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

Episode 206, the fall of France, defeat.

This week, a big thank you goes out to Kyle and Aurelia for choosing to support the

podcast by becoming members. You can find out more about becoming a member over at

History of the Second World War.com slash members. On June 16th, the French prime minister,

Raynaw, had resigned to be replaced by Marshall Patan, who immediately moved into armistice

negotiations with the Germans. The armistice was then signed on June 22nd and came into effect

just 35 minutes after midnight on June 25th. But by that point, the signing of the armistice

was mostly a formality. On June 17th, Patan had announced to the French

people that he was seeking that armistice and that we must stop the fighting. On June 18th,

every French city in town of more than 20,000 people had been declared an open city and would be

handed over to the Germans without a fight. And then when the armistice came into effect,

the fighting in France was just over, at least for another four years. And so the question

for many Frenchmen became, why? How? Who? What sequence of decisions and mistakes had led

to this defeat? Different groups and different individuals would have their own answers to these questions.

Patan and his new government would place the blame squarely on the final pre-war governments,

...