In
this page, is described the global position of the Groups of
the French Air Force over time and the events. I chose for it
of dates allowing to visualize the fold of the units:
-
Mobilization : September
3rd, 1939, United Kingdom and France declare the war to German
- In
May 10th, 1940 : Date
of the outbreak of the German attack : the "Funny war" ends.
- In May 25th, 1940 : Faced with the German advance, Lord Gort, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) proposes a withdrawal of troops on Dunkirk
- In
June 2nd: The evacuation of Franco-English troops is almost complete.
- In
June 10th : The
French Government leaves Paris for Tours
- In
June 15th : Paul Reynaud sends Churchill a message informing him of the proposal for an armistice and asking him for his agreement.
- In
June 20th : Lyon and Vichy are in the hands of the Germans
- Armistice
: On June 22, 1940, the Armisitice is signed with the Germans in the wagon of Rothonde. It will be followed on June 24 by the Franco-Italian Armistice.
The
landmarks on the maps below represent the Airfields used by
the French units. During the downturn, the number of available
Airfields decreases logically, and those remaining receive several
units simultaneously. This explains the gradual decrease in
the number of points on the maps until the Armisitice.
Dates
and places of movement of certain units are still unknown or
still not listed in this site, especially for the period June,
1940. So, maps by dates can doubtless suffer from a little of
imprecision for this period. They will be refined according
to the updates of the information.
