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| Europe |
| Why did France lose to Germany in 1940 ? |
| 2020-05-17 |
| BLUF: [France24] The reasons for its defeat were intellectual and doctrinal. It’s the old cliché of fighting the previous war. Commanders were too focused on lessons from the First World War; they couldn’t think about the actual war they had to wage in the present. They were unable to adapt. The Germans — by contrast — took risks. Are we now "unable to adapt?" Are our wonderful trading partners the Chinese, "by contrast" willing to take certain risks ? |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #18 Third'ed. Thank you Mike and Paul. A great book. |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-05-17 15:31 |
| #17 Mike Kozsowski is right on about Shirer’s book. It was one of the most detailed, thorough, and painful histories I ever read of the self destruction and complete defeat of a society. I strongly urge every Rantburger to read it. It is an ordeal to get through but i could not put it down. One hell of an education. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2020-05-17 15:29 |
| #16 Don't forget this little piece of history. When there is no will.... At the Nuremberg Trials, German military commander Alfred Jodl said that "if we did not collapse already in the year 1939 that was due only to the fact that during the Polish campaign, the approximately 110 French and British divisions in the West were held completely inactive against the 23 German divisions."[11] General Siegfried Westphal stated that if the French had attacked in full force in September 1939 the German army "could only have held out for one or two weeks."[12] |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2020-05-17 14:58 |
| #15 All wrong! The answer to #1 is: They didn't have an Italian to lead them. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-05-17 14:44 |
| #14 Germans got inside France's OODA loop and never let up. Generals went as far as disobeying orders to stop advancing to keep the heat on. Gamelin's insane Breda Variant to the Dyle Plan took the reserves out from behind the lines and put them on the Dutch border, to add Holland's dubious strength to the allied cause. When the Germans broke through, there were no reserves to stop them. Churchill was speechless. |
| Posted by: Spike Grineng8188 2020-05-17 13:48 |
| #13 Meanwhile, down at the Maginot Line.... |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-05-17 13:14 |
| #12 also technology Panzer tanks used in mobile attacks through areas the French thought had forests that would inhibit tanks and the Luftwaffe had better planes and the Panzer attacks and the Luftwaffe attacks were actually coordinated with infantry movements |
| Posted by: lord garth 2020-05-17 12:53 |
| #11 The top generals could not be found in the critical hours after the attack. It turned out they were all a sexual bicycle racing track placing bets and yes the bikes didn't have seats... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2020-05-17 12:33 |
| #10 Germans moved fast, didn't they? |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-05-17 12:28 |
| #9 The french army 1939 did not have radios, all reports to headquaters were 2-3 days out of date. |
| Posted by: Glusosh Uneper9404 2020-05-17 12:27 |
| #8 They were prepared to fight the last war not the next one. The old boots used to say, we went into Korea without an army and came out with one. We went into Vietnam with an army and came out without one. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2020-05-17 11:54 |
| #7 The internal divisions in French society probably contributed as much as any factor. These are on display in a marvelous novel called Suite Française, written by a Ukrainian emigre to France, Irene Nemirovsky. |
| Posted by: Lex 2020-05-17 09:35 |
| #6 France had been killing off its best, brightest, and least cynical in the cycle of revolution, counterrevolution, and the Napoleonic wars since 1789. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2020-05-17 09:15 |
| #5 They were also as a society crippled by the devastating losses of WWI Germany's losses were worse. They fought 4 major powers in WWI. Weak leaders create weak men who vote for weaker men. |
| Posted by: Phusotle Dingle5823 2020-05-17 08:39 |
| #4 They were prepared to fight the last war not the next one. |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2020-05-17 08:35 |
| #3 I cannot recall his name but there was a French General who commented to an aide while they were burning maps and documents, 'This is what comes of 20 years of socialism.' |
| Posted by: Cesare 2020-05-17 08:25 |
| #2 ...They were also as a society crippled by the devastating losses of WWI, and a political system so dysfunctional that it makes our current ruling class look like the reincarnation of the Founding Fathers. Allow me to strongly recommend William Shirer's 1969 book The Collapse Of The Third Republic - for my money, still the best single volume you're going to find on the subject. It was the last book that had direct access to most of the surviving political and military leaders involved, and Shirer was present for many of the most critical events. Still an amazing and thought-provoking book. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2020-05-17 07:35 |
| #1 Why did France lost (not counting American intervention) in WWI? Why in Franco-Prussian war? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2020-05-17 06:03 |