In 1939 the French Army had 900,000 regular
soldiers. However, it another 5 million men who had been trained and
could be called-up in time of war.
After war was declared the vast majority of
the army, 100 divisions, were stationed on the frontier facing Germany.
Most members of the army were in the infantry. The first armoured
divisions had just been formed and the first three were ready in the
spring of 1940.
The French placed great faith in the Maginot
Line, a line of concrete and steel defences
that stretched between Luxembourg and Switzerland along France's border
with Germany. It
had three interdependent fortified belts with anti-tank
emplacements and pillboxes standing in front
of bombproof artillery casements.
However, when Adolf
Hitler ordered the Western Offensive
in the spring of 1940, the German Army
invaded France through the heavily wooded
and semi-mountainous area of the Ardennes, an area, north of the Maginot
Line. The French military had wrongly believed that the Ardennes was
impassable to tanks. Seven panzer divisions
led by Heinz Guderian and
Erwin Rommel reached
the Meuse River at Dinant on 12th May and the following day the French
government was forced to abandon Paris.
German forces led by Paul
von Kliest, Erwin Rommel, Heinz
Guderian and Gerd von Rundstedt
advanced towards the Channel. Except for a counterattack by 4th Armoured
Division led by Charles
De Gaulle, at Montcornet (17th May) and Laon (27th-29th
May) the German forces encountered very little resistance.
Winston Churchill now ordered the
implementation of Operation Dynamo, a
plan to evacuate of troops and equipment from the French port of Dunkirk,
that had been drawn up by General John Gort,
the Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary
Force (BEF). Between 27th May and 4th June, 1940, a total of 693
ships brought back 338,226 people back to Britain. Of these 140,000
were members of the French Army.
General Maxime Weygand, the Supreme
Allied Commander, tried to hold the line along the Somme and the Aisne.
Now clearly outnumbered, the French Army
was forced to withdraw to the Loire. The Germans occupied Paris on
14th June and two days later, Paul Reynaud,
the French prime minister, was replaced by Henri-Philippe
Petain, who quickly accepted German peace terms.
Under the terms of the armistice northern France and the regions
north of Vichy came under German occupation. The French government,
led by Henri-Philippe
Petain, moved to Vichy and remained
at liberty along with the French Navy
and an army of 100,000 men.
During the defence of France nearly 2 million
French soldiers were taken prisoner. An estimated 390,000 soldiers
were killed defending France whereas around 35,000 German soldiers
had lost their lives during the invasion.
After Henri-Philippe
Petain signed the armistice on 22nd June, 1942, the French
Army was disbanded except for a force of 100,000 men to maintain
domestic order. The 1.5 million French soldiers captured by the Germans
were to remain prisoners of war.
The colonial army in North Africa was allowed to remain and was expected
to protect the area from any attacks by Allied forces. After putting
up a brief resistance to the Allied landings in November 1942, Jean-Francois
Darlan surrendered. What was left of this army then fought
with the Free French Army in Tunisia
and Europe.
(1)
General Charles
de Gaulle, attempted to halt the German invasion of France at
Abbeville. He wrote about these events in his book, The Call to
Honour (1955)
By the evening (28th May, 1940) the objective was reached. Only Mont
Caubert still held out. There were a great many dead from both sides
on the field. Our tanks had been sorely tried. Barely a hundred were
still in working order. But all the same, an atmosphere of victory
hovered over the battlefield. Everyone held his head high. The wounded
were smiling. The guns fired gaily. Before us, in a pitched battle,
the Germans had retired.
Alas! In the course of
the Battle of France, what other ground had been or would be won,
except this strip of fourteen kilometres deep? If the State had played
its part; if, while there was time, it had directed its military system
towards enterprise, not passivity; if our leaders had in consequence
had at their disposal the instruments for shock and manoeuvre which
had been often suggested to the politicians and to the High Command;
then our arms would have had their chance, and France would have found
her soul again.
(2)
In
his diary George
VI
recorded his thoughts on the German invasion
of France.
23rd May, 1940: Baron Newall (Marshall of the Royal Air Force) came
in the evening. He had just left a Chiefs of Staff meeting with the
Prime Minister and he told me that the situation in France was critical.
Viscount Gort (commander of the British Expeditionary Force in France)
had sent a message to say that he was short of food and ammunition.
Owing to the rapid advance of the German tanks and motored divisions,
his lines of communication had been cut through Amiens, and food had
to be sent to France from here by air. German tanks had reached Boulogne,
and had captured a fort above the town and were shelling the harbour.
Newall was sorry to come with such a gloomy account and said that
the French command must have "gone to seed" behind the Maginot
Line.
This news was so worrying
that I sent a message to Winston asking him to to come and see me
after dinner. The Prime Minister came at 10.30 p.m. He told me that
if the French plan made out by Maxine Weygand (French military commander)
did not come off, he would have to order the British Expeditionary
Force back to England. This operation would mean the loss of all guns,
tanks, ammunition and all stores in France. The question was whether
we could get the troops back from Calais and Dunkirk. The very thought
of having to order this movement is appalling, as the loss of life
will probably be immense.
(3)
Erwin
Rommel, led the 7th Panzer Division that broke through French
defences in May, 1940.
The way to the west was
now open. The moon was up and for the time being we could expect no
real darkness. I had already given orders, in the plan for the breakthrough,
for the leading tanks to scatter the road and verges with machine
and antitank gunfire at intervals during the drive to Avesnes, which
I hoped would prevent the enemy from laying mines.
The tanks now rolled in
a long column through the line of fortifications and on towards the
first houses, which had been set alight by our fire. Occasionally
an enemy machine-gun or antitank gun fired, but none of their shots
came anywhere near us.
Troops lay bivouacked beside
the road, military vehicles stood parked in farmyards and in some
places on the road itself. Civilians and French troops, their faces
distorted with terror, lay huddled in the ditches, alongside hedges
and in every hollow beside the road. We passed refugee columns, the
carts abandoned by their owners, who had fled in panic into the fields.
On we went, at a steady
speed, toward our objective. Every so often a quick glance at the
map by a shaded light and a short wireless message to Divisional HQ
to report the position and thus the success of 25th Panzer Regiment.
Every so often a look out of the hatch to assure myself that there
was still no resistance and the contact was being maintained to the
rear. The flat countryside lay spread out around us under the cold
light of the moon.
We were through the Maginot
Line! It was hardly conceivable. Twenty-two years before we had stood
for four and a half years before this selfsame enemy and had won victory
after victory and yet finally lost the war. And now we had broken
through the renowned Maginot Line and were driving deep into enemy
territory.
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Last updated: 10th July, 2001
