Transcript

Why France Surrendered So Quickly In 1940

From The Rest Is History · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 6 min · 11,807 words · 134 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Why France Surrendered So Quickly In 1940", an episode of The Rest Is History published December 1, 2025 (1 h 6 min, about 11,807 words). It mentions 240 people, works and ideas, including Adolf Hitler, France, Dunkirk, Paris, Operation Dynamo.

What this episode is about

The content examines the rapid fall of Paris to German forces in 1940, highlighting the emotional and dramatic impact of this event on French history. It questions why, despite a significant military advantage, Hitler chose to halt the advance towards Britain during this critical moment of World War II.

Key takeaways

  • Hitler's sweet Paris visit: victory draped in sinister sightseeing and ambient churchgoers.
  • Parisian defeat: proof that dreams fulfilled can wear the ugliest of masks.
  • Forcing a standoff: Why Hitler halted his golden ticket to unbridled British conquest.
  • Hive: spark your energy revolution with sunny panels and whispers of solar prowess.
  • Dunkirk's doom: a crushing low turned Britain's rallying cry, cinematic gold amidst retreat.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Adolf Hitler, British king, French, France
  2. – 20:00: Adolf Hitler, British king, Dunkirk, Dunkirk
  3. – 30:00: Germans, France, French, British king
  4. – 40:00: French, France, Germans, Adolf Hitler
  5. – 50:00: French, France, London, British king
  6. – 1:00:00: Adolf Hitler, French, France, Benito Mussolini
  7. – 1:05:37: Adolf Hitler, The Rest Is History Club, The Rest Is History Club, France

Notable quotes from "Why France Surrendered So Quickly In 1940"

  • Paris lay inert, her breathing scarcely audible, her limbs relaxed, and the blood flowed remorselessly from her manifold veins, Paris was dying like a beautiful woman in a coma.
    about Paris · at
  • We drove past the medalane down the schwams onto the trokadero and then to the Eiffel Tower where Hitler ordered another stop from the act triumph with its tomb of the unknown…
    about Adolf Hitler · at
  • Of the most sinister sightseeing tours in history. Dominic, we are in Paris in late June 1940. France has fallen.
    about France · at
  • Being about to lose Cala again. I know any mention of Calala brings disaster on this show. So there's really only one major channel port left, the port of Dunkirk. And there…
    about Dunkirk · at
  • If you're British. Now, the stakes could not be higher. That evening, going back to the 23rd of May, Churchill told his staff in London, he said, We cannot leave our army to be…
    about Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill · at
  • Meetings. And Churchill kind of responds to him doesn't he and says lom dudesta the man of destiny. Yeah, he whispers it. The man of destiny to Dele on the way out and de…
    about Charles de Gaulle · at
  • Minister. And at 11:30 that morning, Pan broadcasts to the French people and he says, I'm going to ask Hitler for terms. He says, I've sent a message to the enemy commander to…
    about Armistice · at
  • They don't really believe in their leaders. Julian Jackson in his book on the fall of France quotes a young sergeant who had been perhaps tellingly on the far right in the 1930s who said, What will really annoy me in this war.
    about Battle of France · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Adolf Hitler — Person · Main speaker · 43 mentions · first at
    Hitler is a central figure in the episode, with his actions and decisions driving the narrative of the fall of France.
  • Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill — Person · Referenced expert · 5 mentions · first at
    Churchill's leadership and decisions are pivotal in the episode, especially regarding the evacuation at Dunkirk.
  • Marshall Phillippe Petain — Person · Referenced political leader · 5 mentions
    Central figure discussed as France's wartime leader who agreed to seek armistice and later led the Vichy regime.
  • Charles de Gaulle — Person · Referenced French leader / resistor · 2 mentions · first at
    Mentioned as the French officer (Colonel then) who advocated continuing the fight and later broadcast from London to rally French resistance.
  • Hermann Göring — Person · Referenced German leader (Luftwaffe head) · 49 mentions
    Discussed as the overconfident commander of the Luftwaffe whose assurances influenced Hitler's halt order at Dunkirk.
  • Marshall Pétain — Person · Referenced expert · 40 mentions
    Pétain's role in the French surrender and his subsequent leadership of Vichy France are discussed.
  • Gerd von Rundstedt — Person · Referenced German field commander · 6 mentions
    Described as the German commander advising a halt to the Panzer advance due to logistical/terrain concerns and exhausted troops.
    And Von Runstead says, My men are absolutely exhausted. Ideally, I would like to give them a break, just a little break before we turn south towards Paris to finish the job with the French. And.
  • Paul Reynaud — Person · Referenced expert · 132 mentions
    Reynaud's leadership during the fall of France and his interactions with Churchill are discussed.
    So to remind people, the prime minister who's only been there for a matter of months, Paul Reo, very clever guy, but very he's I about to say but very short, very clever and very short, I should.
  • Maxime Weygand — Person · Referenced expert · 5 mentions
    Weygand's military leadership and his views on the French surrender are key points.
    Now, since the 19th of May, they've had a new military chief who is Maxim Veon, who we described last time. He's about he's in his early 70s. He's been recalled from retirement. And another.
  • Christopher Nolan — Person · Referenced expert · 3 mentions · first at
    Christopher Nolan's film Dunkirk is referenced in the episode.
    Ships, spoiler alert. But the little ships obviously massive propaganda value. I mean that's the point of the Christopher Nolan film, isn't it? The little ships, little pleasure cruisers and fishing ships and things. Yeah,.
  • Herman Guring — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at
    Göring's overconfidence and the Luftwaffe's failures are key points in the narrative.
    There's some logic in giving your men a little break. But what is more, Herman Gurring, the colossal figure of Herman Guring has assured Hitler that the his Luftvafa, the…
  • Ellen Deport — Person · Political influencer / mistress figure (referenced; likely Hélène de Portes) · 2 mentions · first at
    Depicted as Reynaud’s mistress with strong pro-armistice, anti-Semitic, pro-fascist influence; accused of intercepting telegrams and undermining the Franco-British Union proposal.
    But he's persuaded out of it. And that night at dinner, he has the most blazing row with Ellen Depport. He has found in her bed. She's been hiding secret telegrams from London. She's clearly been reading them.
  • Admiral Bertram Ramsay — Person · Operational commander (referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Named as the naval leader coordinating Operation Dynamo from Dover Castle tunnels—logistical backbone of the Dunkirk evacuation.
    It sounds amazing, actually. His base is there, and he has been trying to work out exactly how will we get these troops home? And is this where they come up with the idea of the little ships?
  • Eleanor de Port (Countess Antonnette Deport, often called 'La Deport') — Person · Influential political associate / controversial figure · 1 mention · first at
    Described as Paul Reynaud's mistress (Countess) with strong right-wing, pro-fascist influence; portrayed negatively and as interfering with government communications.
    Night at dinner, he has the most blazing row with Ellen Depport. He has found in her bed. She's been hiding secret telegrams from London. She's clearly been reading them.
  • Albert Speer — Person · Referenced expert · 144 mentions
    Speer's description of Hitler's tour of Paris provides insight into Hitler's mindset.
    One and only time he was to see it, made him happy when he stood at the height of his triumphs. So that was Adolf Hitler's architect and confidant Albert Spear, the man who…
  • Joseph Goebbels — Person · Referenced Nazi official · 3 mentions
    Mentioned briefly in relation to Hitler's communications and propaganda culture (Goebbels recorded reaction to French surrender).
    Exactly. And I mean Hitler and his cronies don't disguise how personal this is because that evening Hitler rang Gerbles in Berlin to talk it through.
  • Julian Jackson — Person · Referenced historian / author · 2 mentions · first at
    Quoted as a historian who argues that battlefield failures (intelligence/tactics) explain France's defeat rather than solely social sickness.
    Since you know that France was fatally divided and demoralized even before the war began. There are others. So there's a great historian called Julian Jackson who has written a…
  • Nella Last — Person · Referenced diarist / civilian witness · 1 mention · first at
    Quoted as an example of civilian morale and diary testimony capturing public feeling after Dunkirk.
    Last. her diaries were quite a big publishing sensation a few years ago. She's from Barrow, and she wrote in her diary just the day after the operation ended. She said, I read…
  • Christopher Nolan — Person · Referenced filmmaker (cultural touchstone) · 3 mentions · first at
    Used to connect the historical narrative to popular memory via the film Dunkirk, including debates about RAF support and the ‘little ships’ mythos.
    There's a scene in the film where someone shouts, Where were the bloody air force? But actually, Christopher London's film shows the air force were there. They flew 3,000…
  • Christopher Nolan — Person · Referenced filmmaker (cultural touchstone) · 3 mentions · first at
    Used to anchor popular memory of Dunkirk; the film is cited to discuss RAF support and the ‘little ships’ narrative.
    There's a scene in the film where someone shouts, Where were the bloody air force? But actually, Christopher London's film shows the air force were there. They flew 3,000 individual.
  • Christopher Nolan — Person · Referenced filmmaker · 3 mentions · first at
    Cited for the film ‘Dunkirk’ as a cultural lens on the evacuation and RAF support debate (“Where were the bloody air force?”).
    Said, and you see this actually in the Christopher Nolan film. You see this played out the argument. It is sometimes said, Oh, the Air Force didn't help us at Dunkerk. Where were the Air Force?
  • Edward Seade — Person · Referenced broadcaster / eyewitness · 1 mention · first at
    Quoted for a vivid description of Paris falling ('Paris lay inert... dying like a beautiful woman in a coma').
    Government flees Paris. And there's this famous description by an American broadcaster, Edward Seade, and he wrote, Paris lay inert, her breathing scarcely audible, her limbs…
  • George V — Person · Referenced British monarch (misstated in transcript context) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the context of Churchill going to Buckingham Palace during the Dunkirk crisis; historically, the monarch in 1940 was George VI, suggesting a transcript/entity mismatch.
    Through to Dunkirk and when they get there our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing.…
  • George V — Person · Monarch referenced in error/ambiguity · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the king Churchill visits; however the transcript says “George V 6,” which indicates George VI (reigned 1936–1952), not George V (died 1936).
    Through to Dunkirk and when they get there our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing.…
  • George V — Person · Mentioned head of state (likely misidentified in transcript) · 1 mention · first at
    Appears in the transcript as the monarch Churchill visits; context indicates this refers to King George VI, but the extracted entity is George V.
    Through to Dunkirk and when they get there our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing.…
  • George V — Person · British monarch (misidentified in transcript; referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned in the Buckingham Palace scene; context indicates the monarch is George VI in 1940, but the extracted entity is ‘George V.’
    There our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing. We're going to try and get the army…
  • George V — Person · Misidentified referenced figure (likely George VI) · 1 mention · first at
    The transcript says Churchill visits “George V 6,” indicating King George VI; the entity extracted as George V is likely a transcript/NER confusion but refers to the British monarch consulted during Dunkirk crisis.
    Through to Dunkirk and when they get there our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing.…
  • George V — Person · British monarch (referenced, likely misnamed in transcript) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the king Churchill briefs during Dunkirk crisis; context indicates George VI, but entity extracted is George V.
    There our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing. We're going to try and get the army…
  • George V — Person · Referenced British monarch (wartime consultation figure) · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned as the monarch Churchill briefs during the Dunkirk crisis; however the transcript appears to conflate George V with George VI (the reigning king in 1940).
    Through to Dunkirk and when they get there our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing.…
  • Maximilien de Béthune — Person · Historical analogy/reference (likely mis-extracted) · 21 mentions
    Not clearly supported by the provided transcript context; likely a mistaken extraction or a confusion with another figure (e.g., French wartime leaders like Weygand/Pétain are discussed).
  • Maxime Weygand — Person · 8 mentions
  • Matthew Dominic — Person · 7 mentions · first at
    War. And Spear there is describing one of the most sinister sightseeing tours in history. Dominic, we are in Paris in late June 1940. France has fallen.
  • Élène de Portes — Person · 6 mentions
  • General von Rundstedt — Person · 6 mentions
  • Benito Mussolini — Person · 5 mentions · first at
    Conservatives had despised the VHimar Republic. French conservatives had often admired Hitler and Mussolini and spoken of their, the lessons that could be drawn from fascism.…
  • Joseph Goebbels — Person · 5 mentions
  • Countess Hélène de Portes — Person · 4 mentions
  • Fedor von Bock — Person · 3 mentions
  • William L. Shirer — Person · 3 mentions
  • Julian Jackson — Person · 2 mentions · first at
    Divided and demoralized even before the war began. There are others. So there's a great historian called Julian Jackson who has written a brilliant book on the fall of France.…

