In this week in military history, we explore the Battle of France near the beginning of World War II.

The war started on September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland, joined by Soviet forces from the east on September 17th. Warsaw fell on September 27th and Poland capitulated on October 6th.

Following this “blitzkrieg” (lightening war), there was a misleading 6-month period of “phony war” – dubbed “sitzkrieg” (sitting war) when the war seemed to be paused. During this period the Germans intensively studied the lessons of their victory in preparation for a resumption of attacks later.

Those attacks commenced on April 8, 1940, with the German invasion of Norway and were followed up with a total blitzkrieg against France and the Low Countries on May 10th. The combination of mobile armor and infantry forces and close air support – all coordinated by radio – quickly vanquished the more static French forces. Although the French forces were in some ways superior to the German, their reliance on the fortifications of the “Maginot Line” proved to be misplaced, as the Germans went around them through the supposedly impenetrable Ardennes Forest.

Paris fell on June 14th, and the French government capitulated eleven days later -- surrendering in the same railcar that was used for the signing of the Armistice and the surrender of Germany at the end of World War I. Trapped British Expeditionary Forces were evacuated from the port of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th.

Join us next time for another segment of This Week in Military History with the Pritzker Military Museum & Library!