French armed forces

**Recon_sgt** · 07 Oct 04,, 16:34

Fair enough until I or you pull up spme hard evidence on the matter I will agree to disagree ok. I hope my last post didnt come across as rude, it wasnt meant to be and am sorry if you thought I was insulting you.

**Officer of Engineers** · 08 Oct 04,, 04:01

In any case, there were severe limitations to the Wehrmacht's way of war that the Germans never seemed to solve until they went on the defensive. The LOG train never seemed to be able to keep up with the tactical punch. At Kursk, the Whermacht almost rolled up the Red Army's lines but could not get their tanks refueled fast enough to exploit the breach.

The Whermacht was a tactical manouver army. However, once denied the room to move, they were at a poor disadvantage (El Alamein) offensively. I don't blame the Whermacht for not taking Dunkirk earlier. They didn't know. Fog of war and all. And giving the Brits a chance to re-enforce.

There are two issues here.

Could the British take advantage of that 72 hour lull? They could have with the two Canadian divisions still in Great Britain. But alas, they didn't.

Could they have held out at Dunkirk? Looking at El Alamein, they might have for about six months but eventually, superior Wehrmacht numbers would have overwhelmed them.

There was also a lesson relearned by Montgomery against Rommel in almost the same way US Grant defeated Robert E Lee. No matter how brilliant the manouver, if you just keep hammering with superior forces, you will beat the manouver.

**Recon_sgt** · 08 Oct 04,, 16:27

Right well it does seem as though I slightly miss interpreted what you were saying and you have made some fairly valid points (I hope you can say the same about moi). However shall we get back to the point of the thread and save all this for "could Germany have won WW II poll which I started a while back.

**alton987** · 29 Nov 04,, 03:55

Found this Forum about a week ago and love it....

Be nice...

I could be wrong but here are some ideas.

1) No one has talked about the how effective the American/British strategic bombing campaign was. If Germany had been able to pump out more tanks/planes who knows how things would of went out East.

2) I love to hate on France like any good American but it’s lose in WWII was mainly due to strategy. While Germans grouped their Amour in large shock groups, France had them spread out among there armies. Their amour rolled through France like butter. By the time France was able to recover from the first attacks it was to late. I'm not sure if any country in the same situation wouldn’t of thrown in the towel. But France still sucks

.

3) True Germany couldn't of stop Russia by the end of the war with or without the allies. But the Russians couldn't of stop Germany in the beginning without the allies. Through supplies and keeping Hitler's armies busy on other fronts (France, Afierca, Itlay). Take away the other fronts and put all the German troops in Russia and Moscow would of fallen. And who knows if Moscow would have fallen the Russian might have folded.

4) Give thanks to Hitler. Without some of his idiotic decisions (Bombing Civilian Targets in England, The Entire Eastern Front, Holding Armor back at Normandy) I doubt anybody would have held up in Europe/Russia.

5) Great Point. This describes the entire Eatern Front
"There was also a lesson relearned by Montgomery against Rommel in almost the same way US Grant defeated Robert E Lee. No matter how brilliant the manouver, if you just keep hammering with superior forces, you will beat the manouver."

**~~Boltonian~~** · 12 May 06,, 20:06

Originally Posted by PiggyWiggy

when are you americans gonna understand?

the only reason the french surrendered in WW2 is because Hitler wouldve destroyed Paris.

Dont make fun of em...Its not like you were the main force who stopped Germany.

USSR! VICTOR OF WW2

I bet the British wouldn't have surrendered if Germany had invaded Britain and Hitler threatened to destroy London.

London was bombed every night for over a week during the Blitz, but we still fought on.

In my view, the French surrendered too easily.

**Recon_sgt** · 02 Sep 06,, 17:24

The simple fact is that it took the three allies to finally put an end to the third reich and its savage campaign. No one ally on their own was fully responsible for the outcome.
however what WW2 has got to do with current French armed forces is beyond me, I'l admit i am guilty of having become involved in that rather off topic item but could we please get back to the point which I believe was a thread about the French armed forces. Oh and could those of the more childish nature please refrain from the pathetic and idiotic insults that seemed to be present in the earlier pages.