Ya yi yaƙi a cikin Yaƙin Somme na 1940 (galibi an gano shi a cikin tushen Ingilishi a matsayin Yaƙin Abbeville) tsakanin 27 ga Mayu da 4 ga Yuni 1940, sannan kuma a cikin jerin ƙananan "ayyukan jinkiri", da farko tare da Seine inda Jamusawa ke yaƙi don kama jerin manyan gadoji kafin masu kare su iya busa su, sannan kuma zuwa yamma a Normandy da Brittany. Duk da haka ana tunawa da mamayewar Jamus ta Faransa saboda saurin da sojojin Jamus suka iya amfani da fifikon iska da kuma sabbin fasahohin yaƙi na zamani don kama arewacin ƙasar. Sojojin Jamus sun shiga Paris a ranar 14 ga Yuni 1940 kuma gwamnatin Faransa ta rattaba hannu kan yarjejeniyar tsagaita wuta bayan 'yan kwanaki. A ranar 16 ga Yuni 1940 Claude Hettier de Boislambert ya kasance a tashar jirgin ruwa ta Brest. Yayin da Faransa ta fadi, ya yanke shawarar ci gaba da gwagwarmaya, wanda ke nufin tsallakawa zuwa Biritaniya, wanda ya yi tare da jami'ai da jami'an da suka yi yaƙi a karkashin umurninsa wanda yanzu suka ba da kansu don bi shi. Sun yi tafiya a kan jirgin ruwa / jirgin ruwa wanda Ingilishi ya aiko don karɓar sojojin Poland waɗanda ke yaƙi a Faransa a kan mamayewar Jamus, bayan sun tsere daga mamayar Jamus da Soviet
na kasarsu.