After a "funny war", then the German offensive on May 10, 1940, it was defeat in France in June 1940. Noises of boots resounded on the Parisian pavement at the end of spring. We remembered the sad anniversary of June 14, 1940 when German troops entered the capital. Three days later, the new president of the Council Philippe Pétain announced to the French the request for an armistice. "It is with a heavy heart that I tell you today that we must stop the fight". The treaty putting an end to the hostilities is signed in the forest of Rethondes on June 22, 1940. It is the beginning of the German occupation which will disrupt the daily life of the French during four long years.
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"The Nazi flag flies over the Arc de Triomphe". On June 14, 1940, Paris, declared an open city, fell to the Germans. The city ceases to be the capital of the country and becomes the seat of the German military command. Nazi troops will not be dislodged until August 1944. #secondeguerremondiale # 2gm # ww2 #Paris
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In the midst of a debacle on the French side, a little-known shipwreck: on June 17 the Lancastria British building was torpedoed by the Germans. A huge catastrophe: two to three times more deadly than the sinking of the Titanic. For several weeks, bodies fail on the beaches of Loire-Atlantique and Vendée. This liner was originally launched on the Clyde River (in Scotland) in 1920 under the name of RMS Tyrrhenia . Designed to carry 2,200 passengers, it made its first trip from Glasgow to Montreal in 1922. Two years later renamed Lancastria , it sailed between Liverpool and New York until 1932 before being used as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean and Europe North. At the end of spring 40, the liner was reconverted into a soldiers transport ship to escape the advance of the Germans. On the grim day of June 17, civilians also boarded the vessel. Winston Churchill, at the time, kept silent about the loss of the liner. At the end of July 1940 the government recognized that the ship had been sunk by the Germans, but this shipwreck was classified as a secret defense for a century by order of Churchill.
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The greatest British maritime disaster. Eighty years ago, on June 17, 1940, at 3:50 p.m., the British liner Lancastria, used for evacuation operations, was torpedoed by the Germans, not far from Saint Nazaire. The ship sinks in 24 minutes. Thousands of victims: three, four, five, six thousand, we will never know. But nearly 2,500 passengers were saved. The wreck rests at the gates of the Loire channel. Credit: Wikimedia commons # ww2 # 2gm #lancastria #paquebot #saintnazaire #naufrage #bombardement #catastrophemaritime
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As soon as the armistice was announced, General de Gaulle immediately left for London. With the support of Winston Churchill, on June 18, 1940 , he launched his now famous appeal: we must continue the fight. This call will unite a resistance movement. General de Gaulle, then unrecognized, reiterated this call several times in June 1940. In Le Figaro Littéraire of 1965, Elisabeth de Miribel the secretary of the general remembers: "The first call was well typed by me, with two fingers on the machine portable writing from Courcel (general's aide-de-camp). Today, there is no more audio recording of the call. The poster "To all the French" was displayed on the walls of the United Kingdom in early August 1940. This famous speech by de Gaulle is celebrated each year symbolizing the refusal of submission.
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"Our homeland is in peril, we are all fighting to save it." On June 18, 1940, on British BBC radio, General de Gaulle, appealed to continue the fight. This call is considered today as the founding act of the Resistance. Credit: Rue des Archives #secondeguerremondiale # WW2 # 2GM # 18juin1940 # appeldu18juin #generaldegaulle #degaulle
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