Editing Fall Rot (section)

==Background==
===French preparations===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1971-083-01, Frankreich, französische Flüchtlinge.jpg|thumb|[[War refugee]]s on a French road]]
By the end of May 1940, the best-equipped French armies had been sent north and lost in {{lang|de|[[Fall Gelb]]}} and the [[Dunkirk evacuation|evacuation from Dunkirk]], which cost the Allies {{nowrap|61 divisions.}} French commander [[Maxime Weygand]] was faced with the prospect of defending a {{cvt|965|km|mi}} front from [[Sedan, Ardennes|Sedan]], along the Aisne and Somme rivers to Abbeville on [[English Channel|the Channel]], with {{nowrap|64 French}} divisions. The [[51st (Highland) Infantry Division]] and a few British divisions being sent to French ports south of the Somme to form the "2nd BEF" were the only British contribution. Weygand lacked reserves to counter a breakthrough against {{nowrap|142 German}} divisions and the {{lang|de|[[Luftwaffe]]}}, which had air supremacy, except over the English Channel.{{sfn|Healy|Prigent|2008|p=84}}

==={{lang|fr|L'Éxode}}===
Between six and ten million civilian refugees had fled the fighting and clogged the roads, in what became known as {{lang|fr|L'Éxode}} (The Exodus) and few arrangements had been made for their reception. The population of [[Chartres]] declined from 23,000 to 800 and Lille from 200,000 to 20,000 as cities in the south such as [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]] and [[Bordeaux]] rapidly grew in size.{{sfn|Jackson|2001|pp=119–120}}