German Newsweek No. 512- Special Edition after the Fall of France- 26 June 1940 

Remarks: Since, as mentioned in the video description, this is the longest Newsweek issue ever produced, I have decided to only write short remarks for most of the things appearing in here, especially for people, otherwise it would be too long and would take too much time. If anything interests you, I’d just suggest googling it for further information, or simply write a comment, I’m happy to answer any unclarities. 00:50 The Gneisenau and Scharnhorst were the two ships of the Scharnhorst-class battleship, built between 1935 and 1939. At 32,600 tons, they were small but fast battleships, with nine 28cm guns as main armament. The Scharnhorst was sunk in December 1943, the Gneisenau sunk by its crew as a blockship in Gotenhafen in March 1945. 00:53 Wilhelm Marschall (1886-1976) was a German admiral of WWII, commanding the Gneisenau in 1939-1940, and later served in staff positions in France. 00:58 This is referring to Operation Juno, a German patrol mission in the Norwegian Sea in June 1940, whose mission it was to intercept Allied convoys returning British troops from Norway. During these patrols, Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, plus the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper and four destroyers, destroyed a British aircraft carrier, its two accompanying destroyer and a few other minor ships. However, the Scharnhorst was also damaged by a British torpedo, forcing it to spend the rest of the year in repairs. 01:42 By the time of this Newsreel, in June 1940, the two Bismarck-class battleships, who were larger than the Scharnhorst-class, were not yet commissioned. (The Bismarck would be commissioned in August 1940, the Tirpitz in February 1941) 02:12 This is an Arado Ar-196, the standard observation floatplane of the German Navy during WWII. 541 built between 1938 and 1944. 02:34 The heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper, together with one destroyer, was sent to Trondheim during this mission, leaving the flotilla. 02:53 The HMS Glorious was the British aircraft carrier sunk during Operation Juno. Originally a Courageous-class battlecruiser, commissioned in January 1917, it was converted into an aircraft carrier between 1924 and 1930. On June 8th 1940, the Glorious had no aircraft in the sky and didn’t spot the German battleships, resulting in them being able to get into firing range and destroying it within two hours. 04:04 The Glorious was only armed with 120mm guns, which had a maximum firing range of around 14km. The German ships, however, opened fire over a very long distance, up to 24km, leaving the Glorious no chance of firing back. 04:57 The two destroyers sunk were the HMS Acasta and HMS Ardent, A-class destroyers built in the late 1920s. 07:24 The Orama was a civilian passenger ship, commissioned by the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1924 and used for passenger and post service between the UK and Australia. In early 1940, the ship was taken over by the Royal Navy. During Operation Juno, it was on its way to Harstad to pick up British troops there, when it was intercepted and quickly sunk by the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. 08:25 Indeed, Operation Juno was a victory for the Germans, however, it didn’t reach its main goal. No British returning convoys were intercepted, the only troop transporter sunk was empty, and the Scharnhorst was damaged by a torpedo launched from one of the destroyers. Actually, the German Naval Command was very angry with how Admiral Marschall led the operation, as he had specific orders to intercept British convoys and not attack capital ships, and he did exactly the opposite. Plus, while the loss of the Glorious was indeed a heavy blow to the Royal Navy, it was an older carrier, converted from a WWI era battlecruiser, so the loss was not too heavy. 08:39 Paris was occupied by German troops on June 14th, 1940. 08:46 The Maginot-Line, the famous French defensive system on the French-German border, was frontally attacked by German troops of the 1st Army after the breakthrough in the Ardennes and the capture of Paris on June 14th, 1940. 09:11 This is a He-111 medium bomber, the standard tactical bomber of the Wehrmacht during WWII. 6,508 made between 1935 and 1944. 09:34 These are Ju-87 dive bombers. 09:46 This is a 21cm Mörser 18, a heavy artillery piece used by the Wehrmacht. 739 manufactured between 1939 and 1945. 09:57 These are 15cm sFH 18, the standard heavy artillery gun of the Wehrmacht. 6,756 made between 1933 and 1945. 10:01 These are 7,5cm leiG 18, the standard German infantry gun of WWII. Roughly 12,000 made between 1932 and 1945. 10:22 These are probably troops from the 7th Army, which crossed the Rhine on June 15th, penetrating French defenses and captured the cities of Colmar and Strassburg. 