Armistice of June 22, 1940 – Wikipedia

The June 21, 1940 , after having shot down a wall of the museum housing the armistice wagon since 1927, the German soldiers extract the car to bring it to its location 11 November 1918 , in anticipation of Hitler’s passage.

Hitler (hand to the side), accompanied by high Nazi dignitaries and his generals, looking at the statue of Marshal Foch before entering the car for the start of the armistice negotiations, signed the next day in his absence.

General Huntziger signs the armistice for France.

The CBS war correspondent William L. Shirer (left on the bench), hitting the text of a report on the negotiation or signing of the armistice. The building in the background is the museum in which the 1918 wagon was, before its outdoor outing was requested by Hitler to house the negotiations and the signature of the new armistice.

L’ Armistice of June 22, 1940 is an agreement signed in the Compiègne forest between the third Reich, represented by General Wilhelm Keitel, and the last government of the Third Republic, led by Marshal Philippe Pétain and represented by General Charles Huntziger, in order to suspend hostilities opened by the declaration of war of France towards Germany the September 3, 1939 , marked in particular by the battle of France launched the May 10, 1940 , the leak of the British army and its reset to Dunkirk from the May 26, 1940 and the fall of Paris, declared city open the June 14 .

The interallied commitment of 28 mars 1940 who had been taken not to conclude from separate peace with the enemy ^{[ first ]} does not prevent the signing of an armistice which suspends the fighting and the progress of the German army, establishes the conditions of the partial occupation of France by Germany, the fate of the people captured, moved or occupied, The neutralization of French forces, and the payment of economic compensation in Germany. From a territorial point of view, it follows from the Convention (in particular in its articles 2 and 3 ) ^{[ 2 ]} that metropolitan France is divided into two parts by a line of demarcation, the area occupied by the German army and the so -called “free” area ^{[ 3 ]} . A new diet will be established in July 1940 In France: the Vichy regime. In Overseas France, if a majority of territories accept it, the armistice will however never be recognized by Félix Éboué who chooses to continue the fight and directly place the territory of Chad under the control of free France giving to it the legal attributes of a sovereign state.

Article 3 recognizes the sovereignty of the French government throughout the territory subject to “the rights of the occupying power” ^{[ 4 ]} . In practice, France is divided into areas with different status, government’s requests to return to Paris are all postponed the July 7 and the demarcation line becomes “a practically waterproof border” ^{[ 4 ]} . In the occupied area, we will distinguish immediately after several types of territories: an area prohibited, in the northeast (including two departments, the North and Pas-de-Calais, attached to the German military governorate in Belgium), an “zone reserved ”in the east where no refugee has the right to return or the territories of Alsace and the Moselle annexed from the July 15th by the establishment of a customs cord, as well as the coastal area along the Côtes de la Manche and the Atlantic ^{[ 4 ]} . In the south of France, Italy also receives a small occupation area.

The entry into application of this armistice should only be done after the signature of that between Italy and France, signed the June 24 To 18 h 35 . The ceasefire comes into force six hours later, or 0 h 35 the June 25, 1940 ^{et_al.”221_5-0″ class=”reference”>et_al.”221-5″> [ 5 ]} .

After the depression of several French defense lines to the June 10, 1940 , French defeat in the Battle of France appears inevitable. Under these conditions, Marshal Pétain, a new head of the French government, speaks in a radio discourse to twelfth h 30 the June 17 From Bordeaux ^{[ 6 ]} , where he announces that we must stop the fight: ” It is the tight heart that I tell you today that you have to stop the fight »; He also indicates that he is looking with the opponent “the means of putting an end to hostilities”. Immediately, this call is widely relayed by the Germans so that French troops lay down arms without fighting.

Nevertheless, in the evening, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Paul Baudouin attenuates the words of Marshal and indicates:

“This is why the government chaired by Marshal Pétain had to ask the enemy what their conditions of peace would be. But he did not abandon the struggle, nor placed his arms. As Marshal Pétain said this morning, the country is ready to seek in honor the means to end hostilities. It is not ready, and will never be ready to accept dishonorable conditions, to abandon the spiritual freedom of our people, to betray the soul of France ^{[ 6 ]} . »

The next day, from London, the state subsecretary in defense and war, General de Gaulle launched his call from June 18 On the waves of the BBC, reproaching Pétain the very principle of the armistice ^{[ a ]} And inviting the French to resist the enemy, but it is only little heard in the metropolis:

“Believe me, I who speak to you knowingly and tell you that nothing is lost for France. The same means that defeated us can one day bring victory.
Because France is not alone! She is not alone ! She is not alone ! She has a vast empire behind her. It can block the British Empire which holds the sea and continues the fight. Like England, it can use the immense industry in the United States without limits. »»

Nevertheless, the negotiations are committed and a formal meeting is organized from June 21 in the forest of Compiègne, at the place imposed by Hitler.

