Why We Fight: Divide and Conquer

[Silence]

♪ [instrumental music plays] ♪

♪ [instrumental music still plays] ♪

- [Narrator 1] Six years of hard training
and actual battle experience in Spain

and Poland had made the German army look
invincible.

But what about the British and French?

First, let's take up the British.

They started from scratch,

both at home and abroad an army was
growing for,r.

not only Britain had declared war
Canada,

Australia,

New Zealand,

South Africa,

the whole British commonwealth

of nations was also determined on victory
over Hitlerism and all it stands for.

And Britain had one weapon that was ready,
The Royal Navy. Shortly after war was

declared it had swept German shipping
from the high seas.

[gunfire]

And units of the British fleet were
deployed at Suez,

Malta,

Gibraltar,

in the Channel,

and in the North Sea,

blockading Germany.

World conquest was impossible

without running smack
up against the rock called Britain.

"How to strike at that little island?"
That was the question.

Between Britain and Germany stood not
only France, but the little countries

of Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, Denmark,
Norway and Sweden.

The people of these small neutral
countries were peaceful,

hardworking,

and free.

They knew they were

in the middle and feared violation
of their neutrality.

Hitler knew this.

He also knew that if they united with the
allies, they would form a solid democratic

wall against Nazi aggression, and their
conquest would be far more difficult.

So, before striking with his armies, he
used another weapon, the propaganda

barrage to confuse, to make them lose
faith, to divide and conquer.

To lull the fears of the little neutrals,
Propaganda Minister Goebbels told them

Germany didn't want a war at all,
it was Britain and France

that caused all the trouble.

Then,
it was Hitler's turn.

[foreign language]

In a speech on October 6th, 1939,
he made them all kinds of specific promises.

To the Danes, he said, "We have concluded a non-aggression pact with Denmark."

To the Norwegian's,
he said, "Germany never had any conflict

with the Northern States and has none
today."

To the Dutch, he said,

"The new Reich has endeavored to continue
the traditional friendship with Holland."

And to the Belgians, he announced, "The
Reich has put forth no claim which might

in any way be regarded as a threat
to Belgium." And while Hitler was making

these promises, his generals were
cold-bloodedly picking out the first victim,

Norway.

And why did they pick
Norway?

Its many steep inlets or fjords
would make excellent

U-boat bases from which raiders
could play on British supply lines.

[explosion]

Also, it would give the Nazi's vital air
bases.

This is Scapa Flow,

British naval base,

and this the blockade
fleet.

At this time, the German-based

bombers couldn't reach them.

Possession of bases on Norway's

western shore would bring these vital
British defenses under easy bomber attack.

But he couldn't take Norway without also
taking tiny Denmark,

the springboard for his attack.

So, at dawn on April 9th,
1940...

♪ [instrumental music] ♪

...the German army rolled across the
neutral borders of little Denmark,

and in a matter of hours, it occupied
the entire country.

By nightfall, Denmark is erased as a
nation and the Danes go into slavery.

Although only six months before, Hitler
had announced, "We have concluded a

non-aggression pact with Denmark,"
the Danes will not forget.

Meanwhile in Norway, peaceful-looking
German merchant ships like these had

sneaked inside Norway's neutral waterway
and tied up at all principal ports.

That is, they looked like merchant ships.

But if the Norwegians had had X-ray eyes,

this is what they would've seen.

The Trojan horse of Ancient Greece brought

up to date with new and deadlier weapons.

At the precise moment that the Nazi's

overran Denmark, these quiet-looking
ships sprang to life.

♪ [instrumental music] ♪

At the same time, Nazi warships,

discovered along the entire coastline

started steaming up the Norwegian fjords.

Ships,

transports,

tanks,

men,

planes

all flung themselves simultaneously
upon a defenseless country.

Airborne infantry seized every strategic
Norwegian airport.

The whole job was made

easier by treacherous fifth columnists
led by Major Quisling, who seized power

and issued orders to suppress resistance.

