May the 9th, 1940. A little French town, with little French children.
A town in the Ardennes, not far from Germany which is at war with France.
But things have been quiet, until now.
So the children continue to line their clogs up neatly,
and their school teacher says:
Today we'll learn a nice song, to bring peace back to us.
Round, round, round, go the puppets.
This will be their last class.
The 10th of May, 1940.
COLLAPSE OF FRANCE
At 5:35 AM, the Germans unleash their offensive.
German paratroopers are dropped into Holland.
They are the vanguard, the first of 3 million invaders.
The Wehrmacht marches into Belgium.
This is Hitler's decoy.
The Germans pretend they're going to attack France through neutral Belgium.
As they did in 1914.
The French General Gamelin, commander-in-chief of The Allied Forces,
is confident, he has everything covered.
He find tuned his stretegy during the "Phoney war".
Gamelin moves his best motorized divisions, the elite of the French Army, into Belgium
along with the entire British Expeditionary Force.
These are fighting soldiers with true grid.
They will stop the German advance through Belgium.
But Hitler, in his headquarters, is gloating. His decoy worked.
He exclaims, "I could weep for joy."
He instructs Field Marshall Göring, who commands the air force,
not to bomb the French columns
to let them proceed deep into Belgian territory
and he attacks them from the rear.
His real offensive will be through the Ardennes.
According to a French high command:
No tank could ever get through those densely forested hills.
But nothing stops them, except their own traffic jams.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands and Belgium,
people who own cars are among the first to flee.
Everyone is suspected.
A so-called "Fifth column" is feared, spies working for the Nazis.
The Germans continue their diversionary tactics,
invading Belgium with specially trained airborne forces.
The sappers belt out their song from their campaign in Poland.
The girls will have to wait, comrades. It's time to go, comrades.
On the 11th of May, at daybreak, they are dropped into Belgium.
Their goal is to capture the linchpin of the Belgian defense system.
Fort Eben-Emael, on the Albert Canal, which is reputed to be impregnable.
An intrepid German soldier heaves himself onto the top of a turret
with a load of explosives.
The conquerors stride through the ruins of Fort Eben-Emael, the key to Belgium.
Images such as these, will force the Wehrmacht's reputation of invincibility.
After the fort falls, people scramble to catch the last trains to Paris.
In the French capital, the Red Cross is swamped.
Belgian refugees are transferred to cattle cars heading south.
As the German enters Liege, panic grows and spreads.
Faced with such a force, there are only 2 options: Obey or flee.
Many of the refugees are people from the country side.
As in many times in history, farmers have always been the last to flee.
Loath to abandon their crops and their animals.
The great Belgian poet, Emile Verhaeren wrote:
The people around here have nothing at all.
Nothing before them, but the endlessness of the open road.
The people who work the fields, the people around here,
have only endless misfortune.
The Germans unleash their aerial offensive.
Destroying strategic crossroads, airfields, refineries, and fuel supplies.
Cities in northern and eastern France are bombed.
The French are now facing the reality of modern warfare.
In the Netherlands, the port of Rotterdam is ablaze.
The result of a German terror bombing raid like the one in Warsaw.
But these bombs were dropped after the city has surrendered.
Another of Hitler's war crimes.
In London, the new prime minister is Winston Churchill.
His first speech reveals his determination to keep fighting
whatever the circumstances.
I will say, without a doubt
that the faith of Holland and Belgium
like that of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria,
will be decided, by the victory of the British Empire and the French Republic.
But things have suddenly turned very grim in France.
In just 3 days, the Germans have swept through the Ardennes
and are advancing towards the French defensive line on the Meuse River.
They are closing the net with their "Pincer" movement.
Seeking to entrapped the Allied troops amassed in Belgium.
The German infantry-men knock over the French,
as if they came from a different world.
With their hand-grenades,
machine guns and with their sleeves rolled up
they take the town in one day.
Sedan, the key to the Ardennes,
which was already terribly marked by the French defeat in 1870.
