My english is not that great so i am not sure how Germany actually wins the war of France? Please correct me if i am wrong, thanks
To my understanding is
First wave: tank bypassing France and british troops and went straight to the coast of France to prevent France and british troops to escape (despite some of the german tank group are force to have some combat with the British tank groups, but Germany has won anyways because Britain doesnt have radio on each tank, that makes communications hard, soldiers would go for the directions and therefore cannot create protection for the tank)
Second wave: infantry unit protected by air unit attack france and british troops
It was a highly organised modern force using modern tactics which weren’t expected and completely overhwelmed the unprepared forces.
By using tanks troops and aircraft together they dominated the battlefield.
The attack on France was a variation of the WW1 von Sclefin Plan (Have no idea how you spell that guys name so spelt like it sounds :D) His idea was to storm thru the Low Countries and quickly proceed to Paris. In WW2, the allies were expecting the same the same plan and rushed into Belguim and Holland to prevent the advance. Little did they know that the main attack would come thru the Ardennes forest. The Germans advanced quickly on the Allies left flank and proceeded to the coast. This pretty much trapped all the Allies in a pocket with no reserves between the Germans and Paris. After this all the fun at Dunkirk started. Which is about the only good that came out of the invasion of France for the Allies.
Actually the Allies out numbered the Germans but just a bit in manpower. I would say that it was pretty even on both sides. The Germans did have an advantage in air power by about 1200 planes or so. Most will say the Germans also had the element of surprise. Which is probably true but they shouldnt have since the allies had been at war with Germany since september 39 and the invasion of France wasnt untill may 40. Somebody was asleep at the wheel.
The French had a heavily fortified line called the “Maginot line” wich was along the French-German border. It had pillboxes, underground supply depots, and heavy guns with forty one divisions manning it. However the Germans then conquered Belgium, and the Germans went through the Ardennes forest which the French thought was impassable to tanks. The Germans had 1,500,000 men and over 1,500 tanks attacking the weakest part of the front, which was only defended by 12 infantry and 4 calvary divisions. The attack was brilliantly organized.
but i believe some of the german tank group would encounter some french and british tank group? (tanks are pretty even for both axis and allied, how can german wins against them so decisively? thanks for telling)
Tactics my son Tactics. The Allies were thinking in terms of World War 1 in which the tank is more of a defensive weapon. Much like a movable pillbox. The German were using a tactic called blitzkrieg…(lighting war) The planes come in a destroy what they can and soften the enemy targets. Then followed up by tanks with infantry support as well as close air support. The advance is very rapid. The main reason they were so easily defeated was because the majority of the Allies were encircled. They were trapped in the Dunkirk pocket and could only recieve major supplies from the sea. More or less they Allied forces were not properly prepared for war.
History has shown that size dosnt always matter. At the battle of Thermoplyae (spl?) 300 Spartens held off over a half million Perians for 3-4 days.
Yes I love that story. Of course the Spartens where much much (much much) more trained and stronger than any of the Persians, but again if (i think it was quarter million) soldeirs came charging, the Spartens where sure of defeat. It was tactics, and they knew what to do. They choose a good position to wait and slay off the Persians. Of course this is WW2 history! War is more with the head than with power and force.
but i believe some of the german tank group would encounter some french and british tank group? (tanks are pretty even for both axis and allied, how can german wins against them so decisively? thanks for telling)
The British Forces had limited numbers of the Matilda Mk1 Infantry Tank, this had much better Armour than the German Tanks which were involved in the Invasion of France, but it’s main problem was the Gun, it had a 2 Pounder which compared to both German & French tanks was a Peashooter, I think the German Tanks had a 50mm Gun and I think they had a few tanks with the early short barrelled 75mm gun & the French tanks had anything from 50mm to 75mm Guns.
The French had more Tanks than the Germans but they were not able to use them effectively, as they wasted their Armoured Divisions on piecemeal attacks. The French did also counter attack in numbers but it was too little too late.
Under any circumstances the invasion of France should have never happened. The Allies should have attacked Germany as soon as they attacked Poland. Why make an alliance if you arent going to adhere to it. Also…they had forever to prepare for a German attack in France. Hell the Germans almost gave them the plan when i pilot had to make an emergency landing in Belguim. Of couse the plan did change a bit. I could have organized a defense better than what they did. And let me tell ya its a sad day for any army if im running the show.