13:10 Unlike the impression created here, there was not a lot of fighting at the Maginot Line. The German attack began, as stated above, on June 14th, two days before the French asked for an armistice, and 7 days before the armistice began. Therefore, not a lot of fighting happened, and while the Germans managed to take out some of the smaller bunkers, especially the larger bunkers withhold German attacks, many of them in a position to withstand German attacks for weeks or even months. 13:39 This is a 2cm FlaK 30 AA-gun. 13:46 This is a Bf-109 Fighter plane. 14:33 Straßburg, in Alsacce, was part of Germany from 1871-1914, and came back to France after WWI, and then back to Germany from 1940 to 1944, before being again part of France since the end of WWII. 14:52 This is an Sd. Kfz. 222 scout car, armed with a 2cm autocannon. 990 built between 1935 and 1943. 15:00 These are light Panzer II tanks, armed with a 2cm autocannon. 15:05 The “G” on the back of the turret indicates that this tank belonged to the Tank Group Guderian, a tank unit formed on June 5th, advancing through the Ardennes to the coast, and then later took part in cutting off the Maginot Line from the rest of the French troops. 15:13 The Vogesen are a low mountain range near the French/German border. 15:24 This is a Panzer III Ausf. E, the first Panzer III variant built in somewhat larger numbers, with 96 manufactured between 1938 and 1939. 18:23 Unlike in WWI, there was no bigger fighting around Verdun during WWII. Only a few French troops were stationed as vanguard there, and some of the old, WWI-era guns fired a few shots at advancing German troops, but this was only to slow them down, there was no serious fighting around Verdun in WWII. 19:16 This is a French monument erected to commemorate the fighting around Verdun in 1916. 20:20 Ernst Busch (1885-1945) was a German General, later Field Marshall of WWII. During the invasion of France, he commanded the 16th Army, which covered the left flank of Guderians Tank Corps. 20:44 As the armistice was sign on June 22nd, this was also the day the French Army surrendered in the Maginot Line. 20:53 Technically, large parts of the Maginot Line were still intact and prepared to hold out, but they surrendered accordingly. 20:57 This is most likely referring to the French 4th, 5th and 8th Army, which were stationed at the Maginot-Line, and their respective commanders (Generals Requin, Bourret and Garchery). 21:30 The usage of African colonial troops by the French was often targeted by Nazi propaganda; the black soldiers were racially insulted and humiliated in Nazi propaganda. 22:13 The first tank here is an early production model Panzer IV, followed by two early Panzer III and then a few Panzer II. 22:31 This is an Sd. Kfz. 232, an eight-wheel radio car with a large frame aerial, produced from 1938 to 1943. 22:39 These are again Sd. Kfz. 222 22:50 These are all kinds of different tanks, Panzer I, II, III, IV etc. 23:37 This is a StuG III. Ausf A, the first production variant of the StuG III. These were still quite rare in the Battle of France, only 36 were produced between January and May 1940. 23:50 This is again a Panzer III Ausf. E. 24:32 Again a StuG III. Ausf A, the short-barrel 7,5cm StuK 37 is visible. 25:06 The tank in the middle and on the right are Char B1, a heavy tank produced by France between 1935 and 1940. It had a 47mm gun in the turret and a 75mm howitzer in the chassis. With a frontal armor of 40, later 60mm, it was basically impenetrable for most German tanks. 405 build, and a lot of these used by the Germans later on, who also rebuild them into flamethrower tanks and SPGs. The tank on the left is a WWI era Renault FT, the worlds first tank with a movable turret. Despite being clearly outdated in 1940, France still had 504 of these in service, and were used during WWII. 25:14 This is a Somua S-35 medium tank, armed with a 47mm gun and up to 47mm of armor. Around 440 were built between 1935 and June 1940, many of these were later re-used by the Germans. 25:27 The tank on the right here is a Hotchkiss H-35, a small French cavalry tank build between September 1936 and June 1940. It had strong armor for a light tank (40mm on the turret and 34mm on the hull) and a 37mm gun. 1200 were made, making it the most built French tank of the interwar period. About 550 H-35 were captured by the Germans and used for fight against partisans and the chassis were converted into a variety of TDs and SPGs. 25:47 This is again a Panzer II light tank. 27:29 Alfred Jodl (1890-1946) was a German General who was Chief of the Operations Staff of the Wehrmacht from September 1939 to May 1945, Walther von Brauchitsch (1881-1948) was Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht from February 1938 to December 1941, and Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946) was Chief of the OKW from February 1938 to May 1945.