But the real obstacle for the Germans is the Meuse River.
On the night of the 13th of May, they bring in beams to build bridges.
The French fight back.
But the Germans neutralize the French artillery.
And the next morning their sappers finished the bridge.
Galvanized by the general Guderian, a 52-year-old Prussian.
A great armored warfare strategist.
Using tanks to strike with force, daring and speed.
The Blitzkrieg or Lightning War, should not give the enemy time to react.
First, the tanks, followed by infantry, and backed by aircraft, especially the Stukas.
The Stukas, dive bombers, equipped with sirens.
Resisting the intense pressure of the descent,
their highly trained pilots release their bombs at the last minute
with lethal precisions.
The French prime minister, Paul Reynaud, telephoned Churchill in alarm:
We have been defeated, we have lost the battle.
The French generals are at a loss. They are unable to react to the situation.
With the Allied forces tied up in Belgium,
how can they stop the Germans from advancing?
In Paris, the French authorities are trying to deal with the increasing numbers of refugees.
People from Belgium and Northern France are pouring in the city.
Schools, hospitals and barracks are soon overflowing.
Information is sparse, rumors abound. Has Gamelin committed suicide?
No.
The French high command has just realized that the Germans are heading for the coast
and the allies have fallen into a trap.
A counter attack is ordered.
Allowing a certain colonel de Gaulle, to distinguish himself
at the head of a tank brigade.
The French Army possesses more tanks
and they are of better quality than the German panzers.
But without any reinforcements or aerial support,
the French tanks become prey to the Stukas.
The French combatants put up a good fight,
but they wonder why the air force isn't protecting them.
Poorly prepared and with fewer planes,
the French pilots are heavily outnumbered by the Luftwaffe, but they fight courageously.
Dozens of German pilots are shot down and taken prisoner.
Some of these pilots will be returned to Germany when the armistice is signed
and will then join the battle against Britain.
The German tanks move swiftly through the towns
and villages of northern France.
Valiantly, the French try to slow the German advance.
The Germans crush any pockets of resistance.
The Germans have reached the English Channel.
Hitler's strategy of the sickle-cut has worked.
The British Expeditionary Force, the Belgian army,
and the French armed forces are encircled.
The Belgian King surrenders, along with his army.
The British Expeditionary Force withdraws towards the coast,
leading to the final collapse of the Allied armies.
In Paris, the French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud dismisses Gamelin
and finds a new savior, general Weygand, 72 years old.
One of the artisans of the Allied victory in 1918.
To bolster morale, Reynaud names another World War 1 hero as Vice Premier.
84 years old Marechal Petain, who will soon turn his back on Reynaud's policies.
Weygand has no choice.
He too is forced to order a full retreat towards Dunkirk.
Hitler lets them go.
A gesture of clemency towards Great Britain? Is he still hoping for separate peace?
Or has Göring assured him that his air force is capable of preventing an evacuation?
400,000 men cram the beach, helpless and in disarray.
They have one last chance to escape, over the sea.
Churchill orders any vessel that can float to go and get them.
On the outskirts of Dunkirk,
the French hold back the Germans, suffering heavy losses.
Göring sends out the Luftwaffe's Stukas and bombers.
218,000 British and 120,000 French troops are successfully evacuated.
The British Army is saved but it's in tatters.
The French will be sent back to France in a final attempt to defend their country.
The British are sent off to re-equipment centers.
All of Great Britain hails Dunkirk as an extraordinary feat.
Churchill, however, puts it into perspective.
With lucidity, he says, "Wars are not won by evacuation."
Even so, in those first days of June 1940, the "Dunkirk spirit" is born.
The ruthlessness of this war, and the destructive power of the Nazi enemy,
are now apparent to the British.
Light-heartedness and humor give way to frantic efforts, to mobilize the nation.
On the 4th of June, Churchill, who is also battling the defeatists on his own side,
speaks out, his tone is unforgettable:
"We shall fight on the beaches, on the landing grounds,
In the fields, in the streets and on the hills. We shall never surrender."
