In this field, the balance sheet of armaments policy from 1919 to 1935 is extremely limited and, throughout this period, the number of personnel and operations absorbed the largest share of reduced budgets. The construction of the Maginot Line (1929-1936) is undoubtedly the most important program of the period under consideration. With an initially planned amount of 2.9 billion francs, its real cost was 5.5 billion francs in total (Jacomet). But it is important to put their cost into perspective and it cannot be said that the construction of the Maginot Line absorbed the greater part of the military budgets of the interwar period to the detriment of the modernization of the army: the two were carried out simultaneously, but at very different times and according to very different budgetary cycles. On the other hand, the perception of the cost of building and developing the Maginot Line is distorted by the low military budgets during this period. If it appears proportionally strong, it becomes much weaker in comparison with the total sums devoted subsequently to rearmament from 1936 to 1940, which overall, well beyond the so-called 14 billion franc plan, are in the order of 65 billion francs.
Finally, orders and deliveries of new equipment are very low during this period. From the 1920s to 1935, they were essentially limited to a few small series of a few dozen transitional self-propelled machines.
The D1 was delivered in 1932-1935 and the AMR 33 in 1934-1935...., and to the machine gun model 1924-1929. For the most part, the army's equipment and materials are those of the 1914-1918 war; this does not necessarily mean that they are totally obsolete since they must be compared with the German army's holdings, which were almost non-existent at the same time (tanks, aircraft, artillery, etc.).
At the end of this transitional period, 1935 nevertheless seemed particularly important and even pivotal: on the one hand, it marked the beginning of French rearmament, even if the increase in the budget was still limited; on the other hand, it saw the development of many prototypes which began to be the subject of major orders the following year. All the equipment ordered in 1936 is "1935 models", and it is clear that they could not have been the subject of major orders without this essential preliminary step of definition and development. Hence the frequency of the number 35 which characterizes the models......
The nationalizations of 1936
The First World War did not lead to the nationalization of arms production, and before the war, the arsenals and State workshops, although quite numerous, had only limited manufacturing capacities and specialized in small arms: establishments in Chatellerault (machine guns), Bourges, Roanne, Tulle, Tarbes, Saint-Étienne, Rennes, etc. Most of the technological and industrial capabilities for arms production are in the hands of private companies
Unlike the navy where the Arsenals...... While the nationalization of the war industries of 1936 was one of the first important measures of the new Popular Front government led by Léon Blum (law of 11 August 1936), it should be immediately pointed out that they were partial and finally limited (except for aviation and the navy, where situations are very different
The aeronautics industry is characterized by a large number of...): in fact, only workshops specializing in the production of armaments are nationalized, which means that they are initially cut off from their industrial and technical environment.
In total, only seven arms manufacturers and 10,000 workers are concerned, including four main ones representing only seven industrial sites: Renault's Issy-les-Moulineaux tank construction workshop, the main French tank manufacturer, which will be the first AMX establishment
In the aftermath of the First World War armistice in 1918, the French Army was considered the best army in the world.
In early 1939, the French army, in peacetime, had twenty metropolitan infantry divisions, five cavalry divisions, two of which were mechanized and eight colonial or North African infantry divisions, as well as sovereignty troops in its colonial empire.
After the French mobilization of 1939 due to the declaration of war against Germany at the beginning of the Second World War, the four weapons (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Gendarmerie) had five million men in their ranks, supervised by 120,000 officers.
The French army deployed 2,240,000 fighters from the Swiss border to the North Sea, grouped into 94 divisions, 20 of them active and 74 reservists, representing limited numerical inferiority of 12% compared to the Wehrmacht. We must add the army of the Alps, facing Italy, and the 600,000 men scattered throughout the French colonial empire. The main fortification line was the Maginot line.
This establishment will have a long history and will become...; the Le Havre factory and two specialized workshops in Le Creusot of the Schneider establishments (mainly gun manufacturers); the workshops for the manufacture of 25 mm anti-tank (AC) and anti-aircraft (AA) guns of Levallois d'Hotchkiss; the Châtillon and Vernon plants of the Brandt establishments (manufacture of 60 and 81 mm mortars). The three other companies and industrial sites concerned by the nationalisations are much more secondary or even peripheral: Manurhin (cartoucherie du Mans), the Ateliers de Normandie (Caen) and a gas mask factory in the Lyon region (Saint-Priest). Design offices are only marginally affected insofar as, as in aviation, the industrialists concerned by nationalisations retain them, with the sole exception of the Hotchkiss automatic weapons design office, which is considered essential to the industrial operation of the site.
