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France WW2
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Hitlers attack on Poland
One of Adolf Hitler's first major foreign policy initiatives after coming to power was to sign a nonaggression pact with Poland. Hitler sought the nonaggression pact in order to neutralize the possibility of a French-Polish military alliance against Germany. -
The Munich Agreement
France signs the Munich agreement which forces the Czechoslovak Republic to cede the Sudetenland, including the key Czechoslovak military defense positions, to Nazi Germany. -
The Maginot Line
The Maginot Line dominated French military thinking in the inter-war years. Fortification was made along the German border. It was finished in 1940 and costed 3 billion Francs. It was a series of war outposts thought to be impenetrable, but was easy to get around as it wasn't mobile. -
Battle of France
The successful invasion of France by the Germans. An Armistice was signed between France and Germany which resulted in the division of France. On June 22 an armistic was signed between France and Germany. -
Hitler
Hitler orders his army forces towards Dunkirk for the final blow to the Allied cause. He decided to halt the German forces right in fron tog the BEF. It is said to have lost the war, as the BEF, more or less Britains entire army, was alloed to fight another day. -
Dunkirk Evacuation
Thousands of French armies were trapped in the port of Dunkirk. The British decided to try and evacuate them by sea. The Navy put out a call for help from the civilian population. Due to time concerns, almost all heavy equipment had to be abandoned. Under constant rescue they evacuated nearly 340,000 men. -
The Lend-Lease program
The Lend-Lease program enabled the UK, Soviet Union, France, and other Allied nations to receive war material from the United States. It provided them defence supplies without acually going to war. The U.S. and the USSR came to an agreement by which the USSR were to pay back the $722 million debt in installments -
US Forces
US forces tangle with a suprisingly stout French defense. It was believed that the two country's histories would have brought France to surrender rather than fight a former ally. -
Invasion of Normandy
This was the beginning of the liberation of France in which the Allied forces decided to begin the invasion by landing a huge army in Normandy. Thousands of ships took part in Operation Neptune and began gathering in the Southeast areas. By the end of the of the entire Normandy Campaign, nearly 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded, or missing. -
Liberation of France
Allied forces landed on the beach of Normandy tricking the Axis who believed they would land in the Pas de Calais area. The Nazis didn't guard the Normandy beaches as well as other areas. The battle ended where Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.
