Overview
Unternehmen Paula is the German codename for a Luftwaffe operation to destroy the remaining units of the Armée de l'Air during the Battle of France in 1940. On 10 May the German armed forces began their invasion of Western Europe. By 3 June, the bulk of the British Army had withdrawn from Dunkirk Operation Dynamo, the Netherlands and Belgium had surrendered and most of the formations of the French Army were disbanded or destroyed. To complete the defeat of France, the Germans undertook another operation, Fall Rot, to conquer the remaining regions. To achieve this, air supremacy was required. The Luftwaffe was ordered to destroy the French Air Forces and support to the German Army.