It was a civilian as well as military disaster. Ten million refugees took to the roads and rail to escape the invasion, the most dramatic exodus of population seen in Europe for centuries. There were family tragedies by the thousand every day of those few short weeks. On June 16th, 1940, the new Prime Minister of France, Marshal Petain, called for a ceasefire. It came as a relief to the vast majority of the French. The eighty-four year-old Marshal, renowned as the 'Victor of Verdun' in the First World War, was credited with having saved the French from a nightmare situation and was elevated to a semi-religious status. His portrait was erected behind the altar in many churches, and it was educational policy to compare him favorably with Joan of Arc.On Hitler's orders, the fighters took a route out of the way to be friendly to them. They got food and other stuff and especially soup kitchens to feed the French people until they could bring the economy back to normal. They then decided a advantage could be to collaborate to the