The Battle of France was when Germany invaded France.
The Battle of France , also known as the Fall of France , was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries during the Second World War . In six weeks from 10 May 1940 , German forces defeated Allied forces by mobile operations and conquered France , Belgium , Luxembourg and the Netherlands , bringing land operations on the Western Front to an end until 6 June 1944 . Italy entered the war on 10 June 1940 and attempted an invasion of France . When British , Belgian and French forces were pushed back to the sea by the mobile and well-organised German operation , the British evacuated the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) and several French divisions from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo . In 1940 , following the period known as the `` Phoney War , '' Nazi Germany invaded France and occupied the city of Lille , in the Nord department of northern France , from May 31 of that year until September 4 , 1944 .