Cease-fire, signed on June 22 1940, went into effect on June 25 1940

Waffen-SS distributing food to the needy in June 1940

The men of the Leibstandarte SS enjoyed the beauty of Paris in 1940

Men of the Leibstandarte SS strolling through occupied Paris in 1940

On June 22 1940 the last combat effective French army still in the field was encircled and 500,000 men marched into captivity. The order to cease-fire came at 01:35 hours on June 25 1940. The battle for France was finally over for the men of the Waffen-SS. But some were left behind. In the campaign which had taken no less than seven weeks, three countries had been defeated by the German Armed Forces. The German concept of Blitzkrieg had been perfected in the western theatre of war. Members of the SS-Regiment Leibstandarte SS experiencing the very best of occupied Paris following the Battle of France. The German soldier in 1940 felt on top of the world and firmly believed at this stage that final victory was in sight. They had outflanked the Maginot Lina and arrived in an undefended Paris on June 14 1940. They continued their drive south through Champaign, Dijon, Burgundy, by the 25th June the ceasefire came into effect and the Waffen-SS were near Bordeaux. Accolades of praise for their bravery and sacrifice poured in, they had proved themselves ferocious and fearless on the battlefields. In 1940 the Waffen-SS began to recruit volunteers in the conquered territories from the ethnic German and Germanic populations. A sufficient number of volunteers came forward requiring the Waffen-SS to open a new training camp just for foreign volunteers at Sennheim in Alsace-Lorraine. Non-Germanic volunteers were not considered to be part of the SS directly, which still maintained its strict racial criteria; instead they were considered to be foreign nationals serving under the command of the SS. German casualties in the Western Campaign are hard to determine but commonly accepted figures are: 27,000 killed, 18,000 missing and 111,000 wounded. Western Allied casualties were almost 73,000 killed, 15,000 missing and 240,000 wounded. Top image: members of the Waffen-SS distributing foods to Belgian or French refugees in June 1940. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom clips: Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Fair use.