Nazi warships steamed past silent guns

that could've blasted them out of the
water.

This was one of the most amazing

acts of treachery the world has ever
known.

It brought Major Quisling international fame,

making his very name
synonymous with the word traitor.

By the afternoon of April 9th, the Germans
were in complete control of all seven

ports where they had landed
in the morning.

♪ [instrumental music] ♪

♪[marching band]♪

For the first time in more than 200 years,
the people of Norway saw an invading army

parading through their cities.

Many of these Nazi soldiers strutting

as conquerors in 1940 had last seen Norway
some 20 years earlier, when, as refugee

German children, they had been raised
and cared for by kind Norwegians.

Now, these same Germans were back

to repay that kindness with
terror and destruction.

Once they had occupied the capital, the
Nazis fanned out in all directions.

But loyal Norwegian troops
stopped one German column

between Hamar and Elverum.

[gunfire]

[gunfire and explosions]

So, the Germans brought up their bombers.

[engine noise]

[explosions]

The Norwegians were forced to flee
to the north under constant and unopposed

air attack. It was here that Captain
Robert Losey, an American military

attaché was killed, the first American
soldier to lose his life in this war.

Meanwhile, the Nazis had spread all
over the country.

Small patrols occupied every strategic village.

Parachute troops
landed high in the mountains.

[explosions]

Unopposed bombing raids sent defenseless
civilians fleeing in stark terror.

[plane engines]

[explosions]

They hadn't wanted war.

They had
done everything to avoid it.

Hoping they could escape the Nazi scourge,
they had compromised

and tragically failed to unite
with the other democracies.

And now, they faced the scourge

defenseless and alone, for before the
allies could come to their aid,

the Germans were in control of all
principal forts.

-[2nd Male Narrator] Regardless of this,

British, French and Polish contingents
plunged in and made several landings

along the Norwegian coast.

They landed
forces north and south of Trondheim

and attempted an encircling movement
on the city under constant, heavy

and almost entirely unopposed air attack.

[explosions]

For the scene of action was out of range
of British fighter planes, so they brought

up aircraft carriers, but these are at a
disadvantage when opposed by land-based planes.

The allies, therefore, were
badly battered from the air.

Finally, suffering heavy losses, they
withdrew from a hopeless situation.

Further to the north, at Narvik, they met
with better success, inflicting heavy

naval losses on the Nazis.

[explosions]

They made landings and held the town
for nearly two months.

[gunfire]

Incidentally, they also took their first
prisoners of the present war.

♪ [music] ♪

Again, the Nazi's overwhelming air
of superiority proved a deciding factor...

[planes flying]

...and the allies were forced to withdraw
under terrific air bombardment.

[engine roar]

[explosions]

[gunfire and continuing explosions]

Loyal Norwegians were left with their
Quislings,

their ruins,

their dead.

Even though six months before, Hitler had
said,

-[1st Male Narrator] "Germany never had
any conflict with the Northern States"

"and has none
today,"

the Norwegians will not forget.

-[2nd Male Narrator] And Hitler,

Hitler had another victory.

He had hijacked two more countries.

The world wondered and sometimes
marveled at this man's efficiency.

♪ [music] ♪

Gangster Dillinger was efficient, too.

[gunfire]

♪ [music] ♪

When a man or a nation throws away all
regard for the laws of God and man,

he is bound at first to be more efficient
than his victims.

Society had a police

force to deal with gangster Dillinger,

but it had no police force to deal

with gangster Hitler.

So, he clubbed
Norway into submission and got what he wanted.

Bases for use against Britain.

Now, he had the Northern claw

of an enormous pincer movement.
A drive through France would give him

the southern claw. Blockade by U-boats,
coupled with mass bombing attacks,

would weaken the British for final
invasion. Then, with Britain gone,

Germany could reach out in all direction
for world conquest.

♪ [music] ♪

His next move must obviously be
through France, to get his southern claw.

Through France.

How was she
to face the onslaught?

[explosions]

These scenes are ancient
history.

They occurred in 1914.