The German victory over France in 1940 was incredibly dramatic for those who witnessed 4 years of stalemate in 1914-1918, with millions of lives lost. This time around, the Germans destroyed the French army and chased the Brits out of France, all in about six weeks.

Imagine wanting to go see a movie but first you have to sit through 45 minutes of news

The Battle of France was honestly the high point for Hitler and the Reich. They had accomplished in 6 weeks what the German Empire failed to do in 4 disastrously bloody years and firmly kicked the British off of the continent in tatters. All that would have been necessary to keep Europe dominated decisively by Germany would have then been to do nothing else but fortify the port cities in the Channel and Atlantic and simply dig in, and the British wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it. Without a 2 front war for Germany, it would have been a perpetual stalemate. If America still got involved it would have changed that, but probably not as much as it would have if Germany wasn't tied down with 80% of its ground troops in Russia.

So much of these films haven't been seen before. Thank you for these quality videos.

Thanks for sharing this historical document. One of the young men parading through Paris was my grandfather. Later he served in Cherbourg where he was finally taken POW by the U.S. Army after D-day. Survived the war, but carried the scares for all his life. Unimaginable today for me as a German to fight against french, british or american guys. Times change, and sometimes that is good.

An old friend of mine, now gone was a young Leutnant in Paris in May, 1940. I have a picture of him on horseback leading his men with sword drawn , with the military band in front going past the Arc De Triomphe. The proudest moment of his military career, going down the Avenue Foche. The French were literally shocked into silence. He told me "you could have heard a needle drop at times". This man later became a major, being awarded the German Cross In Gold by Generaleutnant Rendulic.

Remarks, Part II: 28:38 After the German advance through the Ardennes and the capture of Paris on June 14th, the French government under Paul Reynaud resigned, and Marshall Petain, celebrated as national hero since his victory at Verdun in 1916, took over on June 16th. The next day, he asked the Germans for an armistice. Hitler then invited Mussolini to Munich on June 18th, to discuss this request for an armistice. 30:39 Franz Ritter von Epp (1868-1947) was a German general and politician who joined the NSDAP in 1928 and was, during the Nazi time, the Reichsstatthalter of Bavaria from 1933 to 1945. 30:41 As Munich was the city where the Nazi party was founded and had its party headquarter, Munich was known as the “City of the Movement” during the Nazi era. 33:03 Actually, this meeting was a disappointment for Mussolini, as Hitler largely refused to talk about Italian demands and even refused Mussolini a seat at the German-French armistice talks. 34:13 Kurt von Briesen (1883-1941) was a German General, who commanded the 30th Infantry Division during the Invasion of Poland and France. During the Invasion of Poland, he was severely wounded and lost his right lower arm. He was given command of the LII. Corps in November 1940, and died during a Soviet air attack in late November 1941 in Ukraine. 35:10 These are rather famous scenes, the German parade through Paris on June 14th, 1940, by soldiers of the 30th Infantry Division. 35:45 This is again General von Briesen, who led the parade. 37:07 Compiegne, a city roughly 87 km north of Paris, was the site of both the armistice of WWI and WWII. During WWI, the armistice on November 11th was signed here, and the site was turned into a memorial afterwards. Hitler decided to hold the negotiations for an armistice at the exact same site on June 21st, 1940. The memorial that is covered by the German flag here is the Alsace Lorraine memorial, a memorial depicting a German eagle being struck down by a (French) sword, in commemoration of the re-capture of Alsace Lorraine. The memorial was destroyed by the Germans during WWII and re-build after the war. 37:20 The armistice negotiations of WWI were held in a carriage of Marshal Foch’, the Allied supreme commander, personal train. The carriage was left at its original place as part of the memorial, and Hitler decided to held the armistice negotiations of June 1940 in the exact same carriage, to humiliate France. The wagon was then brought to Germany were it was exhibited in Berlin, and was destroyed by German troops at the end of WWII. 37:31 This is Hitlers personal banner. 38:08 The memorial to French Marshal Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929), the Allied supreme commander during WWI. It was the only part of the Compiegne memorial that wasn’t torn down by the Germans, specifically on Hitler’s order, so that the Foch memorial would overlook an empty field. 38:24 This is the central memorial stone of the Compiegne memorial site. It reads, in French: “Here on the eleventh of November 1918 succumbed the criminal arrogance of the German Reich. Defeated by the free peoples which it tried to enslave.” 39:15 Charles Huntziger (1880-1941) was a French officer and General who served in WWI and WWII. During WWII, he commanded the 2nd French Army and then the 4th Army Group, who tried to stop the German advance through the Ardennes. He was then selected to represent the French side at the Armistice negotiations, where he unsuccessfully tried to lessen the harsh German terms. He was made supreme commander of French Forces in North Africa in August 1941 and died during a plane crash en route back to Paris on November 12th, 1941. 40:05 Léon Noël (1888-1987) was a French diplomat and politician, who represented the French Foreign Ministry at the negotiations. Similarly, Maurice Le Luc (1885-1964) was a French vice-admiral who represented the French Navy at the negotiations, and General Jean-Marie-Joseph Bergeret (1895-1956) represented the French Air Force. 40:40 Hitler was only present during the opening of the negotiations, the negotiations themselves were held by General Keitel. 42:17 The French government relocated from Paris to Bordeaux on June 10th.