Adolf Hitler demands that the armistice be signed in the same place as the armistice of 1918, in the clearing of Rethondes, near Compiègne in the department of Oise. He brings the wagon out of the armistice, which had been used to sign that of 1918, of the building which shelters it, and made it place a hundred meters away, at the exact location where it was the 11 November 1918 , in order to organize the revenge ceremony on the First World War ^{[ 7 ]} (The wagon will then be conveyed to Berlin). THE 21st of June , During the inaugural day of negotiations, the Germans are represented by Adolf Hitler in person and General Wilhelm Keitel, in charge of negotiations ^{[ 3 ]} As head of the high command of the German army ^{[ b ] , [ 7 ]} .

Several high dignitaries of the German army and the Nazi regime attend the ceremony: Rudolf Hess, Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Reich, Admiral Raeder, Commander -in -Chief of Kriegsmarine and General Von Brauchitsch , commander -in -chief of the Grade , the German army ^{[ 8 ] , [ 7 ]} .

The French delegation is chaired by General Huntziger and includes the Aviation General Bergeret, the vice-admiral Le Luc and the Ambassador Léon Noël ^{[ 7 ]} .

After the military ceremony, the delegations take place in the car and Hitler gives the floor to Keitel who gives a speech ^{[ 7 ]} . Then the text of the armistice conditions is given to the French and the Germans, with the exception of Keitel and the Schmidt interpreter, leave the premises ^{[ 7 ]} . General Jodl then joined the delegates with some officers ^{[ 7 ]} .

Before his departure for Rethondes, General Huntziger, head of the French delegation, was received by Pétain in the presence of members of the government: the new Minister of Defense, General Weygand and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paul Baudouin ^{[ 9 ]} ; During this interview, the head of government expressed his “Formal instructions” that are “[…] Immediately break negotiations if Germany requires first of all the total or partial discount of the fleet, secondly the occupation of the metropolis, or thirdly the occupation of any part of the colonial empire ^{[ 9 ]} . »
At the same time, the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs write a note: “Brief list of concessions that could not be made without harming the honor ^{[ 9 ]} » ; To the three points indicated by Pétain, are added the delivery of aviation and the safeguarding of institutions of France and on the integrity of the territory it is specified that this particularly concerns Alsace-Lorraine and Corsica ^{[ 9 ]} .

Having read the armistice conditions enacted by the Germans, Huntziger reports to Weygand, the 21st of June To 20 h , during a long telephone interview – conversation listened to by the Germans – where he dictates the full text of the Convention, immediately transmitted to the Council of Ministers gathered in Bordeaux ^{[ ten ]} .

The French delegation considers that the conditions imposed on France by Germany, although hard, are however acceptable because it keeps its fleet ^{[ ten ]} and its colonies – in accordance with the wishes of Pétain – and is not fully occupied ^{[ 11 ]} . In fact, at the time of the armistice signing, the Germans require none of the three conditions which, according to the Pétain instructions, were likely to cause the negotiations of negotiations ^{[ twelfth ]} : “Indeed, the territory would not be occupied in its entirety since a line of demarcation would define the delimitation of the area under German control […]. But during negotiations, this line was not presented as intangible […] ^{[ twelfth ]} . » . The fleet would be simply disarmed and the question of the Empire was not the subject of these negotiations ^{[ twelfth ]} .

During the talks that take place all day long, interspersed with new telephone communications between Huntziger and Weygand, the French delegation nevertheless obtains ^{[ 13 ]} Two modifications: article 5 on the delivery of military aircraft and article 17 on the transfers of values ​​and stocks, are amended ^{[ 13 ]} . The Germans refuse any other concession, despite French protests, in particular on Article 19 Regarding the right of asylum and on Italy (France has not been defeated in the Alps) ^{[ 14 ]} . Following the ultimatum of General Keitel, head of the German delegation, Huntziger received the order from Bordeaux to sign the armistice ^{[ 14 ]} .

After these two days of discussion, the armistice is therefore signed the June 22 To 18 h 36 ^{[ 2 ]} by Generals Keitel and Huntziger ^{[ 8 ] , [ ten ]} .