The German armies, without warning, had
smashed across neutral Belgium,

invaded France,

reached the river Marne
only a few miles from Paris.

Out of the French capital poured the
French reserves, riding out to battle the

enemy in every vehicle that could move.
The famous taxi cab army.

Note well, it was riding out to battle.

In the center
of the French line stood the

Ninth French Army, commanded by a then
comparatively unknown general.

On September 5th, 1914, he is reputed
to have said,

"My right is driven in,

my center is giving way,

the situation
is excellent.

I attack!"

[explosions]

[continued explosions] [instrumental music]

He did attack.

The German onslaught was
checked,

and Paris was saved.

That comparatively unknown general later
became Commander-in-Chief of all the

allied armies, and presided the signing
of the Armistice with the defeated Germans

on November 11th, 1918.

To this general,
the French people erected a monument.

The Marshal Ferdinand Foch,

whose motto
was,

"Attack!

Always attack!"

Still later, the war-weary French people
erected another monument,

this one to a minister of war,

Andre Maginot.

Between the ideas symbolized

by these two statues may well lie the
military story of the fall of a great nation.

In Foch's time, the proud
spirit of France demanded nothing less

than victory and placed its faith
in the attack.

[explosions]

In Maginot's time, the spirit, no longer
proud, asked only to avoid defeat

and placed its faith in concrete.

[machinery]

So, the French built the mighty chain
of fortresses called the Maginot Line.

These tremendous bastions were built
deep into the French land.

They were connected by underground
passages and railways guarding France's

eastern borders, facing Germany.

And when France was finally forced

to declare war against the rising Nazi
menace, the French troops,

instead of attacking, were marched
into their modern caves to wait for the

Nazi blitz to smash itself against the
Maginot Line. And their generals, headed

by Marshal Pétain, proudly announced,
"Whoever makes the first move in this war

will be hurt."

But Hitler didn't go
near the Maginot Line.

That was France's strong point. Instead,
he attacked the weak point.

Hitler knew that the French had tried
to avoid war instead of preparing for it.

That knowledge was one of this greatest
weapons.

He knew they had planes,

but he knew they were antiquated.

He knew they had tanks, but he knew they

were few in number and lightly armored.

But most important of all, he knew that

France had become a cynical
and disillusioned nation.

What made this change in the French
spirit?

In the first place,

between 1914 and 1918, the French
suffered more than 6 million casualties

in the heroic defense of their land
against German invasion.

The flower of an entire generation was
lost with its stimulus of new blood,

new determination,

new ideals.

Secondly, the failure of the League of Nations,

to which the French had pinned their hopes
of peace,

the corruption of many in high places,

the greed of special interests.

All had combined to shake the faith of the

French people in their democratic ideals.

And when a people loses its faith in its

own ideals, it is ripe for the insidious
words of the devil.

France an imposing castle, but Hitler's
political termites had so gnawed away the

binding of national unity that the castle
was ready to crumble.

♪ [music] ♪

[explosions]

And during those months of military
inactivity that we called the

Phoney War, a ceaseless barrage of German
propaganda crossed the still waters of the

Rhine to affect the soldiers in the
Maginot Line.

"Why do you fight?" asked the
banners.

♪ [music] ♪

Poems and friendly notes were sent
over by balloons.

French tunes were

played by German bands, and German
hooey was broadcast in French.

[foreign language broadcast]

"The British will fight to the last drop
of French blood.

You have been deceived.

This is an imperialistic war for Britain.

We Germans want nothing of France.

What is happening to your wives back home,
soldiers?

The British are stationed in your villages."

Yes, France was ready to be plucked.

The whole force of the Nazi

might was turned toward the west.

How would they strike this time?

Through Alsas-Lorraine as in 1870?

Through the Low Countries as in 1914?

What was the 1940 model conquest? The
French considered the Maginot Line utterly

impregnable, and therefore believed the
Germans would again try a swing

through the Low Countries as in 1914.

