Battle of France Every Day: From the Ardennes to the Armistice (1940)

The Fall of France day by day: an animated map of the 1940 Battle of France, from the German invasion of the Low Countries on 10 May to the cease-fire on 25 June. Watch the panzers come out of the Ardennes, cross the Meuse at Sedan and race to the Channel, cutting the Allied armies in two – then the British counter-attack at Arras, the Halt Order and the miracle of Dunkirk, where 338,226 men escaped by sea. In June the second offensive, Fall Rot, breaks the Somme line: Paris falls without a fight, the Maginot Line is taken from behind, and France signs the armistice in the same railway carriage at Compiègne used in 1918. The front moves every day, with strength, casualty and prisoner counters – about 1.5 to 1.9 million French soldiers ended up as prisoners. 0:00 10 May 1940: Germany invades the Low Countries 0:26 Plan D: the BEF digs in on the Dyle line 0:52 RAF Battles attack the Maastricht bridges 1:21 Guderian's infantry cross the Meuse at Sedan 1:59 Reynaud tells Churchill the battle is lost 2:38 De Gaulle counter-attacks at Montcornet 3:14 Weygand, 73, replaces Gamelin in command 3:37 Panzers reach the Channel at Abbeville 3:54 British counter-attack at Arras with 74 tanks 4:25 The canal line is breached; Arras abandoned 4:38 The Halt Order: panzers stop 20 km from Dunkirk 5:16 Calais falls and Operation Dynamo begins 5:40 Belgium surrenders; the BEF's flank opens 6:02 Dunkirk: 47,310 men lifted in a single day 6:19 The little ships reach the Dunkirk beaches 6:52 The worst day at sea: 64,429 saved under bombs 7:30 The last night: Dunkirk falls, 338,226 escaped 8:00 Fall Rot: the second German offensive on the Somme 8:29 Rommel breaks through to the Seine 9:00 Rouen falls; the Germans attack on the Aisne 9:17 Italy declares war; the government leaves Paris 9:45 The Highlanders surrender at St-Valéry-en-Caux 10:06 Operation Cycle: 11,059 men leave Le Havre 10:30 The Germans enter Paris without a fight 10:55 Verdun falls and the Rhine is crossed 11:27 Reynaud resigns; Pétain forms a government 11:51 The Lancastria sinks off St-Nazaire 12:15 De Gaulle's appeal from London on the BBC 12:32 Rommel takes Cherbourg; last British troops leave 12:50 Italy attacks in the Alps; Hitler at Compiègne 13:13 France signs the armistice; Maginot forts fight on 13:39 Cease-fire at 00:35: France is out of the war #BattleOfFrance #Dunkirk #WW2 #FallOfFrance #DayByDay