Books & papers

Companies & orgs

  • RAF — Company · Referenced military organization · 1 mention · first at
    British Royal Air Force provided crucial air cover and sorties during the Dunkirk evacuations and the Battle of France.
    So in the next 10 days or so, the RAF, the British Air Force fight manfully to keep the Lufafa at bay. It was often said, and you see this actually in the Christopher Nolan film. You see this.
  • Luftwaffe — Company · Referenced expert · 5 mentions
    The Luftwaffe's role in the Battle of France and its failure to prevent the Dunkirk evacuation are discussed.
    Be one of the greatest mistakes in military history because Guring has completely misled them. The Luftvafa are not up to the job. Part of this is because it's very cloudy, but…
  • restishistory.com — Company · 3 mentions
  • hivehome.com — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • Citroën — Company · 1 mention · first at
    Is the future of Paris, right? Because bombs have already been dropped on the air ministry and the Citroen works.
  • auraframes.co.uk — Company · 1 mention · first at
  • The Independent — Company · 1 mention · first at

Products & tech

  • Railway carriage (Compiègne armistice car) — Product · 4 mentions
  • EV charger — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Their heat pumps draw warmth from the air and they keep it exactly where you want it. No smoke, no waste. Hives EV charger lets your car charge quietly overnight, recharging while you do, too.
  • Hive app — Product · 1 mention · first at
  • Dundee cake — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Exactly. with loads of champagne and Dundee cake. So he flies to a chat near Olleon where the French leadership are waiting to meet him and for the next day and a bit they try to hammer out a strategy and Churchill says I have an.
  • Carver Mat frame — Product · 1 mention
  • Rest Is History Club exclusive t-shirt — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

  • Armistice — Concept · Core topic / outcome · 6 mentions · first at
    Central concept describing the ceasefire/terms France sought with Germany; the armistice defines occupied and Vichy zones.
  • Adolf Hitler's Luftwaffe — Concept · Core topic · 5 mentions
    The German air force played a crucial role in the Battle of France and the halt order at Dunkirk.
    So in the next 10 days or so, the RAF, the British Air Force fight manfully to keep the Lufafa at bay. It was often said, and you see this actually in the Christopher Nolan film. You see this.
  • Vichy France — Concept · Key argument · 4 mentions
    The French regime collaborating with Nazi Germany after the fall of France.
    Northern and western France becomes a German military occupied zone. And then the southern two-fifths of France will be governed by Marshall Peta from the spar town of Vichi.…
  • Luftwaffe — Concept · Strategy · 1 mention · first at
    The Luftwaffe's role in the war and its failure to prevent the Dunkirk evacuation are key points.
    And his pilots. And this turns out to be one of the greatest mistakes in military history because Guring has completely misled them. The Luftvafa are not up to the job. Part of…
  • RAF — Concept · Strategy · 1 mention · first at
    The RAF's defense during the Dunkirk evacuation is a key point in the episode.
    Air force? But actually, Christopher London's film shows the air force were there. They flew 3,000 individual sorties. So, they did give the troops air support. The British…
  • French — Concept · 44 mentions · first at
    This is the most traumatic moment in French history.
  • British king — Concept · 29 mentions · first at
    1 month and 4 days after the first German troops crossed the frontier into France, Paris has fallen and the British are doomed.
  • Germans — Concept · 25 mentions · first at
    British troops start being evacuated from Bologin which is now under immense relentless German attack and the Germans have also begun the assault on Calala and both Bologin and Calala are doomed.
  • First World War — Concept · 8 mentions · first at
    Series, over 18 episodes, went all the way from the late 19th century through the chaos of the First World War to the rise of the Third Reich. And, we've shown how they've…
  • Little ships — Concept · 5 mentions · first at
    Out exactly how will we get these troops home? And is this where they come up with the idea of the little ships?
  • Third Reich — Concept · 4 mentions · first at
    The way from the late 19th century through the chaos of the First World War to the rise of the Third Reich. And, we've shown how they've swallowed Austria and Czechoslovakia…
  • Halt order — Concept · 3 mentions · first at
    Hitler then says, Okay, fine. and he approves Ranchet's halt order that morning and the tanks grind to a halt.
  • Nazis — Concept · 3 mentions
  • German troops — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    1 month and 4 days after the first German troops crossed the frontier into France, Paris has fallen and the British are doomed.
  • Second World War — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    But then there is a pause, isn't there? And it is one of the key turning points in the history of the Second World War and also one of the most debated.
  • Battle of Britain — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    Accounts of this kind of in the popular imagination, they skip from Dunkirk straight to the Battle of Britain. In fact, there's nothing in between. But that's not right. The…
  • Open city — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    So the French government decide to declare Paris an open city, don't they?
  • Allies — Concept · 2 mentions · first at
    Emblematic symbol around the world of the catastrophe that has befallen the allies. Right.
  • Paris Commune — Concept · 2 mentions
  • SS — Concept · 2 mentions
  • Stukas — Concept · 2 mentions
  • SEG tariff — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Suitability. Hive app compatible with selected technology. Paid for surplus requires SEG tariff.
  • Prime Minister of Britain — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Time. In the last episode, we described how on the 10th of May, which is the day Winston Churchill became prime minister of Britain, Hitler's troops had launched their invasion…
  • Sickle cut — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    The Low Countries. They' pulled off this extraordinary tactical feat of the sickle cut where they went through the Arden and round and up to the Channel Coast and basically trapped the British and French armies against the channel.
  • British Expeditionary Force — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    So that means 400,000 men of the British expeditionary force are trapped against the sea in this pocket.
  • Propaganda leaflets — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    German propaganda leaflets. That's exactly how it was. They were surrounded.
  • Belgian troops — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Only one major channel port left, the port of Dunkirk. And there almost half a million British, French and Belgian troops have taken refuge. Now a few days earlier, in fact…
  • Operation Dynamo — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    To get them out. And this is the operation that goes down in history as Operation Dynamo. So, Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay, who really ought to be a character in PG Woodhouse, he's based in these tunnels underneath Dover Castle.
  • Panzer — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    A degree an effective kind of perimeter, doesn't it? Because the canals could stop the Panzer advance in that sense.
  • Battle of France — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    For the Lufafa. So in all the I mean they end up losing almost 2,000 aircraft during the battle of France and as you say it wins them France but it loses them Britain in the long run.
  • Moroccan — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    The French behind. This is not right. Of those men, about 100,000 of them are French Belgian Seneagalles Moroccan and so on. So they're the kind of colonial troops of the Alloied forces.
  • 1930s France — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    It would be remiss of me not to point out that Britain was much more consensual than 1930s France, thanks not least to the wise and gallant leadership of Stanley Baldwin.
  • French Fourth Armored Division — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Who leads a counterattack? and this is a colonel called Shal De Gaul. M he's in charge of the French fourth armored division and he launches a counterattack at Abbeville on the…
  • Marxism — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Me back to make peace and to sign an armistice. This is the work of 30 years of Marxism. They're calling me back to take charge of the nation. Now, that might sound a bit…
  • Air Ministry — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Is the future of Paris, right? Because bombs have already been dropped on the air ministry and the Citroen works.
  • American broadcaster — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    And on the 10th of June, the government flees Paris. And there's this famous description by an American broadcaster, Edward Seade, and he wrote, Paris lay inert, her breathing…
  • Command of the air — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    The decisive moment will come when Hitler hulls his loft waffer against Britain. If we can keep the command of the air over our island, then we will win it all back for you.…
  • Swastika — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    It is indeed. So by the evening the Germans have hoisted a swastika over the arct triumph and they have climbed the French cut the lift cables to try to stop the Germans getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower. So do you know what.
  • Cyber Monday — Concept · 1 mention · first at
  • French cabinet — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Yeah, it is. Okay. Okay, so on Saturday the 15th of June, the French cabinet again discussed whether to surrender.

