The second gold coin of the Czech Mint from the miniseries War Year 1940 commemorates the fateful Battle of France.

When World War I ended, victorious France signed with defeated Germany the Treaty of Versailles - a repressive, humiliating truce. While the German armed forces were reduced to the bare minimum, the French army became the strongest and most respected in Europe and built a monumental fortification system known as the Maginot Line for the case of another protracted positional war. Another war with Germany was completely different from what the French expected. It was called Lightning… The first victim of the "Blitzkrieg" in 1939 was Poland, which succumbed to the German onslaught in just four weeks. The Nazis struck Denmark and Norway in 1940 and prepared to invade France. However, it was not afraid of the new German doctrine and steadfastly trusted the Maginot Line that was located from the Belgian borders to Italy. However, this was a mistake - one of the key elements of the Blitzkrieg was a surprise. The Germans did not attack France directly, but ruthlessly swept through the neutral Benelux countries. They passed the Maginot's line safely and used the methods of modern warfare. Tanks supported by fully mechanized infantry units, highly mobile artillery and a versatile air force conquered France in just 32 days. Adolf Hitler became an undisputed ruler of Western Europe, and the German army gained invincibility. It took four long years for France to be liberated…

The medal maker MgA. Josef Oplištil placed the Eiffel Tower in Paris as an icon of France in the middle of the reverse side of the coin. The Lightning War is then symbolized by four thunderbolts, which incorporate a depiction of German war machines - a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, a Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber, an SdKfz 251 armored personnel carrier and a PzKpfw III medium tank. The composition of the reverse side is supplemented with the inscription BLITZKRIEG - BATTLE OF FRANCE. The obverse side is common to the entire miniseries War Year 1940 . It presents the flags of the states that faced the German attack, in the form of shields and also other lightning bolts. Since the Pacific island of Niue provides the Czech Mint with a license to coin its own commemorative coins, the obverse side bears its necessary attributes - the name and the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, the nominal value of 5 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of the issue 2020.

Remember that you can store a complete collection of four war coins in a sheet metal collector's case.