Blitzkrieg and the Fall of France
- Grades
- Grades 9-12
- Time
- About two 50-minute class periods
- Includes
- 11 ready-to-teach files
- Format
- Word (.docx) · PowerPoint (.pptx)
- Slide deck
- Guided notes
- Guided notes teacher key
- Activity + answer key
- Quiz + answer key
- Exit ticket + answer key
- Teacher guide
- Teacher presentation notes
What students do
- Compare French and German tank numbers to explain why France lost despite fielding more tanks
- Trace the German advance from the Meuse crossing at Sedan on May 13 to the Channel at Abbeville on May 20
- Analyze Ambassador Bullitt's May 15, 1940 telegram describing the "hernia" growing at Sedan
- Explain why the Maginot Line was bypassed through the Ardennes rather than broken
What it covers
- What blitzkrieg actually combined, from massed armor and close air support to radio-coordinated tempo
- Why French planners judged the Ardennes impassable for tanks and left it lightly defended
- How six weeks separated the May 10 invasion from the June 22 armistice at Compiegne
Learning targets
- Explain what blitzkrieg combined: massed armor, air support, radio, and speed.
- Explain why the Maginot Line was bypassed rather than broken in May 1940.
- Trace the German advance from Sedan on May 13 to the English Channel on May 20.
- Analyze an American ambassador's telegram describing the German breakthrough.
- Explain why France lost to tempo and concentration rather than to numbers.
Peek inside
France had one of the largest armies in Western Europe in May 1940.
French planners expected a slow war of trenches like 1914-1918.
They believed defense was stronger than attack.
Germany invaded France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on May 10.
France signed an armistice six weeks later, on June 22, 1940.
The Puzzle This Lesson Solves
France had one of the largest armies in Western in May 1940.
French planners expected a slow war of like 1914-1918.
Germany invaded France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg on May .
France signed an armistice six weeks later, on June , 1940.
1. A German tank commander could send his tanks, his riflemen, and his own artillery forward without asking another commander, because all of them belonged to the same .
Why this matters
France fielded more tanks than Germany in May 1940 and still lost in six weeks, the detail that undoes the assumption this war was decided by whichever side had more equipment. Ambassador Bullitt's telegram from May 15 described a hernia growing at Sedan, a word choice that captures how fast one breakthrough was spreading before the French command understood what was happening.
Explaining the tank numbers before the outcome is the whole lesson: French planners judged the Ardennes impassable and left it lightly defended, and being right about the terrain did not save them from being wrong about what an army could do with it.
From one teacher to another
Students walk in assuming World War II moved slowly because World War I did, so the speed of the fall of France is usually the first real surprise of the unit. This lesson is built around that shock, and it doesn't let the mechanics of this new way of fighting take a backseat to the outcome. It is the second lesson in my World War II unit, following aggression and appeasement, so students already have the diplomatic failure in hand before they see what the resulting war looked like on the ground.
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