Places & events

  • France — Place · Setting · 36 mentions · first at
    Primary location where the events of the episode take place, focusing on its fall during WWII.
  • Dunkirk — Place · Setting / Key event location · 14 mentions · first at
    Primary geographic location for Operation Dynamo and the evacuation of Allied troops; central to the episode's narrative.
  • Paris — Place · Setting / focal city · 3 mentions · first at
    Capital of France; its fall and declaration as an open city are central narrative events illustrating French collapse and German triumph.
  • Operation Dynamo — Event · Core event · 1 mention · first at
    The evacuation operation (Dunkirk evacuation) that rescued hundreds of thousands of Allied troops from the beaches of Dunkirk.
    The other side of the channel, the British have begun making preparations to get them out. And this is the operation that goes down in history as Operation Dynamo. So, Vice…
  • Germany — Place · Setting · 7 mentions · first at
    Country leading the invasion of France, central to the episode's conflict.
    1 month and 4 days after the first German troops crossed the frontier into France, Paris has fallen and the British are doomed.
  • Battle of France — Event · Core topic · 2 mentions · first at
    The Battle of France is the central military campaign discussed in the episode.
  • Dunkirk — Event · Historical event · 15 mentions · first at
    Key military evacuation during WWII, discussed as a turning point in the war.
    Because Britain and France were both very divided countries in the 30s. But in Britain, the miracle of Dunkirk and the little ships and everything helps to solidify national…
  • Dunkirk evacuation — Event · Key event · 15 mentions
    The Dunkirk evacuation was a critical operation that saved hundreds of thousands of Allied troops.
  • London — Place · Headquarters / diplomatic destination · 10 mentions · first at
    British political center where Churchill operates; site of discussions (e.g., Franco-British Union plan) and refuge for exiled French representatives.
    If you're British. Now, the stakes could not be higher. That evening, going back to the 23rd of May, Churchill told his staff in London, he said, We cannot leave our army to be…
  • Battle of Britain — Event · Military conflict · 2 mentions · first at
    Aerial battle between the RAF and the Luftwaffe, pivotal in preventing a German invasion of Britain.
    The decisive moment will come when Hitler hulls his loft waffer against Britain. If we can keep the command of the air over our island, then we will win it all back for you. whatever.
  • Vichy — Place · Setting · 76 mentions
    Location of the French government after the fall of France, representing collaboration with Germany.
    Northern and western France becomes a German military occupied zone. And then the southern two-fifths of France will be governed by Marshall Peta from the spar town of Vichi.…
  • Paris Open City — Place · Event/state designation · 1 mention · first at
    Refers to Paris being declared an 'open city' to avoid bombardment/damage during German advance.
    Not on this occasion. And from the river man, the Germans can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. And Paris has already been declared an open city. And at dawn the next day…
  • Franco-British Union — Event · Political proposal · 1 mention · first at
    A dramatic wartime proposal (approved by British cabinet) to merge Britain and France legally to facilitate transfer of French forces and fleet to British control.
    Thing actually which is actually weirdly little known I think among the British public that the British cabinet approve a plan to merge Britain and France into a single country…
  • Vichy France — Place · Setting · 9 mentions
    Vichy France is the regime established after the French surrender, discussed in the context of Pétain's leadership.
    Northern and western France becomes a German military occupied zone. And then the southern two-fifths of France will be governed by Marshall Peta from the spar town of Vichi.…
  • Compiegne Forest — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    The Compiegne Forest is where the armistice negotiations took place, a significant event in the episode.
    Coast, the beginning of the invasion, he'd said to his aids, When we win, I want to have the armistice negotiations in the Compen forest in the same spot where we surrendered in 1918.
  • Operation Barbarossa — Event · Core topic · 1 mention · first at
    Key event in World War II, discussed in the context of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
    Knees. And as the operations chief of his army, General Yodel, writes in his diary, the final German victory over England is now just a question of time.
  • Eiffel Tower — Place · Setting · 3 mentions · first at
    The Eiffel Tower is a symbolic location in Paris mentioned during Hitler's tour.
    Stop the Germans getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower. So do you know what the Germans did? They climbed 1,665 steps of the tower to raise the swastika flag over the Eiffel…
  • Dover Castle — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Location where Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay planned Operation Dynamo.
    To get them out. And this is the operation that goes down in history as Operation Dynamo. So, Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay, who really ought to be a character in PG Woodhouse, he's based in these tunnels underneath Dover Castle.
  • Bordeaux — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at
    Key location in the episode, discussed in the context of the French government's retreat during the fall of France.
    Have now arrived in Bordeaux. They've gone they're going further and further south. Bordeaux is a city in total and utter panic, crowded with hundreds of thousands of refugees.…
  • Charteau d'Issoudun / Châtau de la? (contextual reference to château outside Tours) — Place · Referenced location (government retreat) · 3 mentions
    Likely refers to a château near Tours where government officials relocated; used to show French leadership movement south.
    Government. So they have fled Paris on the 10th of June. Reo and co they head towards the Lir. And Reo establishes himself in the chatau duchi which is just outside the very…
  • Calais — Place · 6 mentions
  • Arc de Triomphe — Place · 4 mentions
  • Channel Coast — Place · 3 mentions · first at
    Extraordinary tactical feat of the sickle cut where they went through the Arden and round and up to the Channel Coast and basically trapped the British and French armies against the channel.
  • Ardennes — Place · 3 mentions
  • Charleville — Place · 3 mentions
  • Tomb of Napoleon — Place · 2 mentions · first at
    Its tomb of the unknown soldier. We drove onto the anvil where he stood for a long time at the tomb of Napoleon.
  • Rotterdam — Place · 2 mentions · first at
    Well, I mean I suppose that they're coming off the back of the bombing of Rotterdam with the stookers and everything. Yeah.
  • Munich — Place · 2 mentions · first at
    His tight leather trousers. So Hitler assumes the war is over. The next day he flies to Munich to meet Mussolini. The Italians I mean I know we've got for some Italian…
  • Boulougne (Boulogne) — Place · 2 mentions
  • Brittany — Place · 2 mentions
  • Chartres — Place · 2 mentions
  • Compiègne Forest — Place · 2 mentions
  • English Channel — Place · 2 mentions
  • Le Bristol Paris — Place · 2 mentions
  • Marne — Place · 2 mentions
  • Tours — Place · 2 mentions
  • Tomb of the Unknown Soldier — Place · 1 mention · first at
    The Eiffel Tower where Hitler ordered another stop from the act triumph with its tomb of the unknown soldier. We drove onto the anvil where he stood for a long time at the tomb of Napoleon.
  • Low Countries — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Of Britain, Hitler's troops had launched their invasion in the west of France and the Low Countries. They' pulled off this extraordinary tactical feat of the sickle cut where…
  • Western Flanders — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Personally? I don't want to risk the tanks. There's a lot of canals in western Flanders. It's kind of boggy.
  • Barrow — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Last. her diaries were quite a big publishing sensation a few years ago. She's from Barrow, and she wrote in her diary just the day after the operation ended. She said, I read…

Media & podcasts

  • Dunkirk — Media · Referenced work · 15 mentions · first at
    The film Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan is referenced in the episode.
    Ships, spoiler alert. But the little ships obviously massive propaganda value. I mean that's the point of the Christopher Nolan film, isn't it? The little ships, little pleasure cruisers and fishing ships and things. Yeah,.
  • Dunkirk (film) — Media · Referenced work · 5 mentions
    The film Dunkirk is referenced as a depiction of the events discussed in the episode.
    Ships, spoiler alert. But the little ships obviously massive propaganda value. I mean that's the point of the Christopher Nolan film, isn't it? The little ships, little pleasure cruisers and fishing ships and things. Yeah,.

Sponsors

  • Hive — Sponsor · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Episode sponsor; provided promo copy describing products and CTA directing listeners to hivehome.com.
    Hive brings it all together. Heating, charging, and solar managed from one simple app in a quiet revolution. In the long history of power, Hive helps you finally know yours. Head to hivehome.com.
  • Hive (company) — Company · Sponsor · 1 mention · first at
    Sponsor of the episode, promoting their energy solutions.
    Hive makes the most of the sun with solar panels turning sunlight into greener electricity and enabling you to sell excess back to the grid. And Hives thermostats make it possible for you to.
  • Hive — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Sponsor of the episode, promoting energy solutions like solar panels and EV chargers.
    Hive brings it all together. Heating, charging, and solar managed from one simple app in a quiet revolution. In the long history of power, Hive helps you finally know yours. Head to hivehome.com.
  • Hive — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Hive is promoted as a sponsor, offering energy solutions.
    Hive makes the most of the sun with solar panels turning sunlight into greener electricity and enabling you to sell excess back to the grid. And Hives thermostats make it possible for you to.
  • Aura Frames — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Sponsor of the episode, promoting digital photo frames with unlimited storage.
    For a limited time, visit auraframes.co.uk and get £45 off Aura's bestselling Carver Matt frame, named the top frame by the independent. And use the promo.
  • Aura Frames — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Aura Frames is promoted as a sponsor, offering digital photo frames.
    For a limited time, visit auraframes.co.uk and get £45 off Aura's bestselling Carver Matt frame, named the top frame by the independent. And use the promo.
  • The Rest Is History Club — Product · Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    The Rest is History Club is promoted as a subscription service for exclusive content.
    The Luftvafer and the RAF as we look at the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and the buildup to Operation Barbarasa. And members of the Rest is History Club can of course hear that episode right now.
  • Aura Frames — Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. History is full of gifts, but the best are those that last. Because photographs have become our modern heirlooms. They're like fragments of the.
  • The Rest Is History Club — Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    The Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and the buildup to Operation Barbarasa. And members of the Rest is History Club can of course hear that episode right now.

Full transcript with timestamps

Paris lay inert, her breathing scarcely audible, her limbs relaxed, and the blood flowed remorselessly from her manifold veins, Paris was dying like a beautiful woman in a coma. 1 month and 4 days after the first German troops crossed the frontier into France, Paris has fallen and the British are doomed. It must rank as the single sweetest moment in Hitler's life.

