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That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to history of the Second World War.

Episode 203, the fall of France falling apart.

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All over France, as the German advance continued, confusion reigned supreme.

On June 10th, a radio broadcast would announce that the government was leaving the capital,

saying, quote, the government is compelled to leave the capital for imperative military reasons.

The prime minister is on his way to the armies, end quote.

On the 11th, the city of Paris was declared an open city, causing it to avoid the destruction

that so many other major cities in Europe would experience during the war.

Vaghan and others, but the safety of Paris above continued resistance, which meant that while in

1945 places like Warsaw, Berlin,

Leningrad, and countless other cities would basically lay in ruin, Paris would remain

mostly unharmed. Now Churchill had advocated for a strong defense of Paris, later writing that,

...