, 1944
Here are some dry numbers.
- France was defeated by the Germans in a month and a half. She fought in World War I for 4 years.
- During the war, 600 thousand Frenchmen died. In World War I, there were one and a half million dead.
- 40 thousand people participated in the resistance movement (of which about half were French)
- De Gaulle's "Free French" troops numbered up to 80 thousand people (of which about 40 thousand French)
- Up to 300,000 Frenchmen served in the German Wehrmacht (23,000 of them were captured by us).
- 600 thousand French were deported to Germany for forced labor. Of these, 60,000 died, 50,000 went missing, and 15,000 were executed.
And any big whole is better perceived through the prism of small events. I will give two stories of my good friends who were children in occupied Paris.
Alexander Andreevsky, son of a white emigrant.
Alexander's mother was Jewish. With the arrival of the Germans, the French began to extradite the Jews or point out to the Germans people who were suspected of being Jews. “Mother saw how the neighbors began to look askance at her, she was afraid that they would soon inform her. She went to the old rabbi and asked what she should do. He gave unusual advice: go to Germany, work there for several months and return with documents that the Germans will issue "But so that when entering Germany, my mother's passport would not be checked, the rabbi told her to knock over a jar of honey in her bag. She did so, and the German officer at the border disdained to pick up documents soiled and stuck together with honey. For four months I lived with friends, and then the mother returned from Germany and no one else had any suspicions towards her."
Francoise d'Origny, hereditary aristocrat.
“During the occupation, we lived in the suburbs, but my mother sometimes took me to the city with her. In Paris, she always walked hunched over, quietly, like a mouse, looking at the ground and not raising her eyes to anyone. And she also made me walk. But one day I saw a young German officer looking at me and smiled back at him - I was 10 or 11 then. My mother instantly gave me such a slap in the face that I almost fell. I never looked at Germans again. we were riding in the subway and there were a lot of Germans around. Suddenly, a tall man called out to my mother, she was very happy, she straightened up and seemed to look younger. The car was crowded, but it was as if an empty space appeared around us, such a breath of strength and independence. I then asked, who was this man. Mother answered - Prince Yusupov. "
Look at some photos about life during the occupation and liberation of Paris, I think they give food for thought.
1. German victory parade at the Arc de Triomphe in June 1940 
2. Installation of German signs on Concord Square. 
3. Palace of Chaillot. The oath of civil servants and the police of the new government 
4. Champs Elysees, " new life", 1940
5. German propaganda truck in Montmartre. Broadcast music to commemorate the 30 days of the capture of Paris. July 1940 
6. German soldier with a Frenchwoman at the Trocadero 
7. In the Paris subway 
8. Saleswoman of German newspapers 
9. Andre Zucca. Hot day, Seine embankment 
10. André Zucca. Parisian fashionistas. 1942 
11. Tuileries Garden, 1943 
12. Return to horse traction. There was almost no fuel in the city 
13. Wedding in Montmartre 
14. Pierre Jean. Remelting of monuments into metal. 1941 
15. Sending workers to Germany. 
16. Deportation of Jews, 1941 
17. "Departure from Bobigny". From this station, trains went straight to the death camps. 
18. At the walls of the Louvre. Products were distributed according to cards, so many planted vegetable gardens. 
19. The queue at the bakery on the Champs Elysees 
20. Giving away free soup 
21. Entrance to the Paris metro - air raid alert 
22. Legionnaires of the Anti-Bolshevik Corps 
23. Volunteer French Legion goes to the Eastern Front 
24. Parisians spit on captured British paratroopers, whom the Germans are leading through the city. 
25. Torture of a member of the Resistance in the German police 
26. Captured members of the resistance movement are led to execution 
27. Robert Capa. German paratrooper, caught by resistance guerrillas 
28. At the barricade in Paris in August 1944 
29. Street fighting in Paris. In the center is Simon Seguan, an 18-year-old partisan from Dunkirk. 
30. Robert Capa. Resistance fighters during the liberation of Paris 
31. Skirmish with German snipers 
32. Pierre Jamet. Procession of the Leclerc Division, Avenue du Maine. Liberation of Paris, August 1944 
33. Robert Capa. Resistance fighters and French soldiers celebrate the liberation of Paris, August 1944 
34. Parisian with allies 
35. Robert Capa. Mother and daughter, who were shaved for cooperation with the invaders. 
36. Robert Capa. Paris welcomes General De Gaulle, August 1944 
P.S. And now the French imagine themselves to be the victorious nation in World War II, participate in the celebrations of the Victory ...
Yeah...
The aggravation of contradictions between the powers in the 1930s led to the formation of two warring blocs: the Anglo-French-American and the German-Italian-Japanese. The German-Italian-Japanese bloc took shape in the form of an “anti-Comintern pact” and pursued the goal of not only redistributing the world, but also establishing fascist regimes throughout the world, which posed a great danger to humanity. England, USA And France set themselves the task of weakening the dangerous imperialist rivals by directing their aggression against Soviet Union.
attacked Poland, Nazi Germany sent 53 divisions, 2,500 tanks and 2,000 aircraft to the front. The Polish army, despite the heroic resistance of individual military units(in the battle over Bzura, in the defense of Warsaw), was unable to resist the onslaught of the German troops, who were rapidly moving inland. Poland was defeated.