This is the most traumatic moment in French history. With victory over Britain seemingly within Hitler's grasp, why does the order go out to stop their advance? This episode is sponsored by Hive. Britain revolutionized the future with the might of industrial power. But now you can transform your own energy future and take control with the power of Hive. Hive makes the most of the sun with solar panels turning sunlight into greener electricity and enabling you to sell excess back to the grid. And Hives thermostats make it possible for you to heat your home without lifting anything more than a thumb and an impressed brow.

Their heat pumps draw warmth from the air and they keep it exactly where you want it. No smoke, no waste. Hives EV charger lets your car charge quietly overnight, recharging while you do, too. Hive brings it all together. Heating, charging, and solar managed from one simple app in a quiet revolution. In the long history of power, Hive helps you finally know yours. Head to hivehome.com to find out more. Subject to survey and suitability. Hive app compatible with selected technology. Paid for surplus requires SEG tariff.

We drove past the medalane down the schwams onto the trokadero and then to the Eiffel Tower where Hitler ordered another stop from the act triumph with its tomb of the unknown soldier. We drove onto the anvil where he stood for a long time at the tomb of Napoleon. Finally, Hitler inspected the ponte whose proportions greatly impressed him. The end of our tour was the romantic incipid imitation of early medieval domed churches, the church of Sakreur on Monm. A surprising choice even given Hitler's taste. Here he stood for a long time surrounded by several powerful men of his escort squad, while many churchgoers recognized him but ignored him.

After a last look at Paris, we drove swiftly back to the airport. By 9:00 in the morning, the sightseeing tour was over. It was the dream of my life to be permitted to see Paris. I cannot say how happy I am to have that dream fulfilled today. For a moment I've had something like pity for him. 3 hours in Paris, the one and only time he was to see it, made him happy when he stood at the height of his triumphs. So that was um Adolf Hitler's architect and confidant Albert Spear, the man who Hitler was going to commission to redesign Berlin as Gmania and put Paris in the shade if he won the war. And Spear there is describing one of the most sinister sightseeing tours in history. Dominic, we are in Paris in late June 1940. Um France has fallen.

Spear has joined Hitler for a three-hour tour of the conquered French capital. And I guess it must rank as perhaps the single sweetest moment in Hitler's life. Do you think?

I think so up to this point. I mean, this was a man who had fought against the French for four years and his generals had said it couldn't be done. This kind of attack on France and everything has gone right for him.

Yeah, I think there are probably two moments. There's the moment of the Anchelus when he was greeted in Austria, his homeland, as the man who had brought the sort of the the fragments of the German nation together. I guess that was a happy moment for him. And this is another one. And that moment when he says to Shar that the dream of his life has been fulfilled. You know that Hillary's a terrible man, but there is a man under there, right, with ideals and ambitions as ghastly as they may be. And actually, when you think back, we've done the Nazi story in what, four series, um, over 18 episodes, went all the way from the late 19th century through the chaos of the First World War to the rise of the Third Reich. And, you know, we've shown how they've swallowed Austria and Czechoslovakia and Poland and whatnot and crushed Norway and Denmark. And today's episode is about the apotheiois. It's the victory, as you

said, that Hitler has been dreaming about since November 1918. It's revenge at last against the French. So, let's remind ourselves where we ended last time. In the last episode, we described how on the 10th of May, which is the day Winston Churchill became prime minister of Britain, Hitler's troops had launched their invasion in the west of France and the Low Countries. They' pulled off this extraordinary tactical feat of the sickle cut where they went through the Arden and round and up to the Channel Coast and basically trapped the British and French armies against the channel.

So that means 400,000 men of the British expeditionary force are trapped against the sea in this pocket.

And that's the pretty much the entirety of the expeditionary force, isn't it, for the British?

Yeah, pretty much. And the British I mean, they've never been a land power. They don't have loads of other troops to call on if these troops are all captured.

They've got Captain Manoring, but that's about it. Exactly. So Hitler is thinking, you know, we pull this off and it's pretty much game over for the British. That's certainly his mentality. And this scene of them trapped at the channel ports, the panzas advancing and closing in on them. This is going to be, you know, it's going to be one of the most terrible moments in French history, the fall of France. And yet, counterintuitively, it ends up becoming one of the most stirring and moving moments in Britain's modern history, the subject of Christopher Nolan's film Dunkirk, which lots of our listeners may have seen. that bit at the beginning, sense of impending doom, and the uh Tommy sort of running through the streets and they're picking up these leaflets that say, "We surround you."

German propaganda leaflets. That's exactly how it was. They were surrounded. Yeah. Kenneth Brer on a long pier.

Exactly. Looking out to sea, thinking no help will ever come. All of that. So, let's pick up the story on the evening of the 23rd of May, 2 weeks into the German invasion. So that night the first British troops start being evacuated from Bologin which is now under immense relentless German attack and the Germans have also begun the assault on Calala and both Bologin and Calala are doomed. They will fall a couple of days later. I mean Dominic it's been a pretty grim sequence hasn't it for us on the rest is history cuz um England lost Calala under Mary in the 16th century about two weeks ago and now um the British troops are being about to lose Cala again. I know any mention of Calala brings brings disaster on this show. So there's really only one major channel port left, the port of Dunkirk. And there almost half a million British, French and Belgian troops have taken refuge. Now a few days

earlier, in fact four days earlier on the other side of the channel, the British have begun making preparations to get them out. And this is the operation that goes down in history as Operation Dynamo. So, Vice Admiral Bertram Ramsay, who really ought to be a character in PG Woodhouse, he's based in these tunnels underneath Dover Castle. It sounds amazing, actually. His base is there, and he has been trying to work out exactly how how will we get these troops home? And is this where they come up with the idea of the little ships?

The little ships. Yeah, they're basically because the big ships can't get in really close. I mean, most people that were rescued were rescued by big ships, spoiler alert. But the little ships obviously massive propaganda value. I mean that's the point of the Christopher Nolan film, isn't it? The little ships,

little pleasure cruisers and fishing ships and things. Yeah, exactly. It's it's such a moving story if you're British. Now, the stakes could not be higher. That evening, going back to the 23rd of May, Churchill told his staff in London, he said, "We cannot leave our army to be slaughtered or to surrender. If we lose the men, then we lose the war. Our men must battle through to Dunkirk and when they get there our navy will get them out. And that night Churchill goes to see George V 6 the Buckingham Palace and he tells him the same thing. We're going to try and get the army back. But as he knows Hitler's tanks are now less than 20 miles from Dunkirk and they are closing in all the time and realistically it's going to be really difficult to rescue the troops before the Germans get there.

But then then there is a pause, isn't there? And it is one of the key turning points in the history of the Second World War and also one of the most debated.

Yes. Because I suppose the question is why with victory over Britain seemingly within Hitler's grasp, why does the order go out to the panzas to stop their advance?

So let's dig into this because this, as you absolutely rightly say, this is one of the crucial turning points in the story of the Second World War. You could argue in the story of the Third Reich, the story of Hitler's regime, right? If things go differently here, the whole story might play out differently. So the very next morning, the 24th of May, Hitler flew to Charville, which is just inside the French border. And that's where General Von Runet, um, who's commanding the army group, has established his headquarters. And Hitler arrives at 11:30. And Runstet says, "Okay, here's the state of play. My advanced guard are now just 15 km from the Allied perimeter." and the British are doomed.

But Ron goes on. He says, "The question for us now is how do we finish them off personally? I don't want to risk the tanks. There's a lot of canals in western Flanders. It's kind of boggy." And that's one of the reasons why Dunkirk has been, you know, provides to a degree an effective kind of perimeter, doesn't it? Because the canals could stop the Panzer advance in that sense.

Yes. And don't forget the Germans have come an enormously long way. very quickly. I mean, anybody who remembers our episodes about the first weeks of the First World War Yeah. will recall that basically if you have a tremendous advance and a great offensive, the danger is that you'll basically just run out of steam because everyone will be just so exhausted.

Well, unless you're you're kind of munching on a fetimes that have gotten through the Arden that they can't do that forever. No,

I suppose. And Von Runstead says, "My men are absolutely exhausted. Ideally, I would like to give them a break, just a little break before we turn south towards Paris to finish the job with the French. And Hitler thinks about this and he says, "Yeah, I can see that we're, you know, really, I'd like to take Paris as quickly as possible, just completely knock the French out. So I can see there's some logic in giving your men a little break. But what is more, Herman Gurring, the colossal figure of Herman Guring has assured Hitler that the his Luftvafa, the German air force can easily deal with the British without any need to risk run's tanks. So actually, you know, it's win-win. We can give the Panza commanders arrest. We can give the troops arrest. Give Guring's flyers a chance to prove their metal and we'll wipe the floor with the British at Dunkirk.

Well, I I mean I suppose that they're coming off the back of the bombing of Rotterdam with the stookers and everything. Yeah.

Uh and that's been a tremendous success. So maybe they think that they can do the same with the British.

Yeah, absolutely. And Guring is a massive braggot. Guring will never be honest with you about the limitations of his air force. He makes grand claims which as we shall see are not borne out. Hitler then says, "Okay, fine." Um, and he approves Ranchet's halt order that morning and the tanks grind to a halt. And it's often said that it is Hitler himself who comes up with the idea, but it clearly isn't, is it? I mean, he's he's responding in a way that he often doesn't do to suggestions from um kind of military heads. The only other thing though is you're absolutely right that Hitler is responding to Runstead's idea, but lots of other commanders think this is a terrible decision. So the lead tank commander, he Gudderion, who is one of the people who'd come up with the plan in the first place.

Yeah. Akong Panza. Akong Panza. Exactly. He could see Dunkirk very faintly in the distance. I mean, he could absolutely see it. When he gets the order to stop, he is by his own admission quote speechless. He says, "I I couldn't believe it. I thought it was the biggest blunder of the war." the commander of the other big German army group in the west, Fedorog Vonbach, when he was told they've stopped, he said, "What?" And he immediately complained to headquarters and said, "The order must be changed, quote, otherwise the English will transport whatever they want under our very noses from Dunkirk." And that afternoon, the commander-in-chief of the army, Valta von Braich, arrives in Charville. Now, you'll remember him.