Despite this limited scope and in the troubled and radicalized political context of that time, nationalizations will nonetheless give rise to litigation, and in two of the four main industries concerned it is not excessive to talk about employer resistance. Schneider and Brandt in particular will engage in obstructive practices (poaching certain categories of staff, moving plans, building walls to isolate the workshops concerned, appeals to the Conseil d'État, etc.) and denigration, which will take a political turn by finding relays within Parliament and in the newspapers. See R. Jacomet, op. cit., pp. 231-246. However, the companies not directly concerned by nationalisations are by far the most numerous since there are currently a total of 70 000 companies working in one way or another (all activities combined) for National Defence, including 4 000 companies involved in the armaments sector stricto sensu, including many important and strategic companies: SOMUA, Panhard, Laffly, Lorraine, FCM, Citroën, Peugeot, Berliet, etc., etc.
The weapons available in France in 1940 are the product of these three different programs
J.-L. Crémieux-Brilhac summarizes this policy in the way... which in fact constituted the main French reaction to the rapid transformation of the international context as a result of German territorial expansion policy, with foreign policy characterized by great indecision and inaction linked to deep divisions among governments, the class and political parties and opinion. But the rearmament policy is not simply limited to measures of nationalization stricto sensu which, as we have seen, are very limited, and to orders for increasingly important equipment.
It also implements numerous structural support measures well in advance of production, making it possible to organise and rationalise an entire sector of specialised activities organised into different sectors: creation of large stocks of strategic raw materials (in particular, metals of all kinds and chemicals necessary for the manufacture of weapons and ammunition); modernisation of tools by acquiring modern machine tools, the French stock being particularly old and very largely obsolete; extension of workshops and their surfaces; rationalisation and standardisation of production (definition of standards allowing constant production and quality, subcontracting becoming more widespread); decentralisation of production and construction of new sites remote from foreseeable combat zones, etc.
Overall, these various measures have doubled production capacity. If we look at the details of investments, orders and manufacturing (off-line Maginot, on the one hand, which, as has been said, essentially corresponds to another budget cycle 1929-1936
The "miracle" of Dunkirk
Although their generals were overtaken in 1940, French troops fought with courage and skill. For example, during the Battle of Gembloux - from 14 to 15 May 1940 - the first French army managed to repel the German attacks on many occasions, saving time for their comrades and allies to withdraw. Without such rearguard actions, there would have been no "Dunkirk miracle" and the war could have been lost in 1940.
After crossing the Meuse, the German Panzer divisions only had to travel 240 km towards the Channel coast to trap the Allied forces - 1.8 million French soldiers were captured and 90,000 killed or wounded.
At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 - the Red Army lost nearly 5 million men, including 2.5 million who surrendered. The Russians have also lost 100,000 square kilometers of territory. Yet, as Charles de Gaulle told Stalin after this terrible defeat, the Soviets still had a vast territory in Eurasia, in which they could retreat.
Contribution to the liberation of Europe
The French military contribution to the Allied victory during the Second World War continued after 1940. Indeed, 550,000 French soldiers made a major contribution to the liberation of Western Europe in 1944. Operation Dragoon - the landing in Provence in August 1944 - was a Franco-American operation, with limited British participation.
Many French soldiers involved in Operation Dragoon were recruited in the colonies, as well as on the British side since 2.6 million Indian soldiers were involved in the war effort. In any case, the French units that served in Italy and Western Europe between 1943 and 1945 fought bravely, in the best tradition of the French army.
Lack of strategic reserves
As of May 10, 1940, the strategic reserves were 22 divisions out of 94 French divisions and 10 divisions of the British Expeditionary Force in Metropolitan France, representing 21% of the total. But theoretically, of these 22 divisions, six constitute the "Belgian lot" and are not reserves since they must be sent to Belgium from the first day of the German attack against this country; 5 constitute the "Swiss lot" towards Vesoul-Belfort to avoid a hypothetical attack against Switzerland; 3 constitute the "alpine lot" south of Chaumont (Italian threat). There are still 8 divisions (6 DI and 2 DCR) actually available. If we add the Alpine lot, this makes 11 divisions, or 10%, whereas the norm is that 25 to 33% of the total number of employees should be in strategic reserves (German reserves are 42 divisions out of 117 at the same date). General Gamelin, who perceived the problem of having too many divisions behind the Maginot line, could not impose his relief. It should be noted that on the day the German offensive was launched, the French army had 15% of license holders.
