Mislav Kužić’s Reviews > The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940 > Status Update

French state politics is run by a woman, the prime minister's mistress. Paul Reynaud even wanted to remove the more petrified Gamelin several times, but his supporters always prevented him from doing so. Interestingly, Gamelin was very keen on a preventive entry into Belgium, which she refused. The crash of a German reconnaissance plane carrying attack plans gave the Allies an opportunity, but they did not take it.

Paul Reynaud quickly tried to bring the army into order, and Maurice Gamelin openly accused him of being slow and shifting responsibility for the war in Norway. But even then he did not have the support of the entire cabinet because there were voices that were paralyzed by the old order to do anything. On the other hand, the Germans took risks and managed to achieve their goals.

From the start Paul Reynaud was always faced with plots for his own downfall, even from his own mistress. Although he was much more energetic than Daladier, he had to make major compromises and didn't dare to engage in a direct attack on Germany. Charles de Gaulle openly criticized the military and political leadership and predicted an armored attack. Reynaud was motivated to act by the war in Scandinavia.

Édouard Daladier resigned as prime minister because he was not actively enough leading the war, not against Germany, but against the Soviet Union. The French preferred to fight in Finland and Norway rather than on the Rhine. The British managed to dissuade them from doing so. During this time, Hitler was preparing Weserübung.

The phoney war was unfolding differently on both sides of the Rhine. While politicians in France were bickering, life in Paris was returning to normal. On the front lines, soldiers were bored and rotting, slowly falling under the influence of German propaganda. On the other side of the river, Hitler was preparing to strike in the West, but before that, a new wound had opened for the Allies in Scandinavia.

The cracks in the relationship between London and Paris were quickly becoming apparent. At the first mention of a possible peace treaty, the majority of the government in France tried to make it happen. Daladier was therefore forced to intervene and, without the knowledge of the cabinet, reject it. At the same time, the web of intrigue between Laval and Pétain grew.

The fake war came as ordered. Gamelin made a brief trip to Germany as a matter of protocol and then retreated to wait for an undeniable German invasion, which never came. With this, London and Paris again showed that they had no problem "throwing under the train" their allies, this time Poland. True, they declared war, but did nothing more. This will cost them dearly later, because they had Germany on their plate.

After long negotiations and agreements, France finally officially declared war on Germany. They celebrated by postponing their offensive operations for 12 hours because they feared a potential German bombing. It was good for their psyche that a fake war followed, so that the politicians could still argue.

Daladier and Reynaud's mistresses run politics, internal friction among cabinet members and desperate attempts to preserve peace, that was the hallmark of late august France. Allies and Germany realized that war was inevitable and prepared for it. There will be no other München.

The war had begun, at least as far as the Poles were concerned. Sadly in the West, the Allies were tentatively trying to agree first on how to declare war on Hitler and how long to give him to consider whether to withdraw. The tension was most visible in France, where maneuvers for future positioning had already begun. The most ardent opponent of the war was Pierre Laval, who had his eye on the prime ministership.