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The Battle of France (French: bataille de France; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (German: Westfeldzug), the French Campaign (Frankreichfeldzug, campagne de France) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and France.
2 September: Tensions began to flare with Germany as Britain and France put Germany on notice for the invasion of Poland. 3 September: France declared war on Nazi Germany. 7 September: French forces engage in light skirmishes with German forces near Saarbrücken. 10 September: British forces arrived to reinforce the French.
France did not invade Germany in 1939, because it wanted British lives to be at risk too and because of hopes that a blockade might force a German surrender without a bloodbath. The French and British also believed that they were militarily superior and guaranteed victory through the blockade or by desperate German attacks.
France declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939 under the Franco-Polish Military Alliance following the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. A French force invaded the Saarland in western Germany in the Saar Offensive led by general Louis Faury, who prior to the war had been head of the French Military Mission to Poland.
The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War led to the birth of Revanchism (literally, "revenge-ism") in France, characterised by a deep sense of bitterness, hatred and demand for revenge against Germany. This was particularly manifested in loose talk of another war with Germany in order to reclaim Alsace and Lorraine.
With a declaration of war by the French parliament on 16 July 1870, Imperial France soon faced a series of defeats at German hands over the following months, leading to the Battle of Sedan, which, on 2 September 1870, saw a decisive defeat of French forces and the capture of the French emperor, Napoleon III.
The Manstein plan has often been called Operation Sichelschnitt, a transliteration of "sickle cut", a catchy expression used after the events by Winston Churchill.After the war, German generals adopted the term, which led to a misunderstanding that this was the official name of the plan or at least of the attack by Army Group A.
He wanted to ensure that France did not continue to fight from French North Africa, and he wanted to ensure that the French Navy was taken out of the war. In addition, leaving a French government in place would relieve Germany of the considerable burden of administering French territory, particularly as he turned his attentions towards Britain.