“Siegzug durch Frankreich” – “The Victory Campaign through France”. A propaganda booklet glorifying the achievements of the German army in the conquest of France, accompanied by numerous photographs and heroic descriptions exalting the invincible German army. Published by Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Berlin, 1940 – shortly after the conquest of France by the Nazis. Extremely rare.
The booklet presents the German army as the strongest army in the world and documents the various campaigns for the conquest of France while glorifying its unlimited capabilities: “It borders on a miracle that the Führer and his Wehrmacht succeeded in crushing the strongest armed forces in the world within six weeks. France, as every German soldier can attest, was magnificently equipped. The aircraft, many of which were still undamaged and found in the hangars at Le Bourget, were, like the powerful tanks, the light, medium, and heavy artillery, the infantry weapons, and everything in the possession of our enemy, of the most modern and finest design. France lacked only two things: leadership that knew how to utilize these resources and soldiers equal in caliber to the Germans”.
At the opening of the booklet are words of praise for Adolf Hitler delivered by Ernst Kabisch, a retired infantry general, who asserts that the most glorious German victory in France must be attributed personally to Adolf Hitler. The booklet portrays the French army as weak, untrained, and lacking strategy, collapsing in shock before the German forces, and marks England as next in line: “History does not tend to repeat itself, especially when those who make history draw lessons from the mistakes of the past with iron determination like Nazi Germany. Thus, France today did not experience a second Miracle of the Marne, but rather the effects of the lessons we learned in the World War…”, it is written with arrogance.
The booklet describes in detail how the German forces employed the Blitzkrieg strategy – lightning war – on the various fronts in the conquest of France, based on the rapid movement of armored units, mechanized infantry, and intensive air support. Following a diversionary attack in northern Belgium and the Netherlands, panzer units broke through the Ardennes region, which the Allies had considered a difficult natural barrier to cross, and advanced rapidly toward the English Channel. This maneuver encircled a large portion of the French and British armies in the north of the country and led to the dramatic evacuation from Dunkirk. Within only six weeks, the French defensive system collapsed, and France signed an armistice with Germany on June 22, 1940. Following the agreement, the country was divided into two zones: an occupied zone in the north and west under direct German control, and a southern zone in which the Vichy regime operated in collaboration with the Nazi authorities. The booklet was intended to convey the events of the battles to the general public while presenting the German army as invincible.
Throughout the booklet are photographs from the battlefield taken by German war correspondents Bauer, Boesig, Burkhardt, Kasper, Dick, Dietrich, von Astorff, and others.
Extremely rare. Not listed in the WorldCat global library catalog.
48 pp. Stains to some of the pages. Spine reinforced with adhesive tape. Good condition.