Combative soldiers in the French army in 1940
By attacking France, the Duce aimed to retake Nice, Corsica and Savoy, the occupation of French territory up to the Rhône and the takeover of the French war fleet. Led in the Alps by General Olry, the French army did not admit defeat and fought an unprecedented battle: the Battle of the Alps. To win the battle, the French relied on fortified sectors, strong artillery, elite troops, as well as the famous Maginot line.
A victory for the French army in 1940
Opposite, the Italian army is in excess, headed by Prince Umberto di Savoia. On June 20, the Italians attacked as part of Operation "M", which planned the conquest of Marseille. Despite the virulence of the fighting and the attacks of Barcelonnette and Fouillouse, the French held out. The losses on the other side were considerable, both in men and equipment. The Battle of the Alps was won by France, before a ceasefire was declared on June 25. The victory was French militarily, but the Italians imposed their conditions during the Armistice.
Stop taking pictures
During the inter-war period, the French invested in defensive fortifications, with the Maginot Line, along the Franco-German border. This decision has often been ridiculed on the pretext that it revealed a defeatist attitude. But, as France was less populated than Germany, it could not hope to compete with its army alone. The fortifications were to compensate for this imbalance. The Maginot line was intended to protect the industrial heart of France from a lightning attack by the Germans and to create a funnel in Belgium to slow down the German invasion, and initially it worked.
But the German army won the May-June 1940 campaign thanks to its bold "sickle blow" in the Ardennes forest, which was considered impassable by Allied commanders. The British, French and Belgian armies were surrounded in the north, suffering a heavy defeat. French strategic planning is largely responsible for this disaster, but let us not forget that it was an allied defeat, not just a French defeat. The Dutch and Belgians being reluctant to risk their neutrality, there was little coordination with them, which facilitated the German attack. As for the British, they let France bear the brunt of the ground war without much support.
The British Expeditionary Force in 1940 represented only 12 divisions. By 1918, there had been as many as 59. No wonder, then, that Nazi propaganda became accustomed to mocking its enemies by claiming that the British were "determined to fight until the death of the last Frenchman".
Types of large units in the French army of 1940
Infantry divisions
Infantry divisions were the most widespread units at the time, they were divided into three series:
- of active, which exist in times of peace;
- Series A, created to mobilize active units by splitting them up, they include more than 50% reservists, and the encadrement and equipment are roughly equivalent to that of the latter;
- B series, created from scratch, they are mainly composed of reservists confined to concrete or agricultural work, the equipment and manpower are often incomplete.
- They are also divided into types corresponding to a different organization and staffing. There are thus:
- motorized northeastern infantry divisions (active);
- North-East infantry divisions (active - reserve A and B);
- North-East infantry divisions to a mixed divisional artillery regiment (reserve B);
- fortress infantry divisions.
At the beginning of May 1940, 67 infantry divisions, including 7 motorized, 24 active, 20 A-series and 16 B-series divisions, were able to campaign on the North-East Front as well as 16 fortress infantry divisions.
Light cavalry divisions
These were semi-motorized divisions, the result of two successive reforms: the 1932 cavalry reform and the transformation, in January 1940, of the cavalry divisions (DC) into light cavalry divisions (DLC), reduced by part of their strength to form additional units; the command wanted to have more numerous and more mobile units. These divisions were commonly referred to as "petrol-picotee divisions", as they combined two cavalry brigades:
- a horse brigade (BC) composed of:
- 2 cavalry regiments.
- a motorized brigade (BLM) composed of:
- 1 battalion of carried dragons;
- 1 regiment of automitrailleuses (RAM).
In practice, this assembly will not be very convenient, as motorized machines often have to wait for horses, otherwise, they will have to fight alone. These divisions are called light divisions, for their ability to move more quickly from the marching order to the battle order.
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Light Cavalry Divisions, all five were created by converting the last three active cavalry divisions in February 1940.
The 6th DLC was created in Algeria by the absorption of various units stationed in North Africa.