He's a man with no spine who's basically massively in debt to Hitler. Yeah. And even he says, "I just can't understand why the tanks aren't advancing on Dunkerk to finish the job." And Hitler and Runet say, "There is no need. The Luftvafa are going to finish this off like we'll leave it to Guring and his pilots." And this turns out to be one of the greatest mistakes in military history because Guring has completely misled them. The Luftvafa are not up to the job. Part of this is because it's very cloudy, but it's also because Guring consistently underestimates the RAF and he overestimates his own planes and pilots.

So in the next 10 days or so, the RAF, the British Air Force fight manfully to keep um the Lufafa at bay. It was often said, and you see this actually in the Christopher Nolan film. You see this played out the argument. It is sometimes said, "Oh, the Air Force didn't help us at Dunkerk. Where were the Air Force?" There's a scene in the film where someone shouts, "Where were the bloody air force?" But actually, Christopher London's film shows the air force were there. They flew 3,000 individual sorties. So, they did give the troops air support. The British lost almost 180 planes, but the Germans lost far more planes. They lost 250. And as we will see next time, because German factories are much slower to build planes, these are losses that they can ill afford. and Dominic I mean the actually there's a pretty continuous process of attrition for the Lufafa. So um in all the I mean they end up losing almost 2,000 aircraft

during the battle of France and as you say it wins them France but it loses them Britain in the long run.

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So Hitler doesn't rescend the halt order until the evening of the 26th of May. And the next morning the tanks start moving in. But those three days have been absolutely crucial and the damage has been done because that gives the British a chance to finalize their evacuation plans. So on the evening of the 26th of May, the same moment that Hitler is changing his mind, Churchill gives the order, start taking men off the beaches. And in the next few days, the ships keep on coming. And to quote General Vonbach again, he's horrified. At Dunkirk, the English are continuing to leave. When we finally get there, they will be gone. The Supreme Leadership's halting of the tank units has proved to be a serious mistake. And he's right, because they then do not capture Dunkerk for another 10 days. And by then, 900 Allied ships, including the famous little ships, the fishing boats,

the pleasure cruisers, all of those, the steamboats, all of that. They have rescued 338,000 men. Far more men than Churchill or even the most optimistic Allied commander had ever thought possible. So that's out of 400,000.

Yeah. The rest are are killed or taken prisoner. But even so, I mean, it is um it's not exactly a victory as Churchill goes on to point out, but it is a Phillip, isn't it?

Oh, it's massive. It's redemption from seeming disaster. Yeah. It's not just the British who get rescued, by the It's sometimes thought the British get rescued and they leave the French behind. This is not right. Of those men, about 100,000 of them are French Belgian Seneagalles Moroccan and so on. So they're the kind of colonial troops of the Alloied forces. So it's not all British troops, but the rear guard who defended Dunkirk to the end were French and there was a lot of bitterness because they of course had been left behind. Now, as you say, the funny thing about it is this is an an amazing German victory. The British have been driven off the mainland of Europe just as Hitler wanted. And Churchill says in his common speech which is quoted at the end of the film, "No wars are not won by evacuations. Our thankfulness at the escape of our army must not blind us to the fact that what has happened in France and Belgium is a

colossal military disaster." And he's right. It is a disaster. But then the point of Dunkirk, the importance of it is that it allows him to say what he says next, which is there was a victory inside this deliverance which should be noted, a miracle of deliverance achieved by valor, by perseverance, by perfect discipline and so on blah blah blah. And this is the remarkable thing about it that Hitler's folly in endorsing the halt order and Guring's mad boasting about the Luftvafer have combined to turn a total British disaster into weirdly a kind of psychological and moral victory. And I suppose the role played by the little ships, the sense that this is properly a national effort that everyone is rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in this will kind of stiffen the senus of the mass of British people that this is a war worth fighting and that is something that Hitler will never properly get a handle

on is it? He never understands that I think because he thinks that the British will come to terms after this but after Dunkirk it's clear they never will. And I think there's a couple of elements to it. So one of them is purely practical. As Ian Kershaw says in his biography of Hitler, imagine a world in which you know the 230,000 British troops who got away had not got away but had been captured. So a quarter of a million men in a prison camp. That would have made it very difficult, you know, maybe for Churchill not to do a deal with Hitler at some point. You know, they'd have had to raise an entirely new army. They'd have lost all their equipment and they'd have all these men on the other side of the channel in a Nazi prison

and their families in Britain. Of course, imagine the diff the difference in the public mood. But I think you are totally right that the mystique of the little ships, you know, the people's war, the people coming to the rescue of their troops, you know, that symbolized at the end of the Christopher Neland film when the troops arrive and there are people clapping them and giving them tea and sandwiches and stuff. You know, that really happened. That absolutely happened. And there's a wonderful quote, I think it's in Max Hastings's book from an officer called John Horseful. And he says, basically, it was only when we got home and we're bedraggled and defeated and we and there are people giving us cups of tea that we sensed, and I quote, the national mood of defiance which brought down Napoleon and would destroy Hitler too. And you may say, well, this is of course romantic patriotic fantasy

after the fact. But we know from people's diaries at the time that they felt like this. most famous one. There's a a woman who wrote one of the longest diaries in history. She's called Nella Last. You know, her diaries were quite a big publishing sensation a few years ago. She's from Barrow, and she wrote in her diary just the day after the operation ended. She said, "I read the story and I forgot I was a middle-aged housewife who sometimes got up tired and had backachche. The story made me feel part of something that was undying and never old. Somehow I felt everything to be worthwhile and I felt glad I was of the same race meaning nationality as the rescuers and the rescued. And that's you know that sort of very moving rousing stuff which is easy to sneer at was obviously psychologically so important in those weeks in the summer of 1940

and which Hitler will not I mean he doesn't appreciate it. Uh he doesn't appreciate the effect it's had on British morale. So he will find it puzzling that the British decide to fight on.

Yeah. can't get his head around it. But this is kind of probably the key explanation. But also, of course, there is a massive contrast with France because Britain and France were both very divided countries in the 30s. But in Britain, the miracle of Dunkirk and the little ships and everything helps to solidify national resolve, whereas in France, defeat fractures society there even wider.

I think you're dead right. I think Tom, it would be remiss of me not to point out that Britain was much more consensual than 1930s France, thanks not least to the wise and gallant leadership of Stanley Baldwin.

Stanley Baldwin. Yes, Stanley Baldwin who presides over a much more settled and united country than French prime ministers do in the 1930s. But you're right, the obvious contrast is with France.

Now, interestingly, in Britain, most accounts of this kind of in the popular imagination, they skip from Dunkirk straight to the Battle of Britain. In fact, there's nothing in between. But that's not right. The Germans are now heading south towards Paris. And in the next couple of weeks, the French fight quite hard. So, the Germans actually lose more men per day after Dunkerk than they did beforehand because the French are fighting desperately to defend their capital.

Can I just site one uh French uh colonel who leads a counterattack? Uh and this is a colonel called Shal De Gaul. M

he's uh in charge of the French fourth armored division and he launches a counterattack at Abbeville on the um on the channel coast and the battle he he fails to dislodge the Germans but it does succeed in halting the German advance at least for a day or two and this is actually very important for Dunkirk because um it serves to distract German forces that otherwise might have um added to the pressure on the front line at Dunkirk. So let's not forget to go.

Well, here's the thing. If you're to go, right, or if you're somebody a French patriots looking at this story, you say it's very nice the way these British podcasters tell the story, which is the way that people always tell us in Britain. But from a French perspective, this is a story of the British running away as they had threatened to do in 1914 when things went badly and as they had been doing throughout the war, right? I mean, you know, it happened in Norway and

right, the British have run away, saved their army. They've run away and we are fighting desperately to defend our capital and basically everyone laughs at us and says, you know, the French trophy cabinet is bare. But the truth is we fought very well against overwhelming odds and all the rest of it because actually they are against overwhelming odds. The Germans have more divisions now because the French army is disintegrating. The Germans have better at using their tanks. The Germans have far more air power and of course the Germans have the discipline and morale that comes with being an advancing army.

So by the 6th of June the Germans have broken the French line and crossed the river Som. By the 9th they're in Ruong. By the 10th they've crossed the river A. So all these places that would have had such resonance in 1940 cuz these are all the place names from the first world war and the Germans are just steamrollering past them.

Yeah. Uh I remember when I went to EP um where my uh grandfather was gassed and um they had uh rows and rows of graves I think of Canadians and they were peppered with bullet holes you know that had been fired in 1940.

Wow. I just thought oh my god you know I mean just imagine all what you know and here we go again.

This is I think what's underappreciated possibly in the English speaking world that for the civilians in Belgium and France this is happening for the second time in a generation. Imagine the sense of crushing misery, you know, as you realize it's happening all over again on on a greater scale than ever before. And that is why, you know, as we said last time, people remember 1914. They've read the stories about Poland. They've read about things like Gernika and the sack of Chinese cities by the Japanese in the late 1930s. They're terrified of what will happen to them when the Germans get into their cities. And that is why these extraordinary stories of places like Leil Le 9/10en of the population took to the countryside, fled the city. Shart chart with his famous, you know, architecture and stuff. 23,000 people lived in Chart. By the time the Germans get there, there are only 800 left.

Everybody else has gone. And this is the biggest refugee crisis in Western European history. I don't know if some listeners have read the Sweet Frances books by Iran Neiovski. These books capture this scene of total chaos and terror. Carts in the streets, families rushing to find sanctuary and being pounded from the air by the Luftvafa, you know, bodies everywhere.

Yeah. The kind of Nazgalesque descent of the Stookers with their terrifying wine. Yeah. Just horrific.

So imagine being the people at the top. So to remind people, the prime minister who's only been there for a matter of months, Paul Reo, very clever guy, but very he's I about to say but very short, very clever and very short, I should say.

