France 1940.

This is coolbert:

From the Internet web site "Small Wars Journal" and the article by David Campbell and Jesse McIntyre III the topic is the Battle of France 1940 those points of interest in the nutshell type of stuff the defeat of the French army.

"A Policy of Defeat"

"Time Magazine commented in August 1939 that French Army General Maurice Gamelin was head, by unanimous acclaim, of the world’s finest military machine."    

Six major reasons given for French defeat include:

* 1) "Deficiencies in morale, caused by widespread defeatism."

* 2) "Faulty French military doctrine and policy"

* 3) "Inadequate training of reserves in peacetime"

* 4) "The detrimental effects of the Maginot Line"

* 5) "Incompetent aged leadership"

 * 6) "Irreconcilable political divisions within France’s Third Republic"

* "A seventh additional reason is security agreements that committed France to countries that lacked reciprocity."

My personal comments:

* Gamelin apparently more incompetent than anything else. NOT however a traitor as has been suggested by some.

* The French COULD HAVE won the Battle of France 1940 but according to Dupuy placed TOO LITTLE faith in the Maginot Line. Four armies deployed vicinity the line in a strictly defensive posture when ONLY ONE would have sufficed!!

* NOT so much the French were bad as the German were good? That blitzkrieg consisting of concentrated  armor and tactical aviation working in concert WITH strong and effective anti-aircraft-artillery [AAA] useful in consolidating and protecting gains!

Devoted readers to the blog can suggest additional reasons? Let me hear from you.

coolbert.