The first five will be in the front line, when entering Luxembourg and Belgium, seeking to cover the ground, to allow the infantry to deploy as part of the Dyle maneuver.
Mechanical lightweight divisions
These are improvements to the active cavalry divisions, replacing the horse regiments with self-propelled combat machine units, in practice battle tanks. They are the closest French equivalent of the German Panzer divisions, fairly well balanced, containing almost all the weapons necessary for mechanized warfare. With 260 combat vehicles on the front line (not counting the 47 command and control and steering vehicles), they suffer from being a little less powerful and few in number.
Two were formed before the war:
- the 1st from the former 4th Cavalry Division in 1936;
- the 2nd of the 5th Cavalry Division, in 1937.
- A third was created in February 1940.
A fourth was being created in May 1940, but its elements were vampirized by the 4th Dreadnought Division.
Two more will be created at the beginning of June in a lighter format:
- the 4th created from the 1st Light Cavalry Division;
- the 7th created from the 4th Light Cavalry Division.
They will be units and occasional reinforcements from proven school units, without real cohesion and sent into combat without preparation.
The battleship divisions
For a more general article, see Battleship Division.
These new units appeared on 16 January 1940, when the 1st and 2nd units of the 1st and 2nd battleships were created.
The third will follow in March, and finally the fourth on May 15.
These are groups of battle tank battalions intended for infantry support, associated with a mounted fighter battalion and an off-road towed artillery regiment. They were much less successful than the light mechanical divisions, lacking accompanying infantry and reconnaissance units.
They have an asset, however, with their 2 battalions of B1 bis battle tanks, which no panzer can destroy directly.
The reserved name that we often read is not correct. The acronym DCr is just different from DC or cavalry division.
Recognition groups
Reconnaissance groups are small cavalry units, motorized or not, that are trained to mobilize to provide reconnaissance units to large units, there are six types:
- motorized Corps reconnaissance group (three squadrons of motorcycle riflemen and one of the machine guns and motorized cannon);
- normal type corps reconnaissance group (two mounted squadrons, one of the motorcycle riflemen and one of the machine guns and motorized cannon);
- reconnaissance group of motorized infantry division with self-propelled guns (one squadron of 20 AMRl, one of the motorcycle riflemen and one of the motorized machine guns and cannon);
- motorized infantry division reconnaissance group (two squadrons of motorcycle riflemen and one of the machine guns and motorized cannon);
- reconnaissance group of a normal infantry division (one squadron on horseback, one of the motorcycle riflemen and one of the machine guns and motorized cannon);
- overseas type infantry division reconnaissance group (two mounted squadrons and one of the machine guns and horse-drawn cannon).
On September 3, 1939, in response to Germany's attack on Poland, the UK and France declared war on Germany: the local Polish-German war actually launched a new world war. In France, near the fortified line of Maginot, the French-British army is stationed, and near the line of Siegfried, the German army is concentrated. But the hostilities were limited only to private operations at sea. On the border of France and Germany reigned a strange silence: huge armies were facing each other, but there were no battles, only in some places there were casual shootings. This period of war (September 1939 - April 1940) went down in history as a Strange War.
With the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war on November 30, 1939, the governments of Great Britain and France began to develop plans for assistance to Finland and military actions against the USSR. It was planned to land the expeditionary corps in Norway and airstrikes on Baku oilfields. But the end of the Soviet-Finnish war on March 12, 1940, put an end to these plans.
On April 9, 1940, German troops invaded Denmark and Norway. Denmark immediately surrendered, but Norway refused to surrender and resisted, and on April 14, an Anglo-French landing party landed in it. Fierce fights started, which could lead to a protracted war. Narvik was liberated, but the German attack on France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, which began on May 10, prevented further allied attacks.
Germany
By early May, there were 104 infantry, 9 motorized and 10 tank divisions on the western borders of Germany, with a total of 2.5 million soldiers and officers. All these forces were divided into three groups of armies (listed in order of their location from north to south):
Army Group B (Colonel General Fedor von Bock) consisted of two armies: the 18th and 6th armies.
The 18th Army consisted of nine infantry, one tank, and one cavalry division. The commander was Colonel-General von Kühler. The 18th Army was the northern wing of Army Group B.
The 6th Army consisted of fourteen infantry and two tank divisions. The commander was Colonel-General von Reichenau.
