The Great Battle in France
Picturebook for the edification in the Hitler-Youth program
“May the sound of the bells unite the prayers, which will accompany the German folk as it accompanies its sons from now own. For this morning the German divisions and air forces have again taken their positions.� June 5, 1940, Adolf Hitler
From the canal (English Channel ) to the Maas River—the Northern Front has been broken in a space of 350 kilometers.
Under the murderous fire of the artillery...
the merciless strikes of the air force...
a bitter struggle against Poilus and Neger...
the crossing of the Oise, Somme and Aisne was achieved...
and then the deployment of tanks...
of motorized troops...
There were heavy losses on both sides...
the losses in material were unfathomable.
The power of our weapons, the never tiring deployment of our soldiers reduces the enemy resistance.
After hardly ten days the Seine and the Marne (rivers) were crossed.
German soldiers march into Paris
June 15, 1940. Verdun—symbol of French resistance, falls into our hands.
The myth of France— the Maginot Line...
Is broken and cut off.
Our incomparable stukas and heavy artillery...
destroy this wall of iron and concrete.
June 16, 1940. The Upper Rhine is crossed.
Report of the supreme commando the Armed Forces: “Over the rubble of the defeated French armies our divisions hasten forward; filled with the thought of victory and also of the final revenge of the unfairness of Versailles.�
Our infantry marches on without getting tired....
The units proceed without stopping.....
in order to cut off the retreating opponent.
June 17, 1940 As Marshall Petain offered a French truce he did not offer to lay down the remaining arms but also ended a complete untenable situation
On France’s roads millions of refugees wandered around....
The columns of the defeated army came into German captivity.
Everywhere collapse, which helpers could not stop
The equiping of fifty-five divisions and the Maginot Line destroyed or captured!
The success of this most powerful battle in world history is the result, in the first place, of the German soldiers themselves. They proved themselves on all front, wherever they were assigned. All German regulars have participated equally for this success. 17 July 1940 The Leader in Berlin
“The best infantry of the world.”
“In this war the German tanks have entered into world history� The Leader
“…without the heroic deployment of the air force, the heroism of the army would have been in vain.” The Leader
“As a wonder the German strategy worked. Today this wonder is clear, because‌
…at the tip of the bravest German soldiers stands Germany’s greatest military commander. Hermann Göring
Where once blind hatred considered continuing the war‌