Armistice of 22 June 1940 — armistice between France and Nazi Germany in World War II
France's 1940 armistice with Nazi Germany ended the Battle of France and placed three-fifths of French territory under German occupation.
Key Facts
- Signed
- 22 June 1940 at 18:36
- Effective date
- 25 June 1940 at midnight
- German occupation zone
- Approximately three-fifths of France's European territory
- German signatory
- Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel (OKW)
- French signatory
- General Charles Huntziger
- Symbolic site
- Compiègne Forest, site of the 1918 Armistice
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Germany's decisive victory in the Battle of France left the French Third Republic militarily defeated and politically unable to continue resistance. With Allied forces expelled from the continent and Paris fallen, the French government sought terms from Nazi Germany to end hostilities.
On 22 June 1940, officials of Nazi Germany and the French Third Republic signed an armistice at Compiègne Forest. Hitler chose the location deliberately to mirror the 1918 Armistice site. Germany was represented by Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel, France by General Charles Huntziger, reflecting the asymmetry of power between the two parties.
The armistice divided France into a German-occupied northern and western zone covering roughly three-fifths of the country, and an unoccupied southern zone governed by a new regime recognized as the legitimate authority over all of Metropolitan France except Alsace-Lorraine. France retained control of its non-European territories, and the Vichy government emerged as the replacement for the Third Republic.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Wilhelm Keitel.
Side B
1 belligerent
Charles Huntziger.