German Newsweek No. 512- Special Edition after the Fall of France- 26 June 1940

The German Newsweek (Die Deutsche Wochenschau) was the unified newsreel of Germany from 1940-1945. The concept of a weekly newsreel was much older, dating back to WWI, and in the 1930s, there were several different weekly newsreels in Germany. With the outbreak of WWII, these were unified and from June 1940 shown under the title of "The German Newsweek". It was one of the most important aspects of German propaganda. Each week, over 2000 copies were sent to theaters and movie houses throughout Germany and shown to the general public, as private TV ownership was extremly rare during WWII. Over 700 episodes were produced, and many of the historical WWII footage we nowadays have comes from the Wochenschau. This is issue No. 512, which was released on June 26th, 1940, four days after the armistice with France was signed. At 44 Minutes, its the longest Newsweek ever produced. The first part of this issue shows footage from Operation Juno, a German navy mission in the Norwegian Sea, during which German ships, including the two battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, destroyed a number of British ships, including the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious. The rest of the Newsweek is however completly on France; it shows the breakthrough at the Maginot Line, the capture of cities in Alsace-Lorraine, like Strasbourg, Volmar and Metz, the German advance on Verdun, tank battles between German and French tanks. Then, a large section is dedicated to footage of Hitler and his Generals, and then of a meeting between Hitler and Mussolini in Munich. Finally, the Newsweek shows footage of German soldiers parading through Paris, and of the signing of the armistice in Compiegne. - Subtitles made by me.