On the 4th of June, the Germans take Dunkirk.
A fabulous bounty awaits them.
Lavishly filmed by the Wehrmacht Propaganda Units.
The British have left behind almost all of their equipment.
The soldiers of the Wehrmacht film themselves in high spirits.
They find a French gramophone with a famous record by Maurice Chevalier.
The offensive continues.
France collapses.
But Reynaud and de Gaulle, who is under Secretary of State
for Defense and War, want to continue fighting.
In Rome, the Italian dictator Mussolini, "Il Duce"
has big news for his people.
A declaration of war
has just been delivered...
...to the ambassadors of Great Britain and France.
Mussolini is hoping for his share of the spoils.
The Rhone Valley, Marseille, as well as the disarmament of Corsica and Tunisia.
The French say, "It's a stab in the back."
Mussolini's offensive is cut short by the French's Alpine Division.
General Rommel's troops storm Normandy and enter Loire.
Paris is declared an "Open city".
In other words, it's turned over to the enemy without a fight,
in order to be spared the fate of Warsaw or Rotterdam.
The government has moved to Bordeaux. The Germans are approaching the city.
Rumors fly, they kill, they rape, like the Prussians did in 1870.
The Parisians, abandoned by their government, flee.
All of France takes to the road.
A cataclysm that will be come to be known by a biblical name, the Exodus.
Millions of French men and women head towards the Loire, the last rampart.
But there is no rampart strong enough, against the Stukas.
On the 14th of June, 1940, at daybreak, the Germans march into Paris.
The Nazi emblem, the Swastika, flies over Paris.
One of the first acts of the German occupiers
is to seize all the records of the abandoned ministries.
Lists of spies, of Jews, of Freemasons,
and even the original copy of The Treaty of Versailles
that so humiliated Germany in 1919.
It is immediately sent off to Hitler.
The exodus has come to a halt.
The bridges over the Loire are blown.
The only hope now, is that the fighting stops.
Petain in Bordeaux, also wants to put an end to things.
The Germans continue their relentless advance southward.
Though once considered a formidable force,
the French army is now a shambles.
And yet to dispute up a better fight that would stored, especially at the time.
In 1 month, 100,000 French soldiers die.
More than in the same period of time during World War 1.
The deadliest war until then.
1,850,000 soldiers are taken prisoner, along with 36,000 officers and 176 generals.
Among the prisoners there are many African soldiers
from the French Colonial Troops.
The Wehrmacht's amateur film makers film them with a perverse sense of satisfaction.
Famished, these soldiers kill a goat.
German propaganda news reels insist on showing repeated close-ups of their faces.
The official instructions are to portray the degeneration of the French
who are forced to go to war with their slaves from their colonies.
The original German commentary is revealing:
The Allies say they're fighting
to defend civilization
against our "medieval barbarity".
Just look at them, the guardians of culture!
3,000 African soldiers and officers from the French army
will be shot and killed, after they're captured.
After 7 years of Nazi's indoctrination, racism is rampant among the German soldiers.
3 dates will now be decisive in determining France's fate.
On the 16th of June, 1940, Reynaud is out-maneuvered
by the Council of Minister in Bordeaux, and he resigns.
As his successor, Philippe Petain, is appointed to head the French government.
Place de la Bastille.
Those who've remained in Paris listen to Marechal Petain.
The war hero at Verdun announces that he is seeking an armistice.
I have asked our enemies
to cease all hostilities.
I have taken this decision, painful to the heart of a soldier
because the military situation demands it.
The German radio translates this speech announcing France's capitulation.
Some French people are able to pick up the BBC.
General de Gaulle has arrived in London.
On the 18th of June, he denounces the armistice.
A few days later, he records a new speech.
We believe that the honor of France
lies in continuing the war alongside our allies.
Hitler receives a telegram of congratulations from Moscow.
On June 22, 1940, Hitler arrives in Compiegne, near Paris.
