What terms of surrender did Hitler demand of the French after the fall of France in 1940? What was General Charles de Gaulle's reaction?
1 Answer
Hitler made a number of demands.
Explanation:
Firstly he demanded that the surrender be signed in the same railway carriages used for the German surrender in 1918. They were taken out of a museum to Compeignes for this purpose.
Hitler allowed the Vichy government to control much of the country until 1942.
Hitler also used French POW's and thousands of Frenchmen deported to Germany as forced labour for the German war effort.
Hitler also imposed punitive payments from France, partly to re-balance the reparations of the Treaty of Versailles, but also as a means of financing the German war economy which Hitler had built up on tick.
Hitler also expected France to co-operate fully on policies such as the deportation of Jews, co-operation which was given by a significant amount of the French population.
