ABSTRACT
The Phoney War ended on 10 May 1940 when Hitler launched Fall Gelb. The German strategy was to surround the Allies and advance to the Channel coast. A diversion in the Netherlands and Belgium was designed to attract Allied armies towards the North. The next step of the offensive was called Fall Rot and was conceived to turn the Allied armies stationed on the Maginot Line down to Switzerland. Violent fighting was not enough to make up for the inequality between German and Allied forces. The Germans also took Cherbourg and Brest and captured the cities along the Loire, the Saone and the Rhône. Langres and Dijon were taken on 15 and 16 June. Facing the German assault, the French Government left the capital on 10 June for the south, first reaching Tours, before settling for Bordeaux on 14 June.
