How did the french feel about the armistice in World War II?

Answer 1

The June 1940 armistice was welcomed with relief by most French. An estimated 65,000 French soldiers were killed between the 10 and the 22 June, a further 120,000 soldiers had been wounded, making the death toll very comparable to the first weeks of WWI. The senior officers' strategies were static, outdated and not up to the job; 1,800,000 soldiers had been captured by the Germans, along with a huge part of the equipment. The British had reinbarked in Dunkirk, having abandoned al of their armament. For the French, that brought hard memories of WWI (France was the hardest-hit country in WWI, with one man in ten, of military age, killed in combat - 50% for the peasants). The idea was then to recognize the defeat. However, the negociating officer was given orders to refuse the armistice, if the conditions imposed: the complete occupation of the territory, the Germans setting foot in the colonial empire, or forsaking the fleet to the Germans. (nearly 40% of the fleet took refuge in British ports, most of the remainder was sunk by the British in Mers-el-Kébir days later)