PROPAGANDA POSTCARDS
(1940)

This page was last updated
20-Feb-2025 07:50

ARMISTICE at COMPIEGNE
(25th Jun 1940)

BACKGROUND: This postcard was issued to commemorate the signing of the Armistice with France at Compiegne Forest following the defeat of the French armies in mid 1940. The dramatic imagery depicts German soldiers, Ju87 Stuka dive bombers and large artillery pieces swarming all over a map of defeated Belgium, Holland and Northern France. The inscription reads "Erinnerung an | den Waffenstillstand | in Compiegne 25. Juni 1940 | um 1.25 Uhr." - 'Memory of | the armistice | in Compiegne June 25, 1940 | at 1:25 am'.

SPECIAL CANCEL:

PHOTO HOFFMANN
COMPIEGNE 1940 - PHOTOCARD SERIES

In addition to the card above there was also a series of photocards by Photo Hoffmann that capture the scene in Compiegne Forest, with the French and their German victors signing the surrender treaty.

The German's, wanting to make as big a show as possible out of France's humiliating defeat, shipped the same railway carriage used by the Germans to sign their defeat after the First World War, all the way from the museum where it was on display to a clearing in Compiegne Forest. True theatre. The Hoffmann cards below depict several scenes of that humiliating (French) / victorious (German) day.

CARD C1

DER FÜHRER VOR DEM VERHANDLUNGSWAGEN
THE LEADER TO THE FRONT OF THE NEGATIATING CAR
CARD C2

Left to right: Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler, Erich Raeder partially obscured and Walther von Brauchitsch in front of the Armistice carriage

DER FÜHRER BEGIBT SICH IN DEN HISTORISCHEN WAGEN
THE LEADER ENTERS THE HISTORICAL CARRIAGE
CARD C3

Hitler ascends the steps before entering the carriage while Göring looks down at them and hopes they will hold his weight.

GENERALFELDMARSCHALL KEITEL VERLIEST DIE PRÄAMBEL DES FÜHRERS
GENERAL FIELD MARSHAL KEITEL OPENS THE TALKS
CARD C4

DIE FRANZÖSISCHE DELEGATION
THE FRENCH DELEGATION
CARD C5

IN ERWARTUNG DER FRANZÖSISCHEN DELEGATION
WAITING FOR THE FRENCH DELEGATION
CARD C6

DIE FRANZÖSISCHEN DELEGATION BESTEIGT DEN HISTORISCHEN WAGEN
THE FRENCH DELEGATION ENTERS THE HISTORICAL CARRIAGE
CARD C7

GENERALOBERST KEITEL UBERREICHT
GENERALOBERST KEITEL PRESENTED
CARD C8

DER FÜHRER VOR DEM GEDENKSTEIN MIT DER VERLOGENEN INSCHRIFT
THE LEADER IN FRONT OF THE MEMORIAL STONE
CARD C9

AUF HISTORISCHEM BODEN
ON HISTORICAL GROUND
CARD C10

BLICK IN DEN HISTORISCHEN WAGEN WAHREND DER VERHANDLUNGEN
LOOK INTO THE HISTORICAL CAR DURING THE NEGOTIATIONS
CARD C11

CARD C12

GENERAL HUNTZINGER UNTERZEICHTNET
GENERAL HUNTZINGER SIGNED
CARD C13