But even after Hitler's rape of Scandinavia,

Holland and Belgium, hoping against hope,
still clung to their neutrality.

So, the French massed 78 divisions here
along the border of Belgium.

Seventeen were in the Maginot Line.

Ten divisions here,
in case Mussolini got bold.

Three and a half as a safeguard
against Spain.

The British had 10 divisions here.

The allied strategy in the
event of an attack against the Low

Countries was to swing their armies like a
gate into Belgium,

the hinge being the

north end of the Maginot Line.

This all-important hinge
was protected by the

forest of the Ardennes, a hilly
and thickly-wooded area honeycombed

with streams, its roads narrow trails, its
bridges too weak for military vehicles.

French strategists estimated the forest of
Ardennes impassible for armored forces.

As you will see, this was one of the
costliest estimates in military history.

That was the situation on May
9th, 1940.

♪ [music] ♪

The hour of trial had come.

♪ [music] ♪

The people of the democracies prayed
for strength to meet the

coming hurricane of terror.

♪ [music: instrumental Ave Maria] ♪

While across the Rhine...

- [Hitler] [Foreign language]

[cheering]

- A delirious madness possessed the
German nation.

- [Male 1] [foreign language]

- [Male 2] [foreign language]

- [Male 3] [foreign language]

- [Male 4] [foreign language]

- [Male 5] [foreign language]

- [Male 6] [foreign language]

- [Male 7] [foreign language]

- [Male 8] [foreign language]

- [Male 9] [foreign language]

- [Male 10] [foreign language]

- [Male 11] [foreign language]

-[Hitler] [foreign language]

- [cheering]

- Hail Hitler! [foreign language]

[cheering]

- Their tag had come.

♪ [instrumental music] ♪

[plane engines]
[instrumental music continues]

-[2nd Male Narrator] Without declare war,
the German armies launched a attack,

across the neutral borders
of Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland,

From the Maginot Line north to the sea.

The action along the entire
front was simultaneous,

so for purposes of clarity,
let's take up one country at a time.

First, let's see what happened in Holland.

[explosions]

♪ [music] ♪

Nazi ground forces smashed through the
improvised and hastily-erected border defenses,

but the main attack was
to come from the air, far behind the

defense lines.

[planes flying]

[plane engine noise continues]

[plane engine noise continues]

Over 10,000 troops were landed in this
manner.

Before the stunned citizens

of Rotterdam even knew they were at war,
these troops, aided by well-trained

fifth columnists, quickly captured the
airport and outlying sections of the city.

♪ [music] ♪

Meantime, Nazi armored columns were racing
across the county, their progress speeded

by other fifth columnists who prevented
the destruction of vital dikes and bridges

These forces effected a meeting with the
parachuters landed in Rotterdam.

The Dutch were doomed to defeat.

♪ [music] ♪

On the fourth day of the invasion, the
Nazis gave the Dutch general an ultimatum.

All Dutch resistance must cease or
Rotterdam will be bombed flat.

♪ [music] ♪

The Dutch general had little choice.

To save the lives of innocent civilians,

he accepted the German terms.

But after the unconditional surrender,

the Nazis bombed the city anyway.

[explosions]

Flights of unopposed German bombers
flew low over the center of Rotterdam,

and methodically bombed it into a
heap of rubble.

[explosions]

[plane engines roaring]

[explosions in the distance]

[plane engines roar] [explosions]

[crackle of fire]

♪ [solemn instrumental music] ♪

One of the most ruthless exhibitions
of savagery the world has ever seen.

Over 30,000 men, women and children were
killed in the space of 90 minutes.

Though only six months before Hitler had said,

"The new Reich has endeavored to continue

the traditional friendship with Holland,"

the Dutch will not forget.

Meantime in Belgium, the whole force
of Nazi blitzkrieg have stormed across its

neutral borders.

♪ [music] ♪

The main German attack was directed at the
Albert Canal Meuse River line.

The anchor of which was Fort Eben-Emael, a
modern and seemingly impregnable fortress.