Group of armies "B" was located from the North Sea to Aachen.
Group of armies "A" (Colonel-General Gerd von Rundstedt) consisted of four armies:
Colonel von Kluge's 4th Army (twelve infantry divisions and two tank divisions)
12th Army of Colonel-General Liszt (eleven infantry divisions)
16th Army of Infantry General Bush (fifteen infantry divisions)
Colonel von Weichs' 2nd Army
Tank group, which included most of the German tanks (2,488 vehicles (see table), of which the average PZ III and PZ IV tanks were only 349 and 281 respectively, while the rest were light PZ I and PZ II, as well as tanks of Czech manufacture Panzer 35(t) and Panzer 38(t)). This group was located between Aachen and Saarburg.
The group of armies "C" (Colonel General Wilhelm Josef von Leeb) consisted of two armies:
Colonel von Witzleben's 1st Army
The 7th Army of General Dollman's Artillery, located in eastern Lorraine and along the Rhine.
The air cover was carried out by 2478 aircraft, mostly modern and superior to the tactical and technical characteristics of the Allied Air Force. The aviation was divided into two groups:
The 3rd Air Fleet under the command of Colonel-General Sperle
Colonel-General Kesselring's 2nd Air Fleet.
The general command was exercised by Hitler, the chief of staff was Wilhelm Keitel, and direct command was exercised by General Walter von Brauchich.
The main tank unit of the campaign was the "Kleist Tank Group" under the command of Ewald von Kleist consisting of two tank and one motorized corps: the XIX (commander - Heinz Guderian), XV (German Gott) and XXXI (Georg Reinhardt). The group consisted of five out of ten tank divisions in Germany and five motorized divisions. The group had 1250 armored vehicles (tanks and armored personnel carriers) in service with it.
In total, Germany had 35 tank battalions on the Western Front consisting of 10 tank divisions, 2,488 tanks, of which 2,488 were tanks:
- PzKpfw I - 643 units;
- PzKpfw II - 880 units;
- PzKpfw III - 349 units;
- PzKpfw IV - 281 units;
- Pz.Kpfw.35(t) - 128 units;
- Pz.Kpfw.38(t) - 207 units;
There were also 187 command tanks:
Pz.Bef. (small command tank (wedge) on PzKpfw I chassis) - 148 units;
Panzerbefehlswagen III (commander's tank on PzKpfw III chassis) - 39 units.
Of the 177 SAU, it was:
- Panzerjäger I - 117 units;
- StuG III - 24 units;
- Sturmpanzer I - 36 units
After the war with Poland, the German Air Force fleet was modernized. Reconnaissance aircraft such as Heinkel-45 and Heinkel-46 were removed from service. Special emphasis was placed on the modernization of dive bombers, fighters and long-range reconnaissance aircraft with high speed and range. "Junkers-86 were removed from the front, although high-altitude specimens remained as scouts. The Junkers-87 and Heinkel-111 bombers received more powerful engines. Much attention was paid to the production of new aircraft: Junkers-88 was produced.
Receipts during the campaign
During the campaign, 244 tanks were delivered to the operating parts of the Wehrmacht :
- PzKpfw I - 48 units;
- PzKpfw II - 35 units;
- PzKpfw III - 71 units;
- PzKpfw IV - 19 units;
- Pz.Kpfw.35(t) - 35 units;
- Pz.Kpfw.38(t) - 36 units;
As well as commander's tanks:
- Pz.Bef. - 44 units.
Thus, the total number of tanks and ACS of Germany participating in the French campaign was 2,909.
French troops numbered more than 2 million people and 3101 tanks (including 470 of the most modern medium SOMUA S35 and B1bis, outperforming their German counterparts), included in 4 armored vehicles (DCR), 5 light mechanized (DLM) and 74 other divisions. On 10 May, the French Army had 24 infantry divisions, 7 infantry motorized divisions, 20 first-priority reserve divisions, 16 second-priority reserve divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, 4 separate cavalry brigades, 3 armored divisions, 3 light mechanized divisions, 1 Polish division and garrisons of the Maginot Line, totaling 13 divisions. Against Italy on the Alpine front were 4 infantry and 3 serf divisions. In North Africa, there were 7 more infantry and one more cavalry division. The reserve of the General Command consisted of 14 divisions and was located behind the central front in the area of Chalons-upon-Marne, Saint-Quentin.