Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "Let's Discuss the Fall of France 1940 | TIK Q&A 12" video.

  1. THe people who should bear most responsibility for the fall of France is the French Government. The Chieftain did a video on the Battle of France and he points out that one of the problems the French military faced was political interference. The politicians feared a military coup so the required that officers needed a copy of their orders before the could act. This meant that orders given by radio could not be acted on until a copy of that order had been received. This meant that a senior French officer fighting the Germans on the frontline had to send a dispatch rider on motorbike all the way to the head quarters which was outside of Paris with the message telling the armed forces commander what was happening. Orders for the senior officer in the field had to then be sent back to the frontline. This took three days by which time everything had changed. So it was not a case of not calling up the French airforce but more a case of the order would not reach the airforce in time. So the way of sending orders in 1940 was not different that of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Except the riders rode motorbikes instead of horses. And the French lost that war as well. The reason the armed forces commander did not use a radio was twofold. One was, as already explained, that any orders had to be written down and given by hand. The second was that in the Polish campaign the Germans would triangulate on any radio signals and attack that point with Stukas. So either way the French could not use radios. Churchill wanted to send more aircraft to France but to do so would have stripped away squadrons which were needed to defend Britain, something Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding had to remind Churchill of. I believe Dowding even threatened to resign if Churchill did send more aircraft. Churchill had to inform the French Prime Minister that no more squadrons would be sent which left the French PM feeling betrayed. After the fall of France Montgomery was put in charge of troops in southern England where he met Churchill.
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