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That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to history of the Second World War, episode 205, The Fall of France, Surrender.

This week, a big thank you goes out to Christopher and Jay A for choosing to support the

podcast by becoming members. Members get access to ad-free versions of all of the podcast episodes,

plus special member-only episodes released roughly once a month. Head on over to history

of the second world war.com slash members to find out more. After the fall of the Raynaul

government on June 16, 1940,

in favor of one led by Patan and Vagan, the fighting in France was on the clock, and the start

of armistice negotiations were really only a matter of time. This was not just due to political

reasons, but also the continued deterioration of the situation

at the front, with some of the German divisions hitting distance records for a single day

of advance during the middle days of June, including a staggering 240 kilometer advance by

Rommel and his 7th Panzer Division on June 17th. They would eventually reach Sherburg on June 19th.

Also on June 17th, on the complete opposite side of France, Guderian reached the border with Switzerland, after advancing from the north.

While these gains were impressive, by this point the French army was firmly in the mode of retreating as quickly as it possibly could, putting

forth little actual resistance. This meant that major advances by the Germans were expected,

by both sides. Before Réinot was forced to resign from his position of Prime Minister, he made one

...