The Germans had secretly built a replica
of the mighty fortress in Czechoslovakia,

and had rehearsed the attack until they
knew every detail of the fort's

construction and its every weakness.

When the real attack
came, it was foolproof.

Parachute troops,

dive bombers,

flamethrowers,

specially-trained engineer battalions

all working together as a well-trained team.

[gunfire] [explosions]

They knew exactly
where to cross the river.

[explosions]

[continued explosions]

[gunfire]

[explosions]

[continued gunfire and explosions]

You will notice that this assault engineer
knows exactly where to put his

high explosive charge in order to destroy
the blockhouse.

[explosions]

Fort Eben-Emael withstood the Nazi attack
exactly two days,

and the German armies rode on.

Meantime, an hour and a half
after the German invasion began,

allied troops crossed the French
and Belgian border

to meet the advancing Germans.

♪ [music] ♪ [cheering]

As they raced across Belgium to take
up their defense positions,

they met an obstacle they hadn't
counted on,

refugees.

♪ [music] ♪

And the refugee-choked roads didn't
get that way by accident.

The Nazis methodically bombed little towns
and villages

otherwise devoid of any military value,

not so much to kill

as to drive the inhabitants
out onto the highways.

Then, by expert machine-gunning, the Nazis would herd

them along in terror-stricken flight
to hopelessly entangle

the advancing allied armies.

♪ [music] ♪

Refugees used as a weapon of war,

a new low in inhumanity.

[explosions]

[explosions continue]

[gunfire, explosions, plane engines roar]

[gunfire and explosions continue]

[plane engines roar, explosions continue, gun fire continues]

[crackle of fire burning]

"No school today," the sign says.

The children are otherwise occupied.

[Screaming]

♪ [music] ♪

No,

no school today.

♪ [music] ♪

Although only six months before,

Hitler had announced,

"The Reich has put forth no

claim which might in any way be regarded
as a threat to Belgium,"

the Belgians will not forget.

And what about the allies?

They were convinced
that the German attack

on Belgium and Holland was the main
thrust and, according, to plan had swung

their armies like a gate into Belgium.

But the attack on Belgium and Holland was only a faint.

The main German attack was to be
centered where the allies least expected it,

through the Ardennes Forest.

For this decisive blow,
they had secretly assembled

the mightiest striking force the world
had ever seen,

including 45,000 armored vehicles.

♪ [music] ♪

- [Narrator 2] At the same time that the
Nazi armies were plunging into Holland

and Belgium, this column started to move.

[engines rumbling]

[engine noise continues]

Well-trained engineer battalions
went first.

♪ [music] ♪

[explosions in the background]

They were opposed only by scattered
allied patrols.

[explosions]

[gunfire and explosions continue]

They cleared pathways for the tanks
to follow.

[explosions]

[explosions continue]

[gunfire and explosions continue]

In three days, the German's armored force
reached the Meuse River, two days faster

than the French thought any troops
could get through. By old rules,

the Germans should have paused
here to bring up heavy artillery

before attempting to force the river. But
the Nazi's had a new type of artillery,

dive bombers.

With them, they blasted the
French oppositions across the Meuse.

[plane flying]

[explosion]

With feverish haste, the Germans laid
a barrage across the river with anything

and everything that would shoot.

[gunfire]

[continuing gunfire]

[continuing gunfire]

- This tremendous concentration
of firepower continued

all through the night.

[gunfire]

[continued gunfire]

By the following day, shock troops were
able to get across the river.

[explosions]

[gunfire]

[explosions]

[gunfire and explosions continue]

[gunfire continues]

These shock troops held the bridge
together until the engineers

brought up [inaudible] and built bridges.

[explosions]

[explosions and gunfire continue]

Then, without wasting a moment,
across these bridges, the main

armored force of the German military
machine rolled through the Sedan,

for the all-important breakthrough
into a dismayed and flatfooted France.

♪ [music] ♪

There went the old ball game for the
allies.

From here on, it was only a matter of how long.

Watch the map as one
of our intelligence officers explains

the details of the German
breakthrough.

