Story Highlights
- Historical event
- 14 June 1940
- Army Group B (German: Heeresgruppe B), under the supreme command of Fedor von Bock, occupied Paris on this day in 1940. A year later, Fedor von Bock became “Generalfeldmarschall”.
On this day, German troops occupied Paris.
It was a great triumph for the Wehrmacht (the German Army), but also for Adolf Hitler personally because his occupied a metropolis for the first time.
Army Group B (German: Heeresgruppe B), under the supreme command of Fedor von Bock, occupied Paris. A year later, Fedor von Bock became “Generalfeldmarschall”.
Allegedly, Fedor von Bock was against Nazism. In fact he was a monarchist, who supported the former Kaiser Wilhelm II (who was exiled, and lived in the Netherlands). Fedor von Bock tried to meet with Wilhelm II when his troops conquered the Netherlands (shortly before the occupation of Paris). However, the German guard prevented their meeting (namely, Hitler thought that Fedor von Bock was his rival). Next year, the mentioned emperor died.
A few days before the occupation of Paris, the French government fled the city, and went to Tours, the city on the Loire River.
The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also went to Tours, and visited the French government.
He allegedly proposed the union of Great Britain and France in order to show that they would fight against the Germans till the end (Churchill probably wanted to stop the plans of the Frenchmen who wanted to surrender to the Germans).
However, the plan was rejected, Paris was occupied, and France surrendered to the Germans (not counting Charles de Gaulle, who was in London, and continued to fight).