The conditions of the armistice are motivated by the concerns of Adolf Hitler at that time: it is of course necessary to prevent in a lasting way that France does not become a great military power, but in the short term, it is necessary to ensure that its fleet And aviation does not join the United Kingdom ^{[ 3 ]} , which remains the last country to defeat or seduce, because a peace agreement with the United Kingdom remains desired at the end of June. Finally, it should not be offended or the Italian ally ^{[ 3 ]} , nor the Spanish ally potential. Hitler met Mussolini the June 18 to Munich ^{[ 15 ]} to convince him to stick to his views ^{[ 15 ]} : The Duce wanted to seize the French fleet and aviation, occupy France to the Rhône, annex Nice, Savoy, Corsica, Tunisia, the French Coast of Somalis, the cities of Algiers, D ‘Oran and Casablanca, which did not fall into the plans of Hitler who considered these disproportionate claims and likely to compromise the signature of the armistice ^{[ 15 ] , [ 3 ]} . All these complex considerations will determine the content of the armistice agreement.

France cut into different zones: free zone, occupied area, departments of the East annexed to the Reich and departments of the North attached to the military command of Brussels.

The agreement is a brief text of twenty-four articles, which contains in particular the following clauses ^{[ 2 ]} :

• Prisoners of war (more than 1.5 million men) remain in captivity until the signing of a peace treaty;
• The northern half, as well as the Atlantic coast, go under German occupation: it is the occupied area, which covers about three -fifths of the territory. The rest constitutes the “free zone”, that is to say not occupied, located mainly in the south of the Loire. The two areas are separated by the demarcation line;
• France must provide for the maintenance of the occupation army. It turned out that the amount of these allowances would be fixed discretionary by the Germans, and their amount will amount, on average, to 400 millions francs per day;
• In the free zone, the French army is limited to 100,000 men and the troops are without heavy equipment;
• French sovereignty is exercised throughout the territory, including the occupied area, Alsace and the department of Moselle, but in the occupied area, it is stipulated that Germany exercises “the rights of occupying power ^{[ 2 ]} “, Which implies that the administration collaborates with it in a” correct way ^{[ 2 ]} “(This clause will be violated the following month with the re-report of Alsace-Moselle ^{[ 16 ] , [ 17 ]} );
• The French colonial empire remains under the authority of the French government;
• War buildings must join ports “to be determined” to be disarmed under the respective control of Germany or Italy;
• France must deliver German or Austrian political refugees present on its soil.

The last condition (article 19: “The French government is required to deliver on request all the German nationals designated by the Government of the Reich who will be in France or in French possessions.” ^{[ 18 ]} ) is generally considered “contrary to honor ^{[ 3 ]} », First of all by the French delegation in Rethondes ^{[ 3 ]} .

Reactions to the armistice and the question of the French fleet [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Pétain announces to the French the conditions of the armistice on June 25 with these words: “Honor is except” and “I would not be worthy to stay at your head if I had agreed to spread the blood of the French to prolong the Dream of a few badly educated French people in the conditions of the struggle. I did not place out of the ground of France neither my person nor my hope ” ^{[ 19 ]} .

De Gaulle replied with a message to the BBC on June 26: “This armistice is dishonorable. Two -thirds of the territory delivered to the occupation of the enemy, and what enemy! Our whole army demobilized. And it is at the same tone, Monsieur le Marshal, that you invite France delivered, France linked, France enslaved to resume its work, to redo, to get up. But in what atmosphere? By what means ? »» ^{[ 20 ]} .

Churchill had, by a message of June 18 after Pétain asked for the armistice, expressed the French nation the affection of the British and had assured him that his country would continue the struggle until victory ^{[ 21 ]} . Immediately after the signing, the British war cabinet anticipates that the whole French fleet must be delivered to the Germans and the Italians to be disarmed. Churchill writes in his Memoirs: “It is true that in the same article, the German government solemnly declared that it had no intention of using [the fleet] for its own ends. But what a sensible man would have added faith to Hitler’s word after all the infamies committed? »» ^{[ 22 ]} .

Now in the colors of III ^{It is} Reich , the “Alsatian-Lorraine monument” to the glory of the Liberators of 1918, destroyed like the entire site (except the statue of Foch) shortly after the signing of the armistice.

The fate of the fleet [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Hitler’s choice to leave a part of its territory and its empire to France ^{[ 15 ] , [ 3 ]} may seem surprising today. At the time, in a letter to the Duce and during the meeting of June 18 In Munich, Hitler justified this choice by the concern of not pushing France and its powerful fleet to continue the war from its colonies ^{[ 15 ] , [ 3 ] , [ 23 ]} . The German navy was unable to conquer the vast colonial empire across the Mediterranean, and the sending of troops in distant lands did not fall into Hitler’s strategy ^{[ 15 ]} . In fact, with the exception of French Africa-Equatorial and New Caledonia, the French colonies rally neither in De Gaulle or to the Allies in the months following the armistice, despite the battle of Dakar.

