France and Britain Fight On

Mr. VanderportenContemporary American History

The Fall of France• Nazis begin moving towards Paris

• May 1940: Trap 400,000 British/French soldiers at Dunkirk

• Use 800 vessels to safely cross the English Channel

Fall of France• France is trapped, Italy has entered the war

• June 22, 1940: France surrenders to Germany

Nazis divide France• Germany occupies northern France, puppet gov’t to the south

Charles de Gaulle• French general, sets up a government-in-exile

“France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war.” –de Gaulle

Battle of Britain• Summer of 1940: Luftwaffe starts bombing Britain

• Wants to destroy the RAF (Royal Air Force)

• Bombed London for two straight months!

• RAF uses radar to track the Luftwaffe

• Hitler postpones invasion of Britain

• Britain starts bombing Germany cities

Famous Churchill Speech• “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” June 4th, 1940

• “Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe”

Exit Slip• 1. How would you react if the city you lived in

was bombed every night for two consecutive months?

• 2. Can you think of any modern leaders that are extremely admired as Churchill was during World War II?

• 3. Do you think it is fair for countries at war to bomb innocent civilians?

• 4. What do you think FDR and the United States was thinking when World War II began?