England and France, which were allies of Poland, declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. But, having entered the war, they still hoped to send fascist troops against the USSR and did not conduct active operations, although only 23 German divisions opposed 110 French and 5 British divisions on the Western Front. On September 12, 1939, at a meeting of the Anglo-French Supreme Military Council, it was decided to pursue passive defense tactics in the war with Germany.
Thus began the "strange war", which lasted during September 1939 - May 1940. Neither side launched active hostilities. This allowed Germany to quickly defeat Poland and prepare for new military campaigns, naval battles were somewhat more active. German submarines sank the British battleship RoyalOk, the aircraft carrier Koreydzhes and a large number of English and French merchant ships.
At the beginning of the war, the United States declared its neutrality. The US ruling circles hoped to use the situation in the interests of their enrichment and strengthening their power. At the same time, they encouraged the advance of Germany to the east. However, the growing contradictions with the fascist bloc forced the United States to focus on rapprochement with Britain and France.
Germany, building up its armed forces, developed plans to seize countries Western Europe.
On April 9, 1940, she launched an invasion of Denmark and Norway. Denmark immediately capitulated. The population and army of Norway resisted the German armed forces. England and France attempted to help Norway with their troops, but they failed, and Norway was occupied.
France was next. Nazi Germany developed a plan to capture it through neutral states: Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg. The German military command, resorting to provocation, organized a raid on the German city of Freiburg, blaming the Dutch and Belgian aviation for this. On May 10, 1940, the German government ordered the invasion German troops to Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg. At the same time, the German offensive against France began. The period of the "strange war" is over.
The short-sighted policy of the ruling circles of England and France led to grave consequences. On May 14, the Netherlands capitulated. Large formations of French, Belgian and British troops were pressed to the sea near Dunkirk. Only a part of them managed to evacuate to the British Isles. Belgium surrendered with its troops on 28 May.
Occupation of France by Nazi Germany
March 21, 1940 became head of government Paul Reynaud. During the German offensive against France that began on May 10, 1940, the government showed complete inability to organize a rebuff to the aggressor: on June 14, without any resistance, Paris was surrendered to the enemy. Reynaud resigned two days later. The new government was headed by Marshal peten On June 22, France accepted the terms of surrender dictated to her by Germany. As a result of the defeat in the war, two-thirds of the territory of France, and since November 1942, the entire country was occupied by Nazi troops.
Under the terms of the surrender, the government Petain supplied fascist Germany with raw materials, foodstuffs, industrial goods, labor force, paying her 400 million francs daily.
The government of Petain, whose residence was in the city of Vichy, ceased the activity of representative institutions, dissolved all former political parties and public associations, and allowed the creation of fascist organizations. Germany was provided with military bases, ports, airfields in the territories of the Middle East and North Africa that belonged to France.
The struggle of the French people
The French people did not accept the fate that the new rulers of the country prepared for them. As the well-known 
historian A. 3. Manfred, “ national forces turned out to be superior to their leaders.
The country has resistance movement united the patriotic forces of France.
Along with the resistance movement inside the country outside of France, the patriotic anti-fascist movement "Free France" arose. It was headed by emigrated to England General de Gaulle, which was part of the last government of the Third Republic. On June 18, 1940, in a speech on London radio, de Gaulle called for resistance and the unification of all the French who, for various reasons, found themselves outside their country. On August 7, 1940, de Gaulle received Churchill's consent to the formation of volunteer French armed forces in England. In France, de Gaulle's supporters also began to create their own organizations.
After the German attack on the USSR in France in early July 1941, a National Front, which included communists, socialists, Christian Democrats, radical socialists and representatives of other parties. The National Front set itself the task of expelling the fascist invaders from French territory, punishing war criminals and their accomplices, restoring sovereignty and ensuring democratic government elections. The creation of a new organization gave mass character to the resistance movement.
At the same time, an armed struggle was unfolding in the country between the franchisors (“free shooters”) and partisans, led by the communists. By the summer of 1944, the number of detachments of freelancers and partisans amounted to 250 thousand people. Tens of thousands of them were arrested, imprisoned in concentration camps, many were executed, including eight members of the PCF Central Committee. In total, 75 thousand French communists fell for the freedom and independence of their homeland, for which it was called the “party of the executed”.
In November 1942, an agreement on joint action was concluded between the PCF and de Gaulle's supporters. In May 1943, the National Council of the Resistance was created, which was a significant step in uniting all the anti-Hitler forces in France. On June 3, 1943, the French Committee of the National Liberation (headed by de Gaulle and Giraud) was formed in Algiers, which essentially became the Provisional Government of France.
The rallying of anti-fascist forces into a united front made it possible to start preparing an armed uprising against the invaders. At the beginning of 1944, all the fighting organizations of French patriots - participants in the Resistance, merged into a single army of "French internal forces" with a total number of 500 thousand people.
In the summer of 1944, armed uprisings began in France, covering 40 departments of the country. Almost half of the occupied territory was liberated by the forces of the rebellious patriots. The fighters of the Resistance detachments helped the detachments of the Anglo-American troops to land and gain a foothold in and liberated the cities of Clermont-Ferrand and others on their own.
On August 19, 1944, French patriots raised an anti-fascist armed uprising in Paris, and on August 25, the leaders of the uprising accepted the surrender of the German commandant. Soon the Provisional Government led by de Gaulle arrived in Paris.
