When Germany invaded France by way of the Low Countries in the spring of 1940, it also invaded Luxembourg, despite its neutrality. The country was occupied quickly: the government made an attempt to slow the advancing German forces, but local forces put up little resistance and surrendered before the end of the first day. During the German occupation, the administration was led by Gustav Simon, who pursued a policy of Germanisation and carried out the Holocaust in Luxembourg. In August 1942, Germany fully annexed Luxembourg and attached it to Gau Moselland.