For his part, Churchill, faced with the unbearable risk of seeing the French fleet join his attachment ports now occupied by the enemy in accordance with armistice conventions, sends the July 3, 1940 A British naval force, commanded by Admiral Somerville, summon the French squadron of Mers el-Kébir to join her, scuttle, or to join the French Antilles to be disarmed or entrusted to the United States (then neutral but favorable to Great Britain). The French Admiral Gensoul sends two messages to the Ministry of the Navy and the Council of Ministers meets at 3 p.m.: He refuses the conditions. Admiral must reject the ultimatum. According to Churchill, the war cabinet did not tremble: “It was an odious, the most inhuman, the most painful decision of all those with which I have been associated” ^{[ 22 ]} .

There follows a naval fight during which the courage of the French fleet which fights in a very delicate position allows a few ships to escape despite big losses: the battleship Brittany is sunk; a second, the Provence , as well as the battle cruiser Dunkirk and the counter-hearter Mogador , are put out of combat; The whole cause the death of 1,297 French sailors.

Admiral Darlan had, in advance, refused to direct the units which had their base to the occupied ports. He ordered the entire fleet to fall back to North Africa. The attack on Mers El-Kébir encouraged it to base it in Toulon at the end of The year 1940 .

In the uncertainty of their outcome, the conversations and discussions between the members of the two delegations, and those between the members of the French delegation and the Philippe Pétain government, were registered by the Germans without the knowledge of the French. On the occasion of the discovery by collector Bruno Ledoux of the copy which was, following the signing of the armistice and the beginning of the collaboration, given to Marshal Pétain, known to historians under the name of “Malle Pétain” But lost until 2015, France television broadcasts large parts in February 2019 ^{[ 24 ]} . Short extracts from the copy of the original German recordings on magnetic bands, owned in the federal archives, had previously been broadcast by Philippe Alfonsi on Europe 1 in the 1970s Then on France Inter in 1990 ^{[ 25 ]} . The sound document found by Bruno Ledoux, comprising, in the form of 45 discs 78 rpm aluminum one side, of more than 3 hours, in the lead Presidency of the board, administration of national broadcasting , Registration center , and comprising German handwritten inscriptions June 22, 1940 , Tag.2 , Negotiation , Compiègne , containing all of the discussions held in the wagon June 22 , will be offered by Bruno Ledoux to France to be kept in the National Archives ^{[ 26 ]} .

The settlement of the conflict with fascist Italy is the subject of another armistice signed the June 24, 1940 .

Italy, although claiming, among others, the former county of Nice and Savoy, which it has not managed to seize, must be satisfied with the occupation area of ​​Menton (Alpes-Maritimes). The other claimed territories, from the Franco-Italian border to the Rhône as well as Corsica, will only be occupied by the Italian army, the 11 November 1942 , during the invasion of the previously unoccupied area.

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References [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

: document used as a source for writing this article.

Historical works [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Marc Ferro, Pétain , Paris, Arthème Fayard bookstore, 1987 ( rompr. 2008), 789 p. (ISBN  978-2-213-01833-1 ) .
• Marc Ferro (with the participation of Serge de Sampigny), Pétain in truth , Paris, Tallandier editions, two thousand and thirteen , 302 p. (ISBN  979-10-210-0130-5 , BNF  43680883 ) .
• Eberhard Jäckel ( trad. German by Denise Meunier, pref.  Alfred Grosser), France in Hitler Europe [« France in Hitler’s Europe – German France Policy in World War II »], Paris, Fayard, coll. “Large contemporary studies”, 1968 ( first ^re ed. Deutsche Verlag -anstang GmbH, Stuttgart, 1966), 554 p. (Salt B0045C48VG ) .
• Jean-Yves Mary, Alain Hohnadel and Jacques Sicard, Men’s men and works , t. III : The tragic fate of the Maginot line , Paris, Éditions Histoire & Collections, coll. “The French army encyclopedia” ( n ^O 2), first ^is June 2003 , 246 p. (ISBN  978-2-913903-88-3 , BNF  39020876 )
• Pierre Miquel, The Second World War , Paris, Fayard, September 24, 1986 ( rompr. Paris, Club France Loisirs, 1987), 651 p. (ISBN  978-2-213-01822-5 , 978-2213018225 And 2-7242-3370-0 ) .

Article [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Françoise Berger « The armistice of 1940: negotiations and consequences », Review of the Society of Friends of the Army Museum , n ^O 140, 2011 , p. 57-65 ( read online [PDF] ) .

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: document used as a source for writing this article.