The setup he has ordered is designed to humiliate the losers.
He is brought the same railway car that was used for the signing of 1918 armistice
that sealed Germany's defeat.
His revenge is complete.
The French delegation is led by General Huntziger.
An interpreter reads out a diatribe
accusing France of declaring war without any reason.
Hitler does not utter a single word. He stands up and leaves.
The French delegates have been informed of the terms of the armistice.
One of its conditions is that France hand over
all the anti Nazi Germans who have taken refuge in France.
Huntziger tries to negotiate. The Germans refuse.
Huntziger calls the government in Bordeaux.
The German Secret Services tape his conversation with Weygand.
- This is Huntzinger. - Yes.
Well, it's done.
- It's done? Yes, General...
I'd like to thank you for the way you handled it.
- Yes Sir, well, you understand me, don't you? Yes, yes, I do.
Afterwards, Hitler has the railway car taken to Berlin.
In the final days of the Reich, he will have the SS blow it up with dynamite.
Soon, the major symbols of France's victory in World War 1 will be mocked.
Like here, in Verdun, where half a million French soldiers were killed
to come to this, 20 years later.
Hitler jeers, as he visits his men who've only just taken the Maginot line.
He is more solemn when he enters Strasbourg and its cathedral.
Alsace and Lorraine are German once again, as he promised they would be.
The spoils of the French campaign, 2,000 tanks, 5,000 cannons,
300,000 rifles, 4,000,000 rounds of ammunition.
At an army supply warehouse, the Wehrmacht finds a stock of "Long johns"
meant for the French army.
Warm woolen garments which will be stored away for future campaigns.
The spoils are the factories, the harbors, all the riches of France.
It was the French who declared war, as a consequence,
they will pay the equivalent of $100,000,000 a day, in occupation costs.
General Huntziger goes to the Germany for the first meeting of the commission charged
with applying the terms of the armistice.
To spare troops, Hitler decides to let France retain partial sovereignty
under a government at his beck and call.
And with a limited army stripped of heavy weapons, just to maintain order.
The country is split in two.
An occupied zone in north and along the entire Atlantic coast,
providing access to all the harbors.
Italy controls the Mediterranean area and occupies a narrow ribbon along the Alps.
The rest is called the "Free Zone" with a new capital, Vichy.
This "Spa town" has been chosen in part for its many hotels.
In early July, Marechal Petain moves into them, along with the government ministries.
The atmosphere everywhere, is abysmal.
However, this Vichy government continues to control a vast colonial empire.
And above all, a still a powerful navy.
Hitler's only request is that its ships be disarmed and remain in their ports
for he is afraid it might join forces with Britain.
Churchill fears the opposite that it will fall into German hands.
He orders the Royal Navy to neutralize it.
A British naval force sails to one of France's biggest naval bases.
Mers-el-Kebir, in Algeria.
Churchill is taking no risks, an ultimatum is dispatched.
Either join us, scutlle your own ships
or sail under escort for demilitarization in the Caribbean.
The French reject all proposals.
The British open fire.
Two French battleships are heavily damaged and one, De Bretagne, is sunk.
1.297 French sailors are killed.
Seeking to show his people, the world, and above all, The United States
how determined he is, Churchill strikes out at his former ally
whose fleet could've help the Germans land on British shores.
Two days after the attack,
the Vichy Government breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain.
All of Germany acclaims Hitler.
His lightning conquest of France enthralls his generals.
He sees himself as the greatest war leader of all time, on a par with Napoleon.
And like the Emperor, no one dares to contradict him anymore.
The Germans occupy the Channel Islands, Jersey and Guernsey.
Stepping stones towards the invasion of Great Britain.
The British get ready for a German invasion, taking measures that might appear trivial.
Another urgent measure is to send the children away to the countryside for safety.
Always a painful moment.
Their elder sisters, their mothers and grandmothers join the war effort.
Every woman must defend her home against the fearsome German paratroopers.
The men join up as Local Defense Volunteers for the Home Guard.
