It was rumored that the German soldiers were forced to take “methamphetamine” -it is a substance that kills feelings of empathy, and make you feel superhuman, the very qualities needed to create a near perfect soldier.
There are many reports that just before the attack started on May 10 1940. There were a lot of soldiers who were depressed who didn’t want to fight who remembered the First World War. So the morale of the Germans was quite low. But once you take methamphetamine, their morale actually becomes quite high.
To the North of Netherlands, The Germans bombard the port of Rotterdam killing around 1000 people.
so shocked are the Dutch by the number of casualties and the gutting of the center of Rotterdam that actually encourages them to give up. So already in just four days, the Dutch are knocked out of the fight.
The Prime Minister of France Paul is shocked by the speed of the German advance. He calls Britain’s new prime minister with terrible news he tells him that in just give days, the battle has been lost and I don’t think we can stop them
The Germans are closing in on the French capital. And Churchill fears that the French are unable to respond quickly enough to man the rapid counter attack that is needed.
On the 16th of May, just six days after taking office, JoJo flies to Paris to try and stiffen French resolve.
Now, Britain is all alone,it means that those allied armies further north, including the whole of the British Expeditionary Force have been cut off from their lines of supply.
Those troops in Belgium and Holland, now realized they were completely surrounded on all sides by German soldiers and the only way out is either by cutting through them, or being rescued from the channel coast.
The last escape route to the coast, is encircle by a million Allied soldiers. Having soldiers trapped, the British start to make plans to evacuate their troops by sea. The German tank officers were exhausted. They were short of supplies but speeds was the lifeline.
A very influential Nazi, thought about the use of the loofah. And he was like, -Look, let me unleash the luftwaffe. These are sitting ducks on the beach, I can attack from the air, and you can use the army to move south to attack the rest of the French army, take Paris and pursue them .
Now the plan is to invade Paris without wasting any Field Army. Soon everything starts to unravel.
very conveniently for the British there is 10 times cloud cover for most of the evacuation period, which is made worse by the fact that the Germans have already bombed the oil refinery in Dunkirk. And so black smoke from explosion reaches 15,000ft into the sky, so basically can’t actually see anything.
The poor visibility makes it very difficult for the low luftwaffe. And even when the clouds start to disperse, the German’s air stalkers struggle to hit their targets.
From 6000 feet when you’re starting or die bombing, a destroyer crammed full of men just looks like a pencil, and it’s kind of wobbling around all over the place. And it’s incredibly difficult to hit something that is moving from that distance.
But surprisingly, the German’s Luffafa meets something scary- a new fighter plane super-marine Spitfire. For the first time, The Fighter Command, was able to break the German air superiority.
They’re sending Spitfires and hurricanes from Southeast England over to Dunkirk to cover the evacuation. And actually they did a pretty good job. They suffer as well, but they’re pretty effective and they shoot down dive German bombers.
The British Allied forces hoped to rescue about 45,000 soldiers from death or capture. But thanks to the Navy. The little ships in the RPF almost 340,000 were rescued.
Defeated in Dunkirk, Hitler turns his army towards Paris. In an effort to prevent their beloved capital city being reduced to rubble. The French flee, leaving Paris to be captured and undefended.
There’s no doubt that the French are aware of the German use of bombing at Rotterdam and against the poles. They saw the terrible damage that was done to those cities. And they did not want the same thing to happen to all the architectural wonders in Paris. they declare it an open city and move the government further south.
The Germans marching on the 14th of June the French government moves first to the city of tour and then to Bordeaux. Prime Minister we know is replaced by 84 year old first world war hero Marshall Philippe.
Now is Hitler’s moment to gloat . He goes to the museum and brings out the carriage the used in the 1918 armistice where it was the Germans who surrendered.
Now it will be the French who was paraded in shame. After the armistice is signed, Hitler destroyed the Carriage because it was an insult to entire Germany.