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Originally Posted by perseus In theory the operational doctrine of both armies was based on partly mechanized maneuver warfare; in practice the French shied away from it, while the best German field commanders were so bold as to let it develop into pure Blitzkrieg if the situation allowed. |
It has to be pointed out that the best German field commanders were so bold that they were actually disobeying their own senior commanders. Guderian and Rommel spring to mind. There were many in the German Generalstab who still thought along traditional lines and who were no more forward-thinking than the French General Staff. Von Kluge springs to mind as a prime example.
One can surmise then that the difference between the French and German armoured formations was that a) the difference in the importance of individual empowerment within each army and b) the lack of a Guderian or Rommel in the French Army as a whole.