Summary of Ronald C. Rosbottom's When Paris Went Dark

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 When Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, feverish diplomatic efforts were engaged to obviate the treaty obligations that would force Britain and France to come to her defense. The French had increased their already large army to about 2. 5 million men. They pushed past their own Maginot Line in eastern France and moved cautiously a few kilometers into Germany, where they met little resistance.

#2 The French government, headed by Philippe Pétain, confirmed an armistice with Germany in 1939. The decision was not welcomed by everyone, but most French were confident that this political arrangement with Germany would only be necessary for a limited period.

#3 As Parisians awaited the results of their defense pact with Poland, they experienced anxiety, but not yet dread, and they were alienated from their familiar environment. They felt like they were living in the infinite, and they wanted to mitigate their impatience at having to live in the present.

#4 The waiting was one of the most enervating aspects of the Paris during the war, especially after the Germans arrived. It would not end until Allied tanks were seen on the outskirts of Paris in late August of 1944.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822504363

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Ronald C. Rosbottom's When Paris Went Dark

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

When Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, feverish diplomatic efforts were engaged to obviate the treaty obligations that would force Britain and France to come to her defense. The French had increased their already large army to about 2. 5 million men. They pushed past their own Maginot Line in eastern France and moved cautiously a few kilometers into Germany, where they met little resistance.

#2

The French government, headed by Philippe Pétain, confirmed an armistice with Germany in 1939. The decision was not welcomed by everyone, but most French were confident that this political arrangement with Germany would only be necessary for a limited period.

#3

As Parisians awaited the results of their defense pact with Poland, they experienced anxiety, but not yet dread, and they were alienated from their familiar environment. They felt like they were living in the infinite, and they wanted to mitigate their impatience at having to live in the present.

#4

The waiting was one of the most enervating aspects of the Paris during the war, especially after the Germans arrived. It would not end until Allied tanks were seen on the outskirts of Paris in late August of 1944.

#5

The Battle of France in 1940 was the first Blitzkrieg incursion into the Low Countries, and it thoroughly demoralized France. The French army and the British Expeditionary Force were thrown on their heels so quickly that a stunned world could barely keep up with the news reports of German advances.

#6

As the capital of France slipped into imminent danger of being surrounded, the confusion that settled in at French army headquarters at Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, was startling. The absence of a radio connection with their armies compounded the cluelessness of France’s general staff.

#7

Churchill, who had become prime minister on May 10, had flown several times to Paris and then to the Loire Valley, where the government had retreated on June 10 and June 13. He pleaded with Prime Minister Reynaud to keep the French fighting, even defending Paris.

#8

The Battle of France was won, and the French capital, Paris, was left in jeopardy of being captured by the Germans. The French government wanted to defend Paris, while some generals argued that it was time the world saw how relentlessly uncivilized the Third Reich was.

#9

The French army was able to fight courageously, with high casualties, during the Battle of France in 1940. But the conscripts’ individual courage and sacrifice could not compensate for a paucity of planning and a lumbering, unimaginative battlefield response to the Blitzkrieg.

#10

The French capital was left bereft of political leadership after the departure of the central government. It took residents a while to realize that they had been comforted with misinformation and patriotic bombast for weeks.

#11

The Battle of France was the largest defeat of France’s vaunted armed forces. Hundreds of