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France in the dark years

Themes include France’s defeat, life under occupation, the Vichy regime, collaboration, and the Resistance.

The “Phoney War” 1939-1940

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Two days later, France and Britain declared war.

Confident in their military strength and the Maginot Line, the Allies prepared for a long conflict. For eight months, both sides remained mostly inactive — the Phoney War. Meanwhile, civilians coped with shortages, air-raid fears, and passive defense measures.

France Defeated: The Choice of Collaboration

  • On May 10, 1940, Germany launched a massive offensive through Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, and into France.
  • German troops entered Paris on June 14, 1940.
  • Marshal Pétain became head of government and called for surrender.
  • On June 18, General de Gaulle broadcast his appeal from London to continue resisting.
  • The armistice was signed on June 22, dividing France into occupied northern and western zones and the unoccupied southern zone administered by the Vichy regime.

In Vichy, Pétain established an authoritarian regime, replacing the Third Republic with the “French State” under the motto Work, Family, Fatherland.

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20 710 avis

A meaningful experience - Legacy Roads

We had a great experience with Andrea as our tour guide. She is very knowledgeable and shared great insight, history, and interesting side stories of the events of D-Day. Ours was an all day tour, hitting the highlights of the American experience of this fateful day. We stopped for a nice lunch and then headed on to the rest of our tour. Andrea was able to answer our questions, share photos of the actual events, and we had meaningful conversations about the impact on history and future generations. As somber as the sights were, Andrea made it a very meaningful experience. We highly recommend Andrea and the museum tour.

What a great experience - Legacy Roads

Having a small group to tour with, is so much better than a large bus. Our guide Oliver was a native English speaker and very knowledgeable about history of the region and World War II. Because our group already had a base knowledge of World War II he quickly adapted and tailored the tour so we get the best experience. Lunch was included and delicious!

Excellent tour, excellent tour guide, must do if you only have one day in the area

This was a fantastic tour! The memorial museum was excellent, the movie of the landing very impactful. We could enter the museum whenever we wanted before the van tour so we had lots of time to look around at our own pace. The visit to Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery was great, moving, enlightening. Our guide was Mario – he was wonderful!!! Extremely knowledgeable, has a great sense of humor and excellent English, can’t recommend him enough! He gave us so much information and answered all our questions – some of us had been to the sites before and we still learned so much more from him. I highly recommend this tour if you only have one day to see the most important US sites of the WWII landings.

William R– United States

As an American wanting to see the American memorial war site as a family, we were pleased to find the tour guide 100% knowledgeable and almost every question we had. Questions were needing to be answered with lack of info prior to the tour, beginning solely based on inability to figure out where to park and meet. Anna, is by far the best tour guide this company has and I would recommend her 2 million times over as well as the driver she worked with. The wealth of knowledge she had, the patients she showed, but the ability to adapt to every individual tourist and her having the ability to professionally handle multiple tourists conversations at the same time and adapting with a New York old woman who could not stop speaking as well as young children at the age of ten, The tour guide guides had every thing that could have been asked, anticipated and ready to be taken care of at the drop of a hat. Flawless, beautiful tour along with a perfect day in Normandy. Always ask FOR ANNA!!!!