8 Most Brutal World War II Battles

5. Battle Of France

By May 1940, the war was locked in a stalemate known as the 'Phoney War', with the only real fighting occurring in the North Sea, Norway, Finland and Denmark, as the Germans seized vital resources. This was to be broken, however, by the massive German offensive westward, to take Holland, Belgium, France and eventually Britain out of the war, and leave the Germans in total command of mainland Europe. Beginning on the 10th May, the Battle showcased the superiority of German tactics and battle formations, with the new Panzer divisions proving very effective in destroying Allied units, and the new doctrine of Blitzkrieg ('Lightning War') being shown in its full prowess. By completely bypassing the formidable Maginot Line, a tactic planned by Erich von Manstein, the Germans were able to advance through the poorly-defended and weakly-armed Low Countries and eventually into France €“ by going through the supposedly impenetrable Ardennes. What followed was a rout of the Allied forces. The British Expeditionary Force evacuated at Dunkirk in June 1940, and the French Army was in ruins and chaos as the military began to panic and the government was gripped by infighting. The Wehrmahct advanced rapidly across France, with civilians and soldiers alike fleeing south to avoid the onslaught. On 14th June the Germans took over Paris and, on 22nd June, an armistice between a humiliated France and Germany was signed, leading to the country's occupation and division. In total, the losses for the Allies were catastrophic. Over 360,000 soldiers were killed in total from the Allied armies, and almost two million were taken prisoner. The Germans, by contrast, lost only 160,000 men, and proved to be one of the high points of the German domination of Europe. Countless civilians were killed or went missing, and over the following years, many more would be killed for resisting German rule. Underground movements aside, Britain now stood alone.