The Germans where breaking alot of rules formed in the WW1 peace treaty. They where going over of what they where allowed, yet no one really paid any attention and did not care so much. And even after the Spanish civil war, when they saw some of Germans power, they didnt do too much.
The 2 pounder gun was in fact one of the better anti tank guns of its time and quite capable of destroying any German tank of 1940.
Unfortunately it was never intended for tanks to destroy tanks. The tank destroyers were anti tank guns, either towed or (later) self-propelled. In the France campaign the Royal Artillery did not have enough 2 pounder anti-tank towed guns to do the job.
There were no German tanks in France in 1940 with a 50mm gun. The main anti-tank gun mounted on tanks was the 37mm, so-called “door-knocker” - because it was so useless.
German doctrine, like that of the British, was to use anti-tank guns to knock out tanks and in the AT role the dreaded 88mm Flak-18 was supreme.
The problem was that the German armoured attack was made by five Panzer divisions in line. There was nothing any army could do to stop this force. The lead Panzer division could maneuver any direction at will compelling the defending force to react accordingly. Given the painfully slow reaction of the French senior officers, any reaction was bound to be too late. On top of this, the defenders could not easily attack the ‘flanks’ of the German spearhead because an equally powerful force was coming up behind.
To add to this, the (arguably) best tank of the time, the D1 was largely deployed in the French colonies and not available to defend France. French tanks suffered from having too few crew members and no radio contact. Once battle was joined, it was every tank acting alone. In contrast, the German tanks were better designed from a crew stand-point and were not only in contact with each other by radio but also well integrated with the infantry and artillery arms. It was the superior combined arms training of the German army that gave them the edge.
But the French Army made a good account of themselves and the German casualty list was very long. France was no picnic for the Wehrmacht.
The majority of the BEF was encircled at Dunkirk but the majority of the French army (and some of the BEF) was outside that pocket.
By the time of Dunkirk and perhaps even before that, the BEF was not particularly concerned with resupply as much as with evacuation.
On the point of supply, up to the outbreak of war, from which country did France import most of her high explosives (you know, the stuff that goes into artillery shells to make them go bang)?
Answer: Germany
And after the outbreak of war, where did the explosives come from?
Answer: well nowhere, actually.
So France was not well positioned to fight a long war against Germany. This may well be the one over-riding reason why the French government chose to come to terms.[/b]
The majority of the BEF was encircled at Dunkirk but the majority of the French army (and some of the BEF) was outside that pocket.
By the time of Dunkirk and perhaps even before that, the BEF was not particularly concerned with resupply as much as with evacuation.
On the point of supply, up to the outbreak of war, from which country did France import most of her high explosives (you know, the stuff that goes into artillery shells to make them go bang)?
Answer: Germany
And after the outbreak of war, where did the explosives come from?
Answer: well nowhere, actually.
So France was not well positioned to fight a long war against Germany. This may well be the one over-riding reason why the French government chose to come to terms.[/b][/quote]
The majority of the allies were trapped in the dunkirk pocket. Not much stood between the Germans and the rest of the country and considering that they were getting beat by the Germans like they owed them money … i think the main reason they conpitulated was to hang on to what they could. I dont think the French thought Vichy France would turn out as bad as it did. You also have to remember that the French troops were trapped in the pocket as well. Churchhill called the president of France ((I forget his name) and asked how many troops do you have in reserver…his reply…none. France had thrown everything into stopping the Germans.
The BEF had about 600 tanks in service in France - total.
Of these 23 were of the Matilda II type. The rest were light tanks and cruiser tanks (also some 70+/- Matilda I)
The French had about 2400 front line tanks.
Against this there was about 2800 German tanks.
During the first phase of the campaign until the end of May, the German army suffered on average 2500 casualties per day. After the evacuation from Dunkirk by the BEF, the German campaign entered a far more bloody phase where German forces suffered an average 4800 casualties per day.
The German armour lost about 30% of their total number, most of these losses were in the latter phase.
Several Maginot forts did not surrender to force of arms, they had to be ordered to surrender after the armistice was signed.
The French army lost about 100,000 killed in action.
The campaign in France was no walkover for the Nazis.
Well actually you could say that the invasion of France was Hitlers biggest mistake. The prime minister of Britain resigned and Winston Churchhill took over.
Churchill took over on the day Germany invaded France right? Was this a factor in the former PM resignation. Thats kinda cowardly on his part if so to resign just as your military is going into battle. Not to say im not glad Churchill took over (coz im a big fan of him) but that just seems rather shady of the former PM.
