Germans March Into Paris

On June 14, 1940, a little more than a month after they had launched their invasion, the Germans captured Paris. The French had declared Paris an “open city” which is a military convention whereby one side agrees not to defend a city so as to avoid the destruction that inevitably occurs when a city is actively defended. A city can be a very powerful defensive position as Warsaw had shown and other European cities would demonstrate in the future. However, if the defense of the city is not part of an integrated plan the resulting destruction and death have little point. The Poles could expect no mercy from the Germans and staked their national future on all out resistance. The French could expect better treatment and, in any event, by now lacked the cohesion to organize major resistance around Paris. It was probably just as well.

Meanwhile another advocate of all out resistance was at work. It has been little noted that Winston Churchill harbored a fantasy of some kind of last redoubt in the Breton or Norman peninsulas and was at this time still sending troops into France through Breton and Norman ports to accomplish this end. He even committed the recently arrived 1st Canadian infantry division which could have formed a nice nucleus for the ground forces to defend Britain against possible invasion. The result was a confused muddle, a hasty evacuation, more destroyed and abandoned equipment and a “second Dunkirk” involving the evacuation of over 200,000 men including, not incidentally, 24,500 Poles.

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