Even veterans of the First World War.
The willing and able are mobilized, while the army rescued at Dunkirk reforms.
America supplies rifles, machine guns, and anti-aircraft cannons.
And everyone perfects their skills.
Churchill delivers a most inspired speech to the British people.
The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty.
And so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth
last for a thousand years, men will still say,
"This was their finest hour."
One of Churchill's main weapons is the Royal Air Force.
Along with its remarkable aircraft, the Spitfire with its Rolls-Royce engine.
One of the best fighter planes in the world.
Britain also excels in the field of electronics.
The British are the first to use radar for the purpose of defense.
In the ops room, radar is used for detecting planes
and guiding pilots towards the enemy.
The pilots from all over the British empire
are joined by airmen who have managed to flee their countries under German occupation.
Or whose government are in exile in London, Poles, Dutch, Czechs,
and the first of the free French forces along with de Gaulle.
Many of the British pilots are Oxford and Cambridge students.
One of them, Richard Hillary, later wrote:
We were known as the "Long-head boys". We were disillusioned and spoiled.
The press refers to us as the lost generation.
Superficially, we were selfish and egocentric.
The war demanded no heroics,
but gave us the opportunity to prove to ourselves and to the world
that undisciplined though we might be, we were a match for Hitler's dogma-fed youth.
These German pilots have been trained by the "Hitler-Jugend", the Hitler Youth,
with the idea of revenge.
They feel that they are invincible.
Their leader, Göring, is a popular figure in the regime.
Göring, who is a man of luxury, often stays at the Hotel Ritz in Paris.
And turns the Luxembourg Palace into the Luftwaffe's headquarters.
He has promised Hitler that the Luftwaffe could obliterate the Royal Air Force,
in days, take control of the air,
and enable the Wehrmacht to invade Great Britain.
The Luftwaffe has at its disposal, all of France's airfields,
their installations and their equipment.
Its pilot are well-trained.
Like Adolf Galland, with his trademark cigar who fought against the Republicans in Spain.
Or Werner Molders, an ace from the battle of France.
He was one of the pilots shot down,
taken prisoner and then returned to the Germans.
He is now part of aerial offensive against Great Britain.
Taking off from these fields in occupied France,
the Germans will attack convoys in the Channel,
harbors and airfields in southern England.
They will shoot down 500 British aircraft, at a cost of 1,000 of their own.
The British pilots hold out, giving everything they have.
Churchill proclaims: Never in the field of human conflict,
was so much owed by so many to so few.
Hitler decides to postpone his plans to invade Britain.
This is his first setback.
His tactics now rely more on night-time bombings.
He says, "The British will surrender when their cities have been destroyed."
German's bombers attack British cities like Coventry and London.
This is the "Blitz", daily bombings.
As for the British people, they hold up admirably.
They dig shelters in the gardens of their cottages.
And in London, they sleep in the underground stations,
and go to work the next day.
They never lose their confidence, or sense of humor.
Churchill says to the French:
Here in London,
which Herr Hitler says he will reduce to ashes,
our people are bearing up unflinchingly.
Hitler is exasperated. He will later call Churchill,
"A Jew-ridden, half American drunkard".
From now on, whenever he is thwarted, he will vent his spite against the Jews.
On October the 12th, 1940, on the Day of Yom Kippur,
the Jews of Warsaw are told that a ghetto will be set up.
A wall three meters-high is erected, enclosing half a million of Jews.
Men and women, children, the elderly.
Who will suffer horrifically from hunger, cold, and poverty.
In his chalet in the Bavarian Alps, the Berghof, Hitler is filmed by his mistress, Eva Braun
as he celebrates New Year, surrounded by children of Nazi dignitaries.
He has another plan up his sleeve, another big gamble.
His mission now is to conquer new "Lebensraum", living space to the east.
He has allied himself with Stalin, only to better attack him later on.
His failure to take Britain compels him to move quickly
before Churchill is able to draw America in. That would set the world ablaze.