For those who like to make uneducated jokes about french soldiers in WW2...
- Thread starter Heimrick
- Start date
- Status
Not disputing the courage of many French soldiers in 1940 but the fact remains that morale was bad, leadership terrible and quickly led to a complete collapse. Revisionists would like to attach the characteristics of some great heroic struggle to the French military performance in 1940 but that IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED.
Courage has never been a problem in the French army. The real problem has been inept leadership in both world wars. Furthermore, did anybody stand much of a chance against the Wehrmacht in 1940?
I am not a Francophile, but I do not make jokes implying cowardice on the part of French soldiers. The Douaumont Ossuary is no tomb for cowards.
I am not a Francophile, but I do not make jokes implying cowardice on the part of French soldiers. The Douaumont Ossuary is no tomb for cowards.
surplusshooter
Regular
- Location
- BC Sea to Sky
you do know they could have won the war if they had actually attacked when the Germans were busy in Poland right? only a few German battalions against hundreds of French. Instead they waited for the entire German Army to switch back to the west. Too many losses from the last war had convinced them that future wars must be defensive.
surplusshooter
Regular
- Location
- BC Sea to Sky
it was not the basis, however it was widely read. The germans were not the first to come up with the Tactics, the Russians had come up with the idea of the Blitzkrieg years before, and showed a year before the purges began how well they could pull it off to military observers from all countries. They Russian General who pioneered it was one of the first to be dragged away. I forget his name, starts with a T. Anyway the Germans had learned much from the Russians, especially when you consider prior to Hitler coming to power, the government was secretly training in Russia on tank tactics. DeGaulle wrote a book on concentrating tank units instead of mixing them amongst the Infantry as the French had done. Most countries had military theorists who proposed using armored columns for deep penetration, mixed with tactical bombing, as well as moving soldiers on trucks to get them around the enemy army. However the Germans were the only major power to due this at the start of the second world war.
JACKSMYDOG
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Haldimand County, Ontario
I like to make uneducated jokes, but I try to be thoughtful of all their many weaknesses and not focus all my jokes on their WW2, umm, performance, LOL 
Misleading title, I thought this thread was going to be some good French jokes, much like the HABS in this year's playoffs, LOL.
I kill me!
Misleading title, I thought this thread was going to be some good French jokes, much like the HABS in this year's playoffs, LOL.
I kill me!
Another problem along with using tanks sprinkled throughout infantry units was that the Germans had radios in all their tanks which enabled them to really act in concert. The French and British were reduced to what the commander could see and some guy rapping on the hatch to tell them where they would be most effective. The French CHAR B was the best tank in 1940 but was quickly surpassed by German designers as well as British, American and Russian. The Russian T-34 was probably the best all around tank in WW2 followed by the German Panther. Though the Tiger was pretty much unbeatable in a defensive fashion as the Germans used in in 1944 and 1945. The 88mm German gun was the best anti-tank gun of the war without question.
It was theoretically superior to the early German Panzers, perhaps the best tank at the outbreak of war. The British Matilda was highly regarded pre war though as well, and completely obsolete within the first year or two of hostilities. The Stuka played a heavy role in the opening months of the war as well, softening up fortifications and armour before the tanks and infantry even arrived on the scene, the German tank columns weren't solely responsible for victory. After D-day the Allies took this to heart and most of the German armour losses came from rocket firing Typhoon fighters and the like.
*Good point on early radio use there too Mike. The French were still reliant on flags.
Blitzkrieg , to me at least Means two things.
1) Speed of operations.
2) Communications to effectively control relatively smaller forces against larger ones.
German WWII communications patch.
"Blitzkrieg" really meant fast armour driving hard bypassing strong points and using coordinated Stuka attacks on enemy positions. I have seen period photos of German tanks filling up at French service stations as they had outrun their supply.
I think the secret (that Gerald Bull subsequently investigated and exploited) was that the Germans knew a thing or two about how to manage the recoil of a large calibre high velocity weapon on some (for then) unconventional platforms
Chuckbuster
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I seem to recall it being a different authority...British I think. I just can't get to his name...ah! Liddell Hart, I believe.
Many of the French tanks were saved, thanks in part to their 5 speed reverse gearbox.
Just a very small amount of animosity/distrust by Canadian Troops towards the French occurred in mid June 1940 when elements of the First Canadian Division were in France (post Dunkirk) and got as far as LeMans +/- ... this was about a week before Vichy France was conceived by Petain when he "officially" signed the Armistice with Germany... the Canadians ran into a little trouble with French collaborators .. but managed to get out without too much issue .. as it was clear by then .. France was gone!
The French were no more, or less, cowards, than the Germans were sadists. People just find it easier to paint with a roller, than to dab in any detail. Good and bad everywhere, and you usually find what you are looking for.
- Status