- [Intelligence Officer] We speak of the
breakthrough at Sedan, but actually,

the break was along a wide front,
extending for 50 miles from Namur

in Belgium to Sedan. Further north,
the allied armies had swung like a gate

into these positions. The German armies
had swept over Holland, broken the line

of the Albert Canal and, for all anyone
knew, were preparing to smash

against the allied front with all their
power. That was the situation,

dangerous but obscure, on the evening
of May 13th. On the 14th and 15th,

it became clear that the German
breakthrough, south of Namur,

was in the greatest strength, and that the
French Ninth Army, attacked while moving

into position, had been shattered.
Without doubt, this was the point

of mortal danger, and the French High
Command ordered the abandonment

of these positions although they had not
yet been attacked. Those positions were

abandoned solely because of the situation
developing along the Meuse, near Sedan.

In the meantime, the French Seventh Army
had been ordered to make its historic

forced march

far to the south,

into the area threatened
by the rapidly advancing

German spearheads. This army was
not used to attack the German flank,

but rather was used as a plug
to restore the broken front.

Throughout, the allies had placed their
faith not in offense but in defense,

and the defense was doomed to failure
because it was confronted with an entirely

new technique in warfare, the plane, tank,
infantry team in action.

The world was staggered by the speed
with which the German armored

columns moved. What was the secret that
enabled armies to move so far so rapidly?

The secret lay in the organization of the
striking spearhead. Armored forces came

first, closely followed by motorized
divisions which peeled off, forming solid walls.

And through the corridor thus
formed,

raced the supply trucks to feed

the ever-lengthening column.

It was obvious that if the allied situation was

to be restored, the German column would
have to be cut.

On May 17th,

General de Gaulle attacked the German
flank and captured a few prisoners,

but his light mechanized forces were like
a pin pricking the side of a rhinoceros.

A subsequent attack

met with even less success.

The means for a really successful counter-attack
against the German corridor simply did not exist.

Where numbers of divisions
were required,

only handfuls of companies

and battalions

were available.

A valiant attempt to cut the German corridor was

made by a group of slow-moving British
tanks just south of Arhar.

But lack of sustained striking power
doomed this valiant unit to destruction.

On May 21st, the German spearhead
reached the channel port of Abbeville.

Protecting their flank along the Somme,
the Germans fanned out to the north and east.

This was to be the perfect battle of annihilation.

On May 28th,

the Belgian army, compressed
into a small space

and weary of battle,

laid down its arms.

That left the desperate
French and British defenders

with their backs to the sea

at the small channel port of Dunkirk.

- One of the greatest disasters in history
seemed in the making.

An entire British army faced annihilation.

But out of the fog, in the midst shrouding

the Channel, came a strange armada

of navy craft,

fishing boats,

pleasure yachts,

anything that would float.

The seagoing people of Britain had come to rescue their army.

High overhead, British fighter
planes brought the Luftwaffe

to a standstill.

[planes flying]

[gunfire]

While below, small allied suicide units
held the Germans back long enough

for the miracle of Dunkirk to take
place.

♪ [music] ♪

[explosions]

Two hundred and eleven thousand five
hundred British troops, plus 112,500

French and Belgian were rescued. Over
300,000 battle-tested men, grimly

determined to go back again with new
tools, new weapons with which to blast

the hated Nazis out of this world.

For free men are like rubber balls.

The harder they fall, the higher they
bounce.

Leading the British by this time

was a man who had been bouncing all his
life, Winston Churchill, who had tried

for years to warn the world about Germany.

Meantime, the situation that faced France

was as nearly hopeless as a military
situation can be. Two-fifths of the French

army was lost. There were fewer than 50
divisions left to defend a front almost

200 miles long, running from the northern
end of the Maginot Line to the sea.

And behind that thin front line, there
were no reserves.

Despairing people of Paris sent their children south,
praying that some miracle would keep

them from harm.

♪ [music] ♪

The hopeless men of the French army,
without adequate arms or equipment,

braced themselves for the coming blow.