Yeah, I'm glad you uh corrected yourself. Now, since the 19th of May, they've had a new military chief who is Maxim Veon, who we described last time. He's about he's in his early 70s. He's been recalled from retirement. And another man who um Reo has recalled in France's hour of need is the great hero of the first world war. And this is the man who had rallied the troops, French troops at the defense of Verdon in 1916. He is now 84 years old, piercing blue eyes, ramrod straight

and with very much a first world war mustache still, hasn't he? A proper Yeah. 1910s mustache. He is levier mishel the old marshal philip pa and they've recalled him because they think he will be a symbol to the people of French defiance pa had been serving as ambassador to general Franco's regime in Spain and says I want you to come back to France and be my deputy in our hour of need went to see Franco and said I'm off to France Franco said don't bother you've lost no point in going and Pan perhaps rather ominously some listeners may think said to him, "My country has been beaten. They're calling me back to make peace and to sign an armistice. This is the work of 30 years of Marxism. They're calling me back to take charge of the nation." Now, that might sound a bit ominous to people who are hoping that Pang is going to stiffen the sineus to stand up to fascism. So, as early as the 8th of June, they

discuss asking the Germans for terms. Reo is against it. He says, um, we agree with London that we would never seek an armistice, you know, an independent armistice. We promised we wouldn't sign a separate piece. General Veon says, what the British, I mean, the British have totally let us down. They've left our rear guard behind. Both Vegon and Pa agree. It's all up. France has is lost. We've lost the war. And Veon says, "Listen, do you remember what happened when we lost to the Germans before in 1877? Paris was taken over by the revolutionary left-wing commune. There was then basically a little civil war.

Thousands of people died as the army turned on the commune and the streets ran with blood

and all the animals in the zoo got eaten. Wow. No one wants that. Well, no one think of the animals in the zoo.

Exactly. And the animals in the zoo. And uh Veon says, "Listen, that should be our priority. It's making sure that doesn't happen again. We can't have anarchy. We must keep order." And basically we need to deal with the Germans otherwise everything will get collapse in in chaos. And Pan says I agree with Vagel. I don't think we should ask London. I think basically the British dragged us into this war and we spent too much time cowtowing to the British and basically France should come before anything else.

And I would thought also a consideration is the future of Paris, right? Because bombs have already been dropped on the air ministry and the Citroen works.

Not the Citroen works. On the Citroen works. Suppose the fate that was inflicted on Rotterdam is inflicted on the city of light. Yeah.

So the French government decide to declare Paris an open city, don't they? And on the the 10th of June, the government flees Paris. And there's this famous description by um an American broadcaster, Edward Seade, and he wrote, "Paris lay inert, her breathing scarcely audible, her limbs relaxed, and the blood flowed remorselessly from her manifold veins. Paris was dying like a beautiful woman in a coma.

Yeah. Now I'll tell you who's left Paris. Two million people including the government. So they have fled Paris on the 10th of June. Reo and co they head towards the Lir. And Reo establishes himself in the chatau duchi which is just outside the very beautiful city of To. And he's brought not his wife from whom he is estranged but in very gic style he's brought his mistress. So actually quite Nelsonian style I guess. So this is uh Countess Enort. And Ellen Deport has quite a baleful influence on what happens next. Now I hate to be seen to be mean about a woman on the show Tom as you know

yet another mistress the object of San Brookian. She has had the most terrible press I think of almost any woman we've ever done on the show. Schol used to call her the turkey. Uh Churchill called her the parrot. And Churchill's chief diplomatic adviser, Sir Robert Vanitart, called her, and I quote, "A poisonous and promiscuous troll." That's a phrase to remember. Even the American correspondent Vincent Sheen wrote afterwards, "She was not chic. She was not charming. and she was not intelligent, but she behaved as if she had some vested right, whether constitutional or divine, in the government of the French Republic. Now, why does all this matter? It matters because she's a massive anti-semite.

She's also massively pro-fascist and she is constantly, you know, by night she's constantly urging Reo, sack all your generals and do a deal with the Germans as quickly as possible. Well, the Germans aren't that bad. So, that's a bit of a problem, I think. So what does he see in her?

God knows. I mean, who's can say? Remember Napoleon with Josephine? There was something called the zigzags, wasn't there?

Yeah, the zigzags. And nobody knows what that was, but it was very it was great fun and involved them going to bed together.

Maybe the zigzags have made their reappearance. I don't know. Anyway, so this is a slightly awkward environment. And the next day, the 11th of June, Winston Churchill joins the Merry Party.

Well, it's never a party unless Churchill sir. Exactly. with loads of champagne and Dundee cake. So he flies to a chat near Olleon where the French leadership are waiting to meet him and for the next day and a bit they try to hammer out a strategy and Churchill says I have an excellent idea why don't you go to Britany hold out in Britany you know make it a doubt like asterex and Vegon says you're mad that would that's an insane idea that will never work and Churchill says a campaign of guerilla resistance and Pan says that would destroy France that that's that can't work either And Veel says to Churchill, "Now is the decisive moment in the war. The British ought not to keep a single fighter in England. They should all be sent to France." And Churchill then says to him, "No, this is not the decisive moment.

The decisive moment will come when Hitler hulls his loft waffer against Britain. If we can keep the command of the air over our island, then we will win it all back for you. whatever happens here, we are resolved to fight on forever and ever and ever. And actually Churchill is right. That that's actually how Britain wins the war. Like he's not wrong. The trouble is that's really not what a Frenchman wants to hear. Basically, you know, you have to fight on to the end. You'll lose, but eventually we'll win it all back for you. So don't worry. I don't think any patriotic Frenchman wants to hear that.

Does this conversation determine Reo's decision that Yeah, it's over. Do you think?

No. Because even at this stage, Reo has not quite given up cuz after he's gone, Churchill goes and some of them clearly are very pleased to see the back of him. And then Reo and Co sit around and Reo says, "You know, clearly we are going to lose, but we could go into exile and continue the fight from London very much like the Norwegians have done, let's say, or the Dutch." And Vegon says, "That's that's pointless. That old fool Churchill is talking rubbish because once Hitler is finished with us, then he will take Britain. He will get he'll be in London before you know it. There's no point in us hiding in London. The British are doomed.

He famously says, doesn't he, that um Britain will have her her neck rung like a chicken.

Yes. To which Churchill later responds, some chicken, some neck. Exactly. Exactly. And Vegon keeps going on, we have to stay here in France and stop the the anarchy and revolution. And actually Veon is telling Reo things that are not true. So Veon is telling him at this point, revolution has already broken out in Paris. the spectre of a left-wing commune has, you know, re has awoken from the grave. And that's actually not right. That hasn't happened. Anyway, the next day, Churchill comes back. Can't get they can't get rid of him. He flies back to France. This time, he goes to tour. Um there's been some amusing airfield action in earlier um episodes, so I'm glad to have some more. He arrives at the airfield. There's nobody to meet him. They've all gone to lunch splendidly. So eventually Churchill and his entourage find two um French air force officers who agree to give them a lift. And of course Churchill being

Churchill they go straight to the hotel grandan to have lunch themselves. There are refugees outside staring through the windows and kind of rattling the doors. And Churchill is completely unperturbed by this and he says no let them stare. It's very good for them to see the prime minister of Great Britain having his lunch. It shall inspire them and all this kind of thing. Whether it does I'm not sure. Anyway, he goes to the town hall to see Reno. By this point, Veon and Peta are no longer coming to these meetings, which tells its own story because they basically think it's pointless. And Churchill is very emotional. He says to Reo, "We ask you to fight on as long as possible. If not in Paris, at least behind Paris, in the provinces down to the sea, then if need be in North Africa. The alternative is the destruction of France." And that of course is the rhetoric that Churchill is coming out with later about Britain,

right? Yeah. will fight on the landing grounds, all of that. But Peter has already said that actually that strategy would be the destruction of France because it would see you know her cities and her monuments destroyed. Churchill would of course said I'm sure I know what Churchill would have said to that. He would say nothing will ensure the destruction of France more than the collapse of her spirit and her morale. You can rebuild cathedrals but the stain of defeat can never be wiped away. But he can say that because he has a strip of water between him and the Germans I guess. But there's another man who agrees with him who is French who is there and that is their new you mentioned him earlier. He's just been appointed the under secretary of state for war and he is an an officer called Shal Doul. Doul is the only person who seems to agree with Churchill at these meetings. And Churchill kind of responds

to him doesn't he and says lom dudesta the man of destiny. Yeah, he whispers it. The man of destiny to Dele on the way out and de Gaulle says nothing. He's just impassive as he always is. I mean, that would make a great film. Actually, people done loads of Churchill films, but they've never done Churchill and the French as a film. So, there's one other amazing bit of high drama at this meeting. I mentioned Countest Pot, the um promiscuous troll or whatever he was described as being

the fascist troll, the worst kind of troll. She bursts into this meeting and she shrieks at the top of her voice, "Mr. Churchill, my country is bleeding to death." And then she launches herself at him and tries to scratch his face. And a French officer shouts, "Get that woman out of here for the dignity of France." And basically Churchill's bodyguard, who was called Walter Tommy Thompson, he sort of has to wrestle this woman away from Churchill and drags her out of the room. And then when he searches her, he finds that she has a knife on her person, which is a very low moment, I think, in the history of the ent Cordial between our two great nations. And Dominic, meanwhile, on the very same day, so the same afternoon at 3:00, the Germans have reached the river mann. And people who listened to our series on the First World War will remember that that was the key turning point in the early

campaigns in the First World War, but not on this occasion. And from the river man, the Germans can see the Eiffel Tower in the distance. And Paris has already been declared an open city. And at dawn the next day, Friday the 14th of June 1940, the first German units start entering the center of the French capital. And the fall of Paris is the most emblematic symbol around the world of the catastrophe that has befallen the allies. Right.

It is indeed. So by the evening the Germans have hoisted a swastika over the arct triumph and they have climbed the French um cut the lift cables to try to stop the Germans getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower. So do you know what the Germans did? They climbed 1,665 steps of the tower to raise the swastika flag over the Eiffel Tower. Very soon that tower would be decorated with a vast banner. The words of which read Deutseland Sie alan Frontton Germany is winning on every front. So 1 month and 4 days after the first German troops crossed the frontier into France, Paris has fallen and we will find out what happens next after the break.

This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames. History is full of gifts, but the best are those that last. Because photographs have become our modern heirlooms. They're like fragments of the present already turning into history.

Aura frames let you relive these memories every day. Or give them to someone you love.