I can only imagine how humiliating this must've been for France, to sign a ceasefire and surrender of your country in the same train car that ended the First World War where you succeeded just over 20 years earlier.

Important historical records. Glad you are sharing them. Fascinating to see the other side of the coin.

Absolutely outstanding. Thank you for posting this.

Amazing footage. Thank you so much for sharing it. 👍

Imagine the joy seeing this if you were German back then. The horrors of the last war still being felt and then war breaks again, most probably thought the trenches were back and millions would die. But then Germany seemingly conquers everything within weeks with light casualties. They mustve thought the war was all but over after France fell.

Even by 1940, the German army was mostly horse drawn rather than mechanized. One of the great trophy's of French capitulation was the thousands of trucks appropriated by the conquerors.

43:20 they had really good sense of making fantastic music

i was looking for this Wochenschau :) thank you so much

Vielen Dank für das Dokument.

Moments in time, very interesting to get this perspective!

Wow i've never seen 80% of this footage before. Remarkable!

Fascinating stuff. Keep it up

Dankeschön.

The (incomprehensible) at 2:04 is Dwarslinie which is german naval lingo for line abreast. Like much of german naval lingo it is dutch/low german origin

Mein Opa ist da auch Maschiert

Excellent video.

I am flabbergasted that I have not seen these films before. Where have they been and why haven’t they been released widely throughout the media, history channels and other historical societies?

35:25 The Sixth Army looked absolutely invincible in this hour. Five years later, only one in twenty among them would still be alive.

I hope nothing happens to your channel... Also hope you upload ALL German News reels. Salute from Egypt ❤🤍🖤

Vielen Dank.

This is fantastic filming of a great sea battle. Just imagine the chaos involved. Ships moving on the high seas while exchanging blows after blows. The ability to calibrate the movements of the ships as they maneuver and still be able to make direct hits is remarkable. These ships were miles apart, sometimes unseen and still they had the ability to sink one another. This is so much more complicated than land based artillery focusing on a stationary target. Simply amazing!

That officer with the helment on walking behing Hitler as they made their way to and from the train car was very aware of his surroundings. Bro was watching Hitlers every move, waiting for him to spin around and give a salute at any moment, lol.

16:53 Hello can anyone identify song that is starting at this moment? I think I've heard that as well in Triumph of the will 1935 :) thanks for any help

Can anyone identify the horn crescendo playing as the scene pans to Hitler in his headquarters (27:04)? It has the melody and tenor of a German hunting horn fanfare, but I can't place it.

17:30 this theme is an instrumental arrange on “Freiheits-Hymne”, which music was composed by Herbert Windt for film “Starke Herzen”. In RU-vid is available a lyric version singt by the famous Romanian oper singer Maria Cebotari. In many other German war newsreels this theme is also used as incidental music.

28:33 lol the dropping of the pen......foreshadowing

Where has this magnificent film footage been kept all these years?

Does anyone what the music playing in the background 27:00-28:00 is?

Music at 19:24? and 20:08?

35:54 Einer ist ja immer dabei ... Bewegungslegastheniker!

👌 as always

All the horses used, so much for a motorised force!

Un documento de gran valor histórico. Gracias por compartirlo.

These are enjoyable to watch though I feel they would be better published in chronological order so we could get a feel how the tone changed. Thank you.

15:22 music Name?

Can someone tell me why they started playing "God erhalte Franz den Kaiser" at 40:48 ?

37:33 After the French surrendered the train was removed and brought to Berlin. A German told me that the reel of the French surrendering on that train was played in movie theaters over and over again before a film was shown. Before the Russians could get there hands on it, the train was dynamited and torched.

The Wikipedia entry on the Scharnhorst Class says that the ships were poor sea boats and the ships were generally wet, even after the addition of the "Atlantic Bows" that provided them with better handling in heavy seas than the old straight bow. They were so wet that in heavy seas the "A Turret" could not be used in action. It also says the stern was very wet in heavy seas. The footage at 2:41 seems to corroborate this as the ship takes on a lot of water at speed on both ends.

