Why was France so bad?

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@jim010 France could have won, by invading the Germans when they had the chance. I don’t blame them though for not doing it. The area was heavily mined and the French did not know that the Germans basically has no troops in the West. They had no way of knowing that.

[jim010]

@FranceNeedsMorePower even beyond the Saar offensive, do you think France could have stopped the Germans?

For my part, the French army was the equal of the Germans and more in terms of numbers and equipment. It was Gamelin stubborness to stick to the Dyle plan that doomed them.

[jim010]

I would also argue that people see the Maginot Line as a waste, but overlook what the line was intended to do. In terms of its purpose, it did exactly what the French wanted it to do.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@jim010 I’m not against the Maginot line just the fact that France did not go on the attack. They could have at least scuted the area with planes and slowly moved in with British support. The only issue is that although there were few ground troops there was a lot of anti air defense in the area. I do think they could have won if they had different leaders.

[barnee]

@jim010

They did make a small attack when the Wehrmacht was in Poland. They backed away quickly as soon as they met resistance.

Something to remember is WWI was basically 20 years earlier. The guys in charge and most everyone else for that matter, were expecting something similar.

Chemical weapon use was still an unknown at that time as well and would be for most, if not all of the war.

At any rate, their tactics were outdated. Same as soviets. Took a couple years of getting their ass kicked before they figured it out.

Plus the the Wehrmacht was methed out of their minds early in the war. It finally caught up to them and they all had to take a nap :)

[jim010]

@FranceNeedsMorePower I agree 100% that French leadership killed the French army. Not sure how far the French could have gone in the Saar offensive, though, as it was not planned as a real invasion force - more of a raid. And the British could not help as they were still organizing the BEF and getting it sent over.

I think they could have occupied the Saar region and dug in, though.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@jim010 I agree with most of what you said, the British could have helped with air support at least. They should have gotten across the Rhine river (may be spelling that wrong) and dug in. Then retreat when they are almost dead and blow the bridges or maybe stay behind it.

[jim010]

@FranceNeedsMorePower For me, it is more about the decisions they made May 10th and on. They didn’t have to advance into Belgium, and they could have taken the reports from the Ardennes seriously. Had that have happened, would the Germans still have broken through?

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@jim010 The move into Belgium was actually a great move. Well for another ww1 it was a great move. If it was another ww1 they would be fighting on dutch land and get extra troops from the dutch.

[jim010]

@FranceNeedsMorePower Exactly. Great move if it was WW1. Gamelin was far too inflexible that he was incapable of seeing any other way to respond to German moves. He was the final (and biggest) nail in the French army’s coffin.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@jim010 Yep

[jim010]

@FranceNeedsMorePower That and tanks without radios and made for infantry support, not armored breakthroughs.

I’ve seen many people say that the Char B1 tank was superior to anything the Germans had. Sure it was huge and packed a big punch, but it was slow. Was never meant for fast maneuvers the Germans were doing.

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@jim010 I have also heard that.

[barnee]

@jim010 said in Why was France so bad?:

packed a big punch, but it was slow.

5 dogs take out a big old lion every time :)

Tramp in Armour is a historical fiction read that deals with the topic you guys might enjoy, if you haven’t already read it :)

[FranceNeedsMorePower]

@barnee I will have to check it out! Thanks barnee!

[jim010]

What are people’s thoughts on the Maginot? Did it perform as intended?

I think it did. It was meant to be such a scary defense line that the Germans would never dream of attacking it and force them to go through the low countries, where the main French army would meet them.

But, I do think that it was too high an investment in resources compared to the results, even though it did work. They could have achieved the same result with far less commitment of resources.