That is our beloved producer Theo pointing at a kebab in Sarah Yeeo. Preload the photos before it leaves the box. Add a message and you can keep updating it from anywhere. Unlimited storage, no subscription. Just memories. For a limited time, visit auraframes.co.uk and get £45 off Aura's bestselling Carver Matt frame, named the top frame by the independent. And use the promo code history at the checkout. That's aura frames aura.co.uk. Promo code history. This exclusive Black Friday Cyber Monday deal is their best of the year. So order now before it ends. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

Hello. Welcome back to the rest is history. Um, Paris has fallen to the Nazis and Dominic now for the leadership of France, the democratic leadership. Uh, the end is just days away, isn't it?

Yes. So, um, Paul Reo and his ministers have now arrived in Bordeaux. They've gone they're going further and further south. Bordeaux is a city in total and utter panic, crowded with hundreds of thousands of refugees. But his mistress, the countest, check in to the hotel Splendid. That's a great name for a hotel. Yeah. So, but they're they're normally in France. So, they're not they're basically there's the Splendid, the Bristol, and the Gratan. Those are the kind of traditional names for French hotels, aren't they? So, on I don't know why Bristol. What is it with Bristol? I think that's one of the most famous hotels in Paris. I mean, mad. There's no hotel Norwich. Uh Bristol is a fine city though.

Yeah, it is. Okay. Okay, so on Saturday the 15th of June, the French cabinet again discussed whether to surrender. And Reo really does want to fight on from abroad. He does not want to give up, but he is outvoted by his cabinet. Most ministers agree with Veon and Pa um that they should ask Hitler for terms. Reo at this point wants to quit at once, but he's persuaded out of it. And that night at dinner, he has the most blazing row with Ellen Depport. He has found in her bed. She's been hiding secret telegrams from London. She's clearly been reading them.

Oh, I see. So, it's not secret telegrams that have been sent to her from spies in London.

No. No. She's going to the stenographers's office and basically grabbing telegrams,

nicking crucial communications. Exactly. They have a massive row and he throws water over her at dinner in front of everybody to sort of punish her. So, it's an it's an awkward situation, you know. No one knows where to look. I suppose it's keeping people's minds off the fall of Paris. So

it is. I suppose. Yeah. So the next day is Sunday 16th of June. An incredibly dramatic day. 7:30 that morning. Churchill is at checkers in the English countryside and he is woken by his aid. Churchill hates being woken up early because of his ludicrous hours and he's told Reo is about to quit as French prime minister and he's going to be replaced by his deputy Marshall Peter. Churchill eats his breakfast very quickly. I mean he still has his breakfast. Fair play to him. And then he rushes to London and there an amazing thing actually which is actually weirdly little known I think among the British public that the British cabinet approve a plan to merge Britain and France into a single country a Franco British Union which would have common citizenship common defense and common foreign and economic policies. And the point of doing this is not because they want to rebuild the empire of, you know, Henry

II or something. It's because they think this will give them the legal powers to take the whole French army to Britain and to take control of the French Mediterranean fleet. And they sort of think that it might maybe stiffen some people in France's nerve. You know, that the British are really so committed they're going to merge their country with France. Anyway, they put this to De Gaulle who has flown to London as Reo's representative. And amazingly, De Gaulle agrees. So, you would think that De Gaul of all people, the man who vetoed Britain's attempt to join the common market, would be against this, but he says, "Fine, you know, an extremist.

Let's do it." And he rang Reo that day and dictated it over the phone. And Reo said, "Fine." So, that evening puts this plan to his cabinet. It's meant to be a surprise, but actually Countest Deport has been up to her old tricks.

Oh goodness. She has seen the stenographers's copy of the telegram and she's and of the sort of document and she's leaked it to all Reo's ministers. Look at this. This is terrible.

Do you know we've had loads of mistresses on uh on the rest of history, but I think she's the worst.

She's bad, isn't she? She's not great. Reo's ministers hate this idea. They they say, "Come on, this just makes us an appendage of Britain. would be a British dominion and Pan says you are asking us to agree fusion with a corpse. You know they've got it very clear in their heads that Britain is dying. Pton are clearly a bad man Tom and it's very clear I think that that a lot of them deep down would rather have an armistice with the Germans they would be a British dominion or anything of that ilk.

Yes. because an armistice with the Germans will enable those on the right to come down hard on their compatriots who are on the left. So they're still to a degree thinking in terms of party politics rather than of national survival. And also of course they think the Germans are going to win the war at this point. It none of them think that Britain can win the war. They just assume the Germans are going to win. So the next day the 17th of June, two more very dramatic developments. So overnight, Reo quits as had been advertised and Pan becomes prime minister. And at 11:30 that morning, Pan broadcasts to the French people and he says, "I'm going to ask Hitler for terms." He says, "I've sent a message to the enemy commander to ask him if he would meet with me as one soldier to another after the fight and honorably seek a way to put an end to hostilities."

But you know what's not honorable is that he basically tells the French army to put down their weapons even before the armistice has been agreed. Yeah. And as soon as people hear that broadcast, they stop fighting a lot of them. They're like, "Well, what's the point? Why why carry on if we're going to lose anyway?" Now, meanwhile, Doul, who had once been Pan's protetéé, I mean, this is the thing. Yeah. He had love he had looked up to Pat as a mentor. He's come back from London. And when he comes back and he hears we're asking for peace, Doul is totally devastated. You know, he'd wanted to fight on. And D Gaul knows that basically Panahan's taking power and that he de Gaulle as a hawk will probably be arrested because that's what happens to Pan's other critics and opponents within the regime. He goes to see Reo, presumably the hotel Espont.

And Reo has not yet handed over this sort of I don't know whether it's a briefcase or something that has the prime minister's secret funds in it. And Reo gives De Gaul 100,000 Franks and says, "Take the money, go to London, you know, do what you can." And that's what De Gaul does. Even as Pa is speaking to the French people, Doul is in a plane going back to London. And when he gets to London, there he makes the very famous radio appeal to the French people that all French school children are now very familiar with. He basically says to them, "We appear to have lost, but it's not final. France is not lost. I, Jerald de Gaul, appeal to the French people to join me. The flame of French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.

It's a, you know, one of the most stirring and defining moments in modern French history and now a huge part of French identity.

But almost nobody hears it, right? Yeah. Let's rain on that French parade. Nobody's listening cuz they're all listening to Marshall Peter. I don't think it's raining on the parade because I think it, you know, it's an acorn from which a mighty oak grows and it actually makes the story of of the free French all the more dramatic that nobody hears it. But it is it is a single candle that is blowing in an almighty tempest.

Yes, I think that's a nice way of putting it because I mean an almighty tempest. My god, this is the most traumatic moment in French history without a doubt. And how it happened has been argued about ever since. the French collapse in the face of, you know, the German invasion and Pa and his allies right from the moment he takes office say we lost because we were sick because there was a sickness in French society and and some historians have said that since you know that France was fatally divided and demoralized even before the war began. There are others. So there's a great historian called Julian Jackson who has written a brilliant book on the fall of France. And Julian Jackson says, you know, everything that you say of France, you know, you could say it of other countries too. The truth is they lose on the battlefield because of bad intelligence and bad tactics. Yeah, I think that's clearly the case because

had they bombed, for instance, the tanks as they were going through the Arden, then Germany would have lost and we'd probably be having these discussions about the sickness in German society. Well, I mean, we do have discussions about the sickness in German society, but you know what I mean.

I do know what you mean. Exactly. I think it's true that the British and French generally are too cautious and they're too hesitant throughout the whole war. I mean, that's what a lot of military historians say that basically the value of human life matters a lot to a British or a French general. You know, they're very conscious of the lessons of the First World War. They don't want to be the butchers who send men, you know, advancing towards, you know, machine guns. The Germans are gamblers and that comes from the top and the French and the British are very reluctant to take decisions in 1940. And I think there's also a sense though that the French lack a bit of solidarity when things are going badly. You know, this is a massive question. So any short take on it will be a bit simplistic. But even in the early days of the campaign, General Gamala, who was um Vegon's predecessor, said it's clear that some of our

soldiers don't really believe in the war. They're not massively fired up. They don't really believe in their leaders. Julian Jackson in his book on the fall of France quotes a young sergeant who had been perhaps tellingly on the far right in the 1930s who said, "What will really annoy me in this war is if I end up dying for values in which I do not believe."

And Dominic, what is the name of that young officer? That young officer's name was France Miteron.

So the future socialist president of France. But there are other examp I mean Jackson also quotes a philosopher called George Freriedman who was serving as a left tenant and and Freriedman said you know when I look at the people around me I don't detect a huge amount of pain at the misfortunes of our country more a kind of relief that it's all over you know thank god this that's done I mean maybe you could say there would have been people in Britain who would have acted similarly had they been defeated thank god that's over I mean I'm sure there would have been actually a do. But I think France is much more divided than Britain in the mid 1930s. And that lack of ideological cohesion, I think, does actually play a part, especially when things go badly. You know, they they find it harder to fall back on a sort of patriotic solidarity. I would say Richard Evans in his books on the Third Reich points out that there are French

conservatives who had always despised French democracy much as German conservatives had despised the VHimar Republic. You know, French conservatives had often admired Hitler and Mussolini and spoken of their, you know, the lessons that could be drawn from fascism. And so when they are beaten, they say, you know what, actually this might be quite a good thing. We can rebuild our country. We can purge the left. You know, this is actually a necessary lesson for us and we can, you know, learn from it. Which suggests that they haven't properly understood what the Nazis are about, right?

Yeah. Or that they have and they're just terrible people. I think the former because I because I think that um the French right are patriotic. I mean Peter was the great hero of France. He he thinks that what he's doing is for the best for France. But it's mad to think that um the Nazis will cut France any slack at all because for them their triumph is so transcendent. I mean they're they're interpreting it in racial and cultural terms, aren't they?

Of course they are. Of course they are. Transcendence is the word. I mean Hitler when he heard Pton's broadcast, he was described by people there as literally slapping his thighs with joy. I mean that's not an image anyone wants to see. His tight leather trousers. So Hitler assumes the war is over. The next day he flies to Munich to meet Mussolini. The Italians the Italians I mean I know we've got for some Italian listeners actually. I mean I'm sorry to say this but the Italians absolutely disgrace themselves in both world wars for different reasons. So in this world war they've done their traditional thing of sitting on the sidelines at first.

