Victory in the West (Sieg im Westen) is a 114-minute-long German propaganda film about the German invasion of France and the Low countries. Production started almost immediatly after the Armistice between Germany and France, the film generally consists largely of re-used German newsreel footage, supported by captured French and British footage, and scenes on maps, explaining German and Allied movements.

Unlike most other propaganda films of the Third Reich, it was produced by the Army High Command, and not Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry, which caused Goebbels to be angry at the Army, and German newspapers were only allowed to report about the movie in a very small way, and not on the front pages.

The movie consists of a 15-minute-long introduction, in which the Nazi version of history is being explained; that it was always England and France’s goal to destroy Germany, that Hitler always wanted peace, but that was rejected by England, and that the Western powers wanted to use Czechoslovakia, Poland and Norway as a base to launch attacks on Germany.
The main part then shows the German campaign against the Low countries and France in detail, starting with the Nazi propaganda lie that British and French armies wanted to attack Germany, and thus Germany had to invade.

The film shows the general course of the campaign using maps, but also explains certain key battles in detail, such as the capture of Fort Eben-Emael, the Battle of Arras, the Dunkirk evacuation and others.
Other important events from the campaign, such as the German entry into Paris, the Belgian and Dutch surrender, and the armistice negotiations at Compiegne are also displayed.

Most footage used in this film was taken by German propaganda cameraman during the actual invasion.
To display French and British troops, footage from captured Allied newsreels was used, but the film also includes staged scenes, taken with German soldiers and with POWs after the fighting.
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Subtitles made by me.

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