- The first blow fell on June 5th. The
French Resistance was determined,

but by June 8th, the left flank army had
been shattered and a general withdrawal

was ordered to the line of the Marne and the Seine.

On June 9th, the German

main attack came. Within two days, the
German armored and motorized divisions

roared out into the open terrain. With
this breakthrough, the issue of the battle

of France was decided, and from that time
on there was official talk

of an armistice.

Now, what about the
famous Maginot Line? Let's go back

and take a look.

On June 14th, the Germans
launched two attacks against the Maginot Line.

In both cases, penetrations were
effected, but we must remember that this

was against fortifications defended by men
devoid of hope.

- In the meantime, Mussolini, now thinking
it's safe, sent his divisions racing

across the border.

- [President Roosevelt] The hand that held
the dagger

has struck it

into the back

of its neighbor.

[cheering]

♪ [music] ♪

- Organized resistance in France was no
longer possible.

The government faced
two alternatives,

retire to North Africa and carry on from there,

or give up the struggle.

France's leaders were old
and tired, and the oldest and most tired

was Marshal Pétain. Egged on by men
like Laval, who saw in a German victory

his chance for personal power. On June
16th, Pétain asked for an armistice.

The news is carried to Hitler,

who received this word of a great nation's

fall in a characteristic manner.

Also, characteristic were his terms for the armistice.

It must be signed in the coach
where Marshal Foch met the defeated

Germans in the last war.

♪ [music] ♪

[drumroll]

[silence]

The French delegation arrives

to pay the final price of French disunity,

and the treachery of some of its leaders.

The final price,

a price that for centuries to come the French won't forget.

More than three-fifths of their country was

to be blacked out by a military
occupation.

The remainder was to be controlled by a French government acceptable to Hitler.

A tax of 400 million

francs a day was to be imposed on the
French people to support the German

army of occupation.

Nearly two million
French prisoners of war were to be taken

into Germany and kept there as hostages,
to work as slaves or rot of hunger,

tuberculosis, or other diseases
in concentration camps.

Men deliberately and permanently separated from their
families in order to decrease the French

birthright, and thus eliminate France as a
world power in future generations.

French civilians,

men, women and children

must slave on farm or in factory

for the Nazi master race,

or starve.

"There will be a class of subject alien races; we need

not hesitate to call them slaves."

French children were to grow up on such

inadequate food that many would reach the
age of 12 before they grew new teeth.

And for any attempts to protest
against these restrictions, thousands

of innocent French civilians would be
executed.

This was the price the French

were to pay as they signed the armistice,

and the master of the master race must

go to Paris to tour the streets of what
was once the City of Light.

You notice no cheering crowds here
to welcome in the new order.

[silence]

- [Male] [foreign language].

- When the people of Paris come to the
streets again, it is to hear the voice

of dictators telling them what they must
do,

how they must live,

what they must say,

what they must think.

Telling them how to be slaves.

Gone is the Republic of France.

Gone is free speech and a free
representative government.

Gone is liberty,

equality,

fraternity.

These are the French.

With their ears they listen,

but their minds and their hearts, these
are down on the Mediterranean where the

battle colors of the regiments are being
taken to Africa, out of the Nazi grasp.

The people weep as their glory departs,
for they don't as yet know that France has

hope, a rallying point.

Charles de Gaulle,

a soldier in the great tradition of Foch,

is not surrendering.

He will continue to fight,

gathering about him loyal

Frenchmen from all over the world
to become the Free French Army,

the fighting French.

Yes, the people weep
as they watch their colors go, not knowing

that two years later, those same flags
would again be unfurled in North Africa,

alongside the stars and stripes,

alongside the Union Jack.

Once more their leaders, General de Gaulle and the
famous General Giraud, stand united

in the common cause with the leaders
of their allies.

Once more, the red, white

and blue of France is raised on high,

for out of the ashes of the defeat

and the humiliation of France, her soul
has been born again.

♪ [singing and music] ♪