Comments by "Elaine" (@Petal4822) on "Knowledgia"
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The French tend to be very touchy and defensive about their role in World War II.
The usual excuses for the stunning collapse of the French armies in 1940 are given —
The Germans had more numbers (no they didn’t). They had better tanks (not really) —— if you research tanks.
France held out against Germany for 4 years in WWI. But was out of WWII after only six weeks, falling almost as easily as Poland.
The real reasons are related to the national will to resist.
In essence, a “lack of guts”.
France had suffered terribly in the first World War.
It seems that the psychological shock of battles such as Verdun broke the spirit of the nation.
The French had an almost mystic faith in the Maginot line, which turned out to be misplaced when the time came.
William L. Shirer, author of the book “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” is particularly critical of the French——(You should read it.)
He says that in the first weeks of September 1939, when France declared war on Germany, all that the French army did against Germany was to occupy a few villages just across the border.
Even though the French had signed a treaty with Poland, that obligated them to launch a full-scale assault if Germany attacked the Poland.
Shirer says that the French outnumbered the Germans massively on the Western Front. Because most of the German army was fighting in Poland.
The French had 110 divisions facing barely 23 German divisions.
The much touted ‘Siegfried Line’ along the German border facing the French was ——- according to the German Military Generals was just a construction site, and they freely admit that there was no way the Germans could have fought the enormous French superiority in men and arms—-not even counting British assistance—-while they were engaged in Poland.
Then there was the “Sitzkreig” war of the winter of 1939–1940.
Shirer himself recounts that he saw massive German troops and material movements just across the Rhine River, in full view of French artillery units.
Yet the French just sat on their hands, and did absolutely nothing to interfere.
When Churchill urged the French to fight on—-he even offered joint citizenship to the French with the British, the French government refused the offer.
As for the much romanticised French Resistance—it’s true they did contribute in the later years of the war. But for the first two years, it hardly existed.
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