Is this news live

Really enjoy watching these and the difference in propaganda production 1940 to 1945 is amazing to see from victors to almost defeated.

What is the song at the end of this video?

SEMPRE MOLTO INTERESSANTE

19:43 interesting, they are displaying the Reichskriegs flag of the German Imperial Reich

Hello! Where could I find the Newsreeel in which the Welcome of the "Fuhrer" in Berin is shown after the victory in the France? Thanks a lot for help in advance!

35:27 Opa Hoppenstedt!!

30:08 welche Burg ist das?

If I may ask: where do you get all this high-quality footage from? Thank you for your work and for sharing these historical documents.

Perfect film very modern

Good Quality Stuff ; @ G WWII A . !

What is the song at 43:16

Very efficient artillery

Hmm where is the part where they climb the eiffel tower and put the flag, I remember it was on one German news

Very interesting.

4:32 Hey Günther, lass mal entspannen. Der Klaus macht das schon mitn Spähen.

This is great stuff , better than any fake action scenes from Hollywood.

40:58 that guy was nervous 🤣

How do i get the subtitles to come on??

37:44 That's literally Hitler 😱🤯

I suggest you add chapter timestamps to the video description!

DON’T DELETE THIS VIDEO THIS IS HISTORY

37:44 what I think I look like when playing Command and Conquer.

9:04 what's that hanging under these Ju-52's?

Cool

In der 30.ID, die durch Paris paradierte, hat mein Vater gedient.

Anyone know the music at 2:00? Damn I wish the Wochenschauen had music credits...theres so many awesome marches I never end up identifying Also this is pretty much the peak of Hitlers reign. Crazy how young and fresh he looks here compared to just a couple years later.

Who is the narrator? Did he survive the war?

Think this is first time Ive seen a german General officer wear a helmet

14:07 "Enemy plane is hit and fall down." i don't know chief looks like s Stuka to me tbh

A fanfare played here was adopted almost completely intact 4 a postwar USAF documentary celebrating American airpower

Very interesting to watch the war during its early years with the defeat of the allies from the German point of view before thankfully the tide turned . A dark time for France . Thank you for posting

34:43 Why are some saluting and some not?

32:47 song name

Mir war nicht klar, dass es damals schon eine Art „Flugzeugträger“ gab….

Müthiş gerçek görüntüler için teşekkür ederim 🙏🙏

It's ironic that the captain of the carrier HMS Glorious was in a burning hurry to court martial his Air Commander for perceived incompetence..... but the captain couldn't be stuffed putting up aircraft from his AIRCRAFT CARRIER at a time of full visibility in disputed waters while meandering at not full speed, when he was only being escorted by a couple of destroyers. The Glorious put up no aircraft at all during the entire engagement which led to the sinking of all the british ships. The captain went down with his ship and the other 1518 crew of the group..... presumably avoiding his own court martial for incompetence.

Hochachtungsvoll

Was fuer Feldstecher !! Minute , 3.30

If Germany had stopped after the defeat of France, the Third Reich would probably still be a thing, Italy still fascist, and for better or worse Europe and the world a very different place. Attacking the Soviet Union while Great Britain was still undefeated was overly ambitious.

26:25 min könnte ich sein 🤣 1xBrot zu 10xWurst

Any one who the old head is on the horse waving to the soldiers

After losing the Graf Spree in 1939, many support ships in Norway in 1940, and the Bismark in 1941, the German High Seas Fleet, like the Italian Mediterranean Fleet, was almost no factor in the war.

20:46

The second demand of the armistice was a big mistake. It should rather have been to assist Germany in getting an armistice with England to end the war with German troops to withdraw.

mình rất thích con Stug nòng ngắn

This being a propaganda video many of the scenes early in the video showing "front line fighting" in the invasion of France are actually from training exercises.

Ri melhor quem ri por último!

2:12 Erster Flugzeugträger

👏👏👏👏👍

Mussolini was one weird looking dude

After watching this film I can see why citizens in occupied countries were so terrified of the Germans. Only the very strong had the well to resist.

i went to the forest of Compiegne..... with my motorbike.... you dont want to lose your satnav there, this forest is huge! i walked the same way Hitler did...but i am a real German, not and Österreicher!

creo las armas y la forma de combate, invencible. eso se vio claramente contra francia. est. lo convirtio en el amo absoluto de toda europa. ya solo necesitaba consolidar sus conquistas en africa y medio oriente, pero cometio el herror garrafal de su existencia y arrojo lo mejor de ese ejercito millones de jovenes a la estepa el lodo y las heladas temperaturas de russland. alli jodio todo lo conquistado.