Mussolini's h you know he's not really interested in the west. His ambitions are in the Adriatic kind of Yugoslavia and Greece. But Mussolini is a total snake and he declared war on Britain and France on the 10th of June. I mean it's literally like you know taking part in a football match in the 85th minute or something.

Do you know um who would agree with you that Mussolini disgraced himself with his declaration of war? Oh, don't compare me with some hideous Nazi

Hitler. Right back. I knew that was coming. To quote my brother uh in war in the West, um he he he thought that Mussolini declaring war was pathetic. As far as the Furo was concerned, one didn't make a declaration of war. One just got on and fought it. So Mussolini had really let himself down there.

So Mussolini didn't even I mean he he declares war just before the Germans capture Paris. And he said to his cronies, he said, "Basically, what I'm hoping is that 2,000 Italians will be killed and that will be enough for me to claim Corsica and Nice for Italy." I mean, he also said, Mussolini, what kind of an ally is Mussolini? He said, "I hope Britain doesn't surrender too quickly because I'd like to take some of the credit for it. I'm worried Hitler will get all the credit." And he also said, "I hope that Hitler does end up attacking Britain and does invade Britain because I think he'll lose a million men and that will be good for him and it'll mean the Germans aren't too cocky after the war when they've won." Anyway, they meet in Munich and now this is interesting thinking about Britain because we know from the Italian foreign minister Countiano what Hitler thought was going to happen. He said Hitler

really wants to end this quickly now. He's like a gambler. He's bet all his chips. He's had a big winning and he wants to scoop everything up. Hitler says to Cho, "I really don't want Britain to fall apart completely and lose its empire because Britain losing its empire would be great news for our other rivals, the United States, Japan, and the Soviet Union. They would be the big winners, not Germany." So basically, I want Britain to keep its empire. and we will see what how that plays out next time. But for the time being, Hitler's priority is to give the war in France the ending that he feels he deserves.

Remember, I mean, you mentioned at the beginning how important the experience of defeat in 1918 had been to Hitler. You know, the scene when he's in the sanatorium in Pacal or wherever it is, and he's sobbing like a baby when he hears the news, he now he's going to have his revenge. And as soon as the German tanks had reached the channel coast, you know, the beginning of the invasion, he'd said to his aids, "When we win, I want to have the armistice negotiations in the Compen forest in the same spot where we surrendered in 1918.

And not only that, we surrendered in a railway carriage in 1918 to Marshall Foch. I want to get the same railway carriage and then we'll force the French to be on the receiving end this time. And they did. They tracked it down to a museum. A German demolition crew broke down the walls of this museum with a kind of JCB type thing. They dragged out the um railway carriage and they took it all the way to this forest and dumped it in the forest. And the ceremony is set for the 21st of June. 3:00 that afternoon, Hitler turns up with all the the gang gurring, ribbon trop, hess, all these characters.

He had a look at the French war memorial which was in the forest and he went into the carriage. The French had already arrived. They're sitting there in absolutely glum silence. Hitler sat exactly where the Supreme Allied commander Marshall Foch had sat in 1918. And the American reporter William Shyra who saw Hitler that day said, "I've seen that face many times at the great moments of his life. But today it is a fire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph." General Kitle read the preamble to the armistice which said that basically the German people have been suffering and humiliated for 20 years, but that's over now and justice has been restored. And then Hitler just walked out. a gesture of contempt for the French. I will leave the rest to my aunt the lings.

That's again what Foch had had done to the Germans, isn't it? So again and again it's treating the French how they had treated the Germans.

Exactly. And and I mean Hitler and his cronies don't disguise how personal this is because that evening Hitler rang Gerbles in Berlin to talk it through. And Gerbles wrote in his diary afterwards, "The disgrace is now extinguished. It's a feeling of being born again." this sort of sense of vindication and revenge um after the first world war.

So what terms are the French able to get? Well, the French have don't have a leg to stand on. They just have to take what they're given effectively much as they sort of beg for better. So they lose our assassin. Germany takes them back. Northern and western France becomes a German military occupied zone. And then the southern two-fifths of France will be governed by Marshall Peta from the spar town of Vichi. We know that the Nazis love spar towns. And Marshall Pa ends up presiding over this very reactionary repressive anti-semitic regime which is a subject for another day I guess. And when Hitler heard the news that the French had signed, I mean, again, it's the sign of the sort of almost like the the malevolent teenage boy in Hitler, I think.

Yeah. He said, "Turn out all the lights in the headquarters, everything in darkness, and open all the windows. I want nothing to disturb, you know, the sound of the trumpeter marking the moment of the French surrender." you know, he just wants to absolutely wallow in that moment of vindication. So the same day, which is the 22nd of June, the Vermact organized this huge victory parade in Paris. You can see it on YouTube actually on German news reels. Troops marching down the Shonles cavalry riding past the Arctic Triumph.

I mean, imagine being a German, you know, a nationalistic German back in Cologne or Hamburg or Stoodgart or whatever, watching this in the cinema with your compatriots. You know, that that sense that Hitler has of vindication and revenge, that's what lots millions of ordinary Germans thought at that moment.

But also, presumably, they're thinking Hitler was right. Um, everything he promised us has come to pass.

Of course they are. So the bells ring across the Reich for a week. The flags are hoisted for 10 days. You know, there had been massive celebrations with the reports of things like the fall of Paris. And we've talked many times in this series about how anxious Germans were about the another world war. But all their anxieties, it seems, have been put at rest. I mean, Hitler, this is you're exactly right, Tom. What they think is even people who doubted Hitler now say, "Do you know what? He was right. He accomplished everything that he said he would. SS reports, we know from SS Security Service reports that even among people who were skeptical of the regime, who were even perhaps on the more dissident side of things now are just full of admiration for what has been achieved in France. There's a brilliant example. Richard Evans in his great books on the Third Reich, he has a number of diarists that he cites again

and again. And one of them is this woman called Louisa Solommitz. I think we mentioned her in previous series. She was a school teacher. She was conservative but her husband was Jewish. So she was quite conflicted as you would expect about the regime. But now she writes in her diary. She says, "I feel exhilarated by happiness and enthusiasm. It's an unbelievably great national change of fortune, the fulfillment of our longheld dreams."

And Dominic, if she is feeling like that, how does Hitler feel? Oh, I mean like that but only more so. You know the way that again I I compared him rather flippantly to a sort of teenage boy. But you know what does Hitler do? He spends the next couple of days visiting battlefields and Fllanders with old comrades with his old company sergeant from the first world war and a fellow dispatch runner and then that thing of the boyhood dream visiting Paris. So, as Shere described in that reading that you did at the beginning, he flew in with his favorite architects and his photographer, Hinrich Hoffman. They went to the opera first and they were showed around by a caretaker and they offered the caretaker a tip, but the caretaker didn't wouldn't accept it. You know, obviously doesn't want to take German gold. They went to all those places that Shere mentioned, the Arct, the AI, the Pontion, and so on, tomb of Napoleon.

The interesting thing is Hitler said afterwards to Gerbles, you know, Paris wasn't as good as I thought it would be. I thought it would be more impressive. And then he said to Shar that evening, he said, "I'd always thought we'd have to destroy Paris, but now I've realized that basically when we're done in Berlin, Berlin will be much better, and Paris will only be a shadow, so we don't need to destroy it." So, weirdly, if Paris had been more impressive, Hitler would have destroyed it. Yeah. And then at last he makes his triumphant return to Germany choreographed by Gerbles on the afternoon of the 6th of July. And this really I mean we were talking at the beginning, weren't we, about what was the happiest moment, was the high point of Hitler's life. This has got to be up there. Massive crowds, hundreds of thousands of people. They've strewn the streets with flowers.

He goes all the way from the station to the Reich Chancellory in the center. And there General Kitle introduces him as the greatest warlord of all time. And people are screaming and sobbing and Hitler comes out again and again to salute the crowds. And he is at the summit. He is at the zenith now because there's only one enemy left, Britain. He is preparing his final peace offer to Britain. If Churchill refuses that, then he will bring the British to their knees. And as the operations chief of his army, General Yodel, writes in his diary, the final German victory over England is now just a question of time.

Or is it? We will find out in our final episode of this series. It's the great duel between Hitler and Winston Churchill, between the Luftvafer and the RAF as we look at the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and the buildup to Operation Barbarasa. And members of the Rest is History Club can of course hear that episode right now. And if you would like to join them and hear about Britain's finest hour, then please do sign up at the restistory.com. Throughout time, celebration has meant giving. So the Romans at Satinelia handed out all kinds of gifts. The three magi handed out gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And the Victorians absolutely loved wrapping things up in paper and then tying it up in string. John, those are lovely gestures, but I wonder if they're a little bit too extravagant for the typical Christmas morning. So this year, here's my suggestion to our listeners. And our viewers, why not give

something a little bit more enlightened? Why not give the gift of the rest is history club membership? It's the discerning choice for anybody who prefers a Hannibal to a hamper. It's adree listening. You get a weekly bonus episode. You get early access to live shows. Um, and you get exclusive deep dive series. And also on top of that, this year's special gift edition of Rest is History Club membership comes with a sensational exclusive t-shirt. It will make you the envy of all your neighbors and all the cool people in your neighborhood if such people exist will admire you and want to spend more time with you. So just head to the restish.com and click on gifts. That is the restistory.com.

And please click on gifts.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Why France Surrendered So Quickly In 1940"?

Louise Solmitz (Guest), Tom Holland (Host), Dominic Sandbrook (Host), Albert Speer (Guest), Winston Churchill (Guest), Ian Kershaw (Guest), Max Hastings (Guest), Nella Last (Guest).

What is "Why France Surrendered So Quickly In 1940" about?

The content examines the rapid fall of Paris to German forces in 1940, highlighting the emotional and dramatic impact of this event on French history. It questions why, despite a significant military advantage, Hitler chose to halt the advance towards Britain during this critical moment of World War II.

What is mentioned in this The Rest Is History episode?

240 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Adolf Hitler, France, Dunkirk, Paris, Operation Dynamo, Germany. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Why France Surrendered So Quickly In 1940"?

The episode runs 1 h 6 min; the transcript is about 11,807 words in 134 timestamped sections.

More from The Rest Is History

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated February 24, 2026.