France's Appeasement Policy under Daladier didn't prevent World War II, but at least they felt safe behind the Maginot Line, the strongest line of Fortresses on Earth. Those who like Charles de Gaulle suggested a more aggressive approach weren't listened to.
The "phoney war"[]
Possibly, they felt too safe: At the Western front of Germany, initially there was almost no fighting, which puzzled many people, although the British Empire and France had declared war on 3rd of September already. Despite the fact that about 110 Allied Divisions stood against 23 German ones. The French airforce also wasn't used much since it suffered from a chronic lack of spare parts. This situation was called "Sitzkrieg" or "phoney war" (drôle de guerre). Some of the 220,000 Soldiers in the Maginot Fortresses even used the barrels for the Grenades, to put a wine bottle in there. That's why only 19 instead if 20 Grenades fit in there...
In March of 1940, Daladier was replaced by the opponent of Munich, Reynaud, but under him there was no attack on Nazi Germany either, not even when the latter occupied Denmark and Norway in April. At the very least, Reynaud pushes for the Allied Intervention in Norway and also tried to move the British Empire under Neville Chamberlain to continue fighting at Narvik instead of retreating, with no success though.
The real war[]
But then, on the 10th of May, the Wehrmacht invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Worse, they managed a Panzer breakthrough in the Ardennes - although this area was thought to be impassable for tanks! - and thus forced the French Army to retreat further and give up the major part of Belgium. Many Northern French fled already. On the 15th of May, Reynaud contacted the new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, using the Words "We have been defeated... we are beaten". Churchill flew to Paris on 16th, met failed Commander Gamelin and asked him for the strategic Reserve. Allegedly, the Answer was "Aucune" (None!). There was Panic in the capital, Archives were burnt, the Evacuation prepared. On the 18th of May, Reynaud exchanged Gamelin for Weygand, but this didn't help anymore. On the same day, Philippe Pétain was appointed Vice Premier.
Until the 20th of May, Wehrmacht troops under Kleist arrived at the Channel; the remains of the Belgian Army, the British Expedition Corps under Lord Gort, and three French armies were cut off from France. On May 24th, the Wehrmacht took Boulogne and surrounded Calais, which worsened Allied chances for evacuation. On the 25th, they surprisingly managed to occupy Dunkirk too, which lowered them to practically zero. On the same day, the French Army relieved more than a dozen generals of their commands.
For the 26th of May, a conference of Reynaud and Churchill in London was planned, but at this time, it already was overshadowed by the situation at the battle of Dunkirk. Churchill had hoped to save at least some ten thousand Men with an evacuation, with the "Operation Dynamo"; now, even this aim seemed to be too high. A last French counter-attack at Abbeville was fought off, and even massing the remaining French tanks for an attack against German-occupied Dunkirk went to nothing.
The breakdown[]
On June 2nd, the anew German Offensive ("Case Red") began, against which France was able to muster only close to 60 Divisions and 500 tanks. Additionally, many of those soldiers were still bound in the Maginot Line. As soon as June 9th, the Wehrmacht had reached the Seine. These successes encouraged Benito Mussolini to declare war on France and Britain on June 8th too, even if his successes stayed small.
On the 10th of June the Wehrmacht occupied Paris, which had been declared an open city the day before. The government had left on the 7th of June already. On the conference of the Supreme War Council in Briare on the 11th of June, all the participants besides de Gaulle and Churchill were in panic because of the approaching Wehrmacht. Their idea to make Brittany a redoubt was laughed at. The conference of Tours on the 13th of June stayed without results too, although a British-French Union (an Idea by Jean Monnet) had been proposed again. Hence, de Gaulle (who had been fired the day before) went to London the very same night, where he proclaimed Free France, which was acknowledged by Churchill as the rightful government in Exile on the 25th of June.
Meanwhile, the Wehrmacht had (although it was almost unnoticed in the chaos of the breakdown) taken - with one-digit losses - the formerly feared Fortress of Verdun, and broken through the Maginot Line in several places - even in this regard, it proved to be useless. Hence, the Northeast of France was in German Hands as well. The Millions of refugees from this area were forbidden to return.
The armistice[]
Occupied France (roughly)
Meanwhile, Pétain (on the 13th of June as well) had been appointed new Prime minister. He started negotiating with the Axis Powers: On the 17th an armistice with Germany was made. Adolf Nazi insisted that it had to be made in the same place (in the glade of Compiègne) and the same railway wagon (which had to be brought from the museum) as the German capitulation of 1918. Afterwards, the Wagon was brought to Germany and the French memorial site destroyed - only the monument of Marshal Foch was left, in the midth of a wasteland.
On the 18th of June an armistice with Italy was made as well, and on the 19th both became valid. The Wehrmacht occupied the whole Atlantic coast of France. Alsace-Lorraine was put under German civil administration, despite of French Protests. The Pétain government reorganised in the spa city of Vichy, from where it was allowed to administrate the unoccupied 40% of the country. About 1.5 Million Frenchmen had become German prisoners of war. The Third French Republic had finally failed.
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