Case Yellow, Operation
Dynamo, Case Red, and
the Battle of France
Shravani Kulkarni, Anna Johnson, Joe Addison, Lotan
Mizrahi, Ayush Sharma
Joe
Thesis
The battles that contributed to the fall of
France led to the incomprehensible loss of
people as well as the destruction of an entire
army, and created a disturbance in the
balance of power in Europe, giving Germany
an advantage in World War II.
Joe
Incomprehensible Loss
French Casualties
● 100,000 (army)
killed
● 100,000 (civilians)
killed
● 123,000 wounded
● 330,000 displaced
● 2,000,000 soldiers
taken prisoner
German Casualties
● 50,000 killed
during the
invasion of France
Timeline
Case Yellow - May
10 1940
Case Red - June 5
1940
Operation Dynamo
- May 26 1940
Battle of France
Ends - June 25
1940
Paris is captured June 14 1940
Paris Liberated August 25 1944
Case Yellow- May 10, 1940
● Aka: Fall Gelb
● + for Germany
● Blitzkrieg: Lightning War
o
Failed in WWI
● October 19
o Brits and French forces split
● Belgium land for Germany:
o Air Fields
o North Sea ports
?
The Jiggy
Lotan/Ayush
Case Yellow- May 10, 1940
Initiation:
● ‘Sickle Stroke’ allotted the three German army groups
● Group B- Northernmost commanded by General Fedor
Von Bock was to attack in northern Holland and
Belgium
● aim was to temp the Franco-British field army east to
seize territory to outflank in the north
● Group C- Southernmost was to engage the garrison of
the Maginot Line
● Rundstedt’s Army Group A- was to advance through the
Ardennes
Timeline
Case Yellow - May
10 1940
Case Red - June 5
1940
Operation Dynamo
- May 26 1940
Battle of France
Ends - June 22
1940
Paris is captured June 14 1940
Paris Liberated August 25 1944
Shravani
Operation Dynamo- May 26, 1940
● Operation Dynamo was the codename given to the
British evacuation of Dunkirk
● The signal was given to begin Operation Dynamo
at 18:57 hours on May 26, 1940.
● Mastermind - Vice-Admiral Bertram Ramsay
● British and French armies already cornered in
Dunkirk by Germans as a result of Case Yellow in
1940, so gathering soldiers was not that big of an
issue
Shravani
Operation Dynamo- May 26, 1940
● News about evacuation spread to Britain by May 29
● Main goal was to evacuate 40,000+ troops (British
Expeditionary Force and French army) under attack
● The British sent small boats (later known as “The
Little Ships”) across the English Channel to rescue
the troops on Dunkirk beach
● In the end, over 338,000 troops were evacuated to
Dover (British port)
Map of Operation Dynamo
Timeline
Case Yellow - May
10 1940
Case Red - June 5
1940
Operation Dynamo
- May 26 1940
Battle of France
Ends - June 22
1940
Paris is captured June 14 1940
Paris Liberated August 25 1944
Anna
Case Red- June 5-14, 1940
The goals of Case Red changed in the years leading up
to it
● 1935- meant to defend against a surprise attack by France while
defending the borders against Czechoslovakia and Poland
● 1937- included offensive operations against Czechoslovakia with
the aim of preventing a prolonged two-front war
● 1940- the second part of the western campaign, attack on the rest
of the French army which was still entrenched in the Maginot line
Anna
Case Red- June 5-14, 1940
Case Red had two sub-operations
Preliminary Attack
● started on June 5th in the west
● battle over the Somme River
● moving towards the Seine
Main Offensive
● started on June 9th over the
Ainse River
● Penetrated the Maginot line,
which allowed German troops to
cut off the armies stationed in
French bunkers on June 17th
● That same day, France asked for
an armistice and officially
capitulated on June 25
Maginot Line
Case Red Map
Timeline
Case Yellow - May
10 1940
Case Red - June 5
1940
Operation Dynamo
- May 26 1940
Battle of France
Ends - June 22
1940
Paris is captured June 14 1940
Paris Liberated August 25 1944
Anna
Paris is Captured
● By June 14, the Germans had taken control of
Paris and the French army had been completely
destroyed
● Prime Minister of France resigned and his
successor, Marshal Phillipe Petain began moves
for an armistice
● Armistice signed on August 22, but not put into
effect until August 25, marking the end of the Battle
of France.
Timeline
Case Yellow - May
10 1940
Case Red - June 5
1940
Operation Dynamo
- May 26 1940
Battle of France
Ends - June 22
1940
Paris is captured June 14 1940
Paris Liberated August 25 1944
Shravani
Hitler’s Jig
Timeline
Case Yellow - May
10 1940
Case Red - June 5
1940
Operation Dynamo
- May 26 1940
Battle of France
Ends - June 25
1940
Paris is captured June 14 1940
Paris Liberated August 25 1944
Joe
Liberation Of Paris
● On August 25, the German commander of the Paris
region, General Dietrich von Choltitz signed a
surrender at Montparnasse
Joe
Overall Impact of Battle
● The defeat of the French (which was very powerful)
stands as one of the most remarkable military
campaigns in history
● French collapse ripped up the balance of power in
Europe
● Britain had to fight the rest of World War 2 in the
air, and sea (Mediterranean) but not on the
Western Front.
Works Cited
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"Dunkirk Evacuation: Operation Dynamo." BBC News. BBC, 21 May 2010. Web. 11 May 2014.
“German Codenames.” The World at War. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
Kitchen, Martin. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1996. Print.
Keegan, John. The Second World War. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Penguin, 1990. Print.
Sheffield, Gary. "The Fall of France." BBC News. BBC, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 9 May 2014.
Taylor, Fred. The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.
"The Second World War - Battle Of France Fall Gelb Case Yellow Timeline."Battle Of France Fall Gelb Case
Yellow Timeline. 3d History, n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.
"The Second World War - Battle Of France Fall Rot Case Red Timeline."Battle Of France Fall Rot Case Red
Timeline. 3d History, n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.