Atlas of Battles

battle, landmark, interwar and Second World War

Battle of France

Battle of France was a battle fought in 1940 at France, in what is now Belgium. Its exact site is not recorded; the atlas places it at France. It was part of the Western Front, which ran from 1939 to 1945. The recorded result: Axis victory.

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Fought1940
WhereFrance, Belgium50.641N, 4.668E, placed at the location, approximate
OutcomeAxis victory
BelligerentsNazi Germany; Kingdom of Italy (from 10 June)againstFrench Third Republic; Belgium; United Kingdom; Netherlands; Poland; Canada in the world wars and interwar period; Czechoslovak government-in-exile; Luxembourg
Part ofWestern Front1939 to 1945

Where it sits in the Western Front

Siege of Fort Hegra, 1940Battle of France, 1940German invasion of Belgium, 1940Battle of Maastricht, 1940Battle of Sedan, 1940Battle of Boulogne, 1940Battle of Dunkirk, 1940Battle of the Ypres-Comines Canal, 1940Siege of Lille, 1940Dunkirk evacuation, 1940Battle of Pont-de-l'Arche, 1940Battle of Lanzerath Ridge, 1944Operation Madelaine, 1944Battle of Moerbrugge, 1944Siege of Dunkirk, 1944Battle of Metz, 1944Battle of Opheusden, 1944Battle of Vianden, 1944Battle of Broekhuizen, 1944Losheim Gap, 1944Battle of Clervaux, 1944Siege of Bastogne, 1944Battle of St. Vith, 1944Operation Nordwind, 1944Operation Bodenplatte, 1945Battle of Bure, 1945Battle for the Kapelsche Veer, 1945Operation Blockbuster, 1945Battle of Würzburg, 1945Ruhr Pocket, 1945Battle of Hamburg, 194519401945Battle of France, 1940
31 placed engagements of the Western Front in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date1940 (year precision)
to 1940
PlaceFrance, Belgium
50.641N, 4.668E
KindBattle, interwar and Second World War
Territorial changeVichy France established; Northern and Western France placed under German and Italian military occupation; German annexation of Alsace–Lorraine
Commanders
  • Maurice Gamelin
  • Maxime Weygand
Battle of FranceBattle of FranceBattle of GemblouxBattle of WavreBattle of GemblouxSiege of CorroyBattle of LignyBattle of WavreSiege of CorroyBrusselsLilleCologneAntwerpenLuxembourgDüsseldorfBonnBrugge100 km50.641N, 4.668E
Placed at France; the exact site is not recorded. with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of France
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of France today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2023-06-24. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2023.

The recorded site stands at about 135 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 70 to 190 m, 120 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 62% cropland, 16% grassland, 14% tree cover.

cropland: 62%grassland: 16%tree cover: 14%built-up: 7%cropland 62%grassland 16%tree cover 14%built-up 7%
west to east, 10.0 km72 to 162 mnorth to south, 10.0 km110 to 163 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1940

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: FR CODefender: GER CO
Strength189189
Outcomedrawn
Duration2 days
Front width0.8 km
Attacker advanced0 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 660), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Battle of France is one of 2,997 engagements of the 20th century in the atlas and one of 243 in present-day Belgium.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q151340, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of France, revision 1382949182, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.