The French Republic

In Part Two of this series, we will be taking a look at the symbols, leaders, tactics, and equipment of each of the major powers. This will be a small selection of archetypes, and is in no way comprehensive, nor does it try to be.

**The Tricolour, flag of the French Republic**

**The Coat of Arms of the French Third Republic**

Prime Minister Paul Reynaud had served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 1919, but had retired from politics in 1932 after his hardline stance against Germany alienated him from his party. He returned in 1938 to take a position on the cabinet of Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, where he was the most vocal voice against appeasement. When the war began he remained in his position, and when Daladier resigned in March of 1940 Reynaud was appointed to the position. Reynaud inherited a chaotic political if not military situation, but that soon became a more critical situation, as the Germans invaded in 1940 and the Republic found itself fighting for its very survival. The French Republic collapsed in June, with Reynaud resigning and being replaced by Philippe Petain, who transformed the country into an authoritarian state after surrendering to the Germans. Petain’s rump government would be all but annexed by the Germans in 1943, whereupon the best claim to French leadership rested with General Charles de Gaulle and his Free French.

Author’s Note
An exception had to be made in the writing of this component of the series, as France had more changes of government during the conflict than any other major power, and it was indeed difficult to select who to feature here as leader of the nation. General de Gaulle is most fixed within popular memory, but if we are focusing on France as a unified nation, Reynaud led the country through its pivotal moment in the conflict, and was the last truly legitimate leader of France until the proclamation of the Fourth Republic after the end of the conflict.

The French Poilu of the Second World War was outfitted in a manner very similar to his father in the Great War, although the horizon blue color of the uniform had finally given way to a more practical brown. The uniform still consisted of a wollen tunic with a stiff collar, typically worn with a greatcoat, the front lower edges of which were characteristically buttoned into an open position in temperate climates. The adrian helmet from the last war was also retained, albeit with improved metallurgy, as was much of the other items of kit, such as the canteen, entrenching tool and leather load bearing gear. Officers still wore the traditional kepi in service, and the forage cap remained the main field cap of enlisted ranks.

The MAS36 rifle was a completely new design, built from the ground up to replace the obsolete rifles in French Service. It was intended to be a stopgap before being replaced by a semi-automatic rifle, although this was not available before 1940, and included many improvements for the new style of infantry combat in the aftermath of the Great War. Despite this, relatively few were available, and the bulk of French troops were carrying the older Berthier rifles from the last war, as well as the Lebel, which had been rendered obsolete in 1888, some fifty years ago. The rifle fired a new, modern 7.5x54mm cartridge, which it fed from a five round magazine fed via charger clips. The rifle featured a receiver mounted aperture sight, and notably had a spike bayonet stored under the barrel that could be removed and reversed to deploy it.

The French had also adopted a new handgun during the interwar period, the SACM35A. This was a single action automatic pistol which fired a new 7.65mm Longue cartridge from an eight round magazine. This cartridge was actually based on the experimental US .30 Pedersen cartridge from the First World War, and was in a medium power range, weaker than the German 9mm parabellum but more powerful than the Italian 9mm corto. The pistol was designed by Charles Petter, a Swiss engineer who worked as a protégé of John Browning in Belgium, and uses his improved version of Browning’s tilting barrel lock mechanism. in addition, the runner up in the competition that led the the 35A, the MAS35, also known as the 35S, was also ordered into production as war loomed, in order to augment delivery of the new designs to the Army.

In addition to the older rifles, the French also made use of a great deal of other outdated weapons, for example the Ruby pistol, which had been purchased in huge numbers in the Great War and intended to be an almost disposable pistol, and certainly not retained in use through the next few decades.

The French had lagged behind on the development of the submachine gun, with limited efforts near the end of the Great War being mostly tabled until the mid 1930s, with a project that resulted in the MAS38, a reliable and accurate weapon chambered in the same 7.65mmLongue as the new handguns, although disinterest at high levels of the government led to the weapon only entering production on the eve of war, and few would be available for a coming conflict.

In regard to machine guns the French had another new design, this one actually available in large numbers. The Chattelerault MAC24 was based on the American M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, although it featured a distinctive top mounted 25 round magazine, intended to allow more effective shooting from a prone position. This excellent weapon was popular with the troops, and was chambered in the same 7.5mm round as the MAS36 rifle. It was augmented in the rear by the old Chauchat from the Great War, still serving despite it’s relatively poor reputation. The French also still made use of the Hotchkiss M1914 heavy machine gun from the last war, despite its obsolescence, alongside newer designs like the belt fed Darne.

The French air force was best described as a mixed bag, with some excellent aircraft interspersed with a wide variety of obsolete types. The need to update the aircraft on French inventory was recognized as acute before the war, but attempts to modernize had only just begun when the war broke out in 1939. Some types, such as the Dewoitine D.520 fighter, were very modern and capable of matching other powers types, but others, such as the carrier based aircraft, were hopelessly obsolete. To make matters worse an attempt at streamlining the organization of the service was underway, causing massive problems in the process. To top it off, their tactics were outdated relics of the Great War, and they were expected to face the experienced German Luftwaffe.

The French tanks were generally superior in armor and armament to the German panzers, but they were of less efficient design, with heavy guns mounted infixed casements in the hulls rather than the turrets. In addition the French tanks were dispersed to serve in a support role to the infantry, as opposed to being concentrated in specific formations, meaning that the French tanks would almost always be outnumbered by the concentrated German formations. Another major fault is that the French tanks did not have two way radios, and had to communicate with each other by signal flags and flares.

The French doctrine to fight the coming war was primarily based on the Maginot Line. They intended to remain behind the impenetrable ramparts, launching attacks beyond it that could retreat behind it if they were overwhelmed, thus protecting the French heartland and giving them a safe harbor to mass their forces away from enemy attack. The French maintained a large mobile force behind the line intended for the purpose of invading Germany and to counter potential German moves into Belgium as in 1914.

Battleship Richelieu — Battleship *Richelieu*

The French Navy was powerful, with a large and modern fleet based mostly in the Mediterranean. The intention was that the British Royal Navy could handle the Atlantic for the most part, and in addition the greatest naval threat was the Italian fleet, and the French Navy was deployed to contain it. The French fleet could boast one aging aircraft carrier, several ultra-modern battleships, and a large number of cruisers and support ships. Indeed, the only branch of the French military that was not merely strong on paper due to obsolete equipment was the Navy, its fleet second only to the British. It remained to be seen, however, what good the Navy could do against German aggression.

The Kingdom of Italy

The German Reich

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