the streets of the capital. The regiment was being reorganized in September 1939, and did not take part in Fall Weiss (the invasion of Poland), a fact that dented the pride of the regiment which bore the name of the nation on their sleeves. However, in May 1940, the regiment was attached to Generalfeldmarschall Ewald von Kleist's Panzergruppe Kleist and saw combat from the beginning of Fall Gelb, the invasion of the West, on 10 May 1940. On the first day of the invasion, the majority of the Großdeutschland regiment was attached to the 10th Panzer Division and engaged in fighting in Luxembourg in an attempt to outflank southern Belgian fortifications. Meanwhile, III. Battalion was involved in an airborne attack further north in Belgium. The regiment was then involved in the crossing of the Meuse river. Near the town of Stonne, the regiment was involved in heavy fighting with French armoured forces, and acquitted itself well. The regiment then marched north towards Dunkirk, and was involved in defeating the British counterattack at Arras. Großdeutschland was then involved in holding the Dunkirk pocket, before being transferred south to join the attack across the Seine. During the rout of the French Army, in June 1940, the regiment massacred African soldiers and their White officers it had taken prisoner near the Bois d'Eraine. Ten more Black Frenchmen were murdered near Lyon. The French surrender found the regiment in Lyon. After a stopover in Paris to take part in the German victory parade, the regiment was then sent north to Celsace in preparation for Operation Sea Lion, the projected invasion of Britain. After Sea Lion was called off, the regiment was moved to the south of France in preparation for Operation Felix, the planned invasion of Gibraltar. Yugoslavia - Barbarossa After the cancellation of Felix, the Großdeutschland was moved east to Romania to take part in the Yugoslav campaign then in progress. The regiment's operations in this campaign were mostly pursuing the broken Yugoslav forces. I. Battalion was involved in the occupation of Belgrade, before the regiment was moved back north into Poland in preparation for Operation Barbarossa. On 22 April 1941, soldiers of the Infantry Regiment Grossdeutschland committed a war crime in the town cemetery of Pančevo when 35 men and one woman were executed as a reprisal for the deaths of four German soldiers. Propaganda photos and film of the executions were