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During World War II, Operation Fall Rot ( Case Red in English ) was the second phase of the conquest of France by the German Army, begun on 5 June 1940.
Before the invasion, it had not yet been decided whether mainland France would be attacked ; this would depend on the outcome of Fall Gelb.
Fall Rot consisted of two suboperations: first a preliminary attack was carried out in the west over the river Somme in the direction of the Seine ; the main offensive started on 9 June in the center over the river Aisne.
Due to the strength of the Maginot Line it was decided to avoid a direct attack and instead out flank it through the Low Countries utilizing the military doctrine of " blitzkrieg " ( Lightning war in English ) developed by Basil Liddell Hart, an English military theorist, and enhanced by Heinz Guderian, utilizing a combination of power and speed.
After four hours of dive-bombing the French defenses at the river Meuse the Germans crossed in four places at 4: 00 PM.
The first attack by Rommel's army was driven back however the other three were met with success and by six o ' clock they had successfully breached the French defenses.
) into enemy territory and by the next 40 ( 64 ) by May 21 they had reached the English Channel and driven a wedge between the French and English forces in the north and the forces in the south.
The only instance of German difficulty was when a unit of British Matilda tanks attacked Rommel's right flank from Arras.
It broke the French front and allowed German armor, or " Panzer ", units to cut off the armies in the Maginot Line on 17 June.
Operation Fall Rot would not be able to be reversed without a major landing from across the English Channel which would come on June 6, 1944 with the D-Day landings of Operation Overlord at Normandy.
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