Read main thread: The French Army in WWII
July 24th, 2009  
MontyB
Legatus Legionis
 
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by benaakatz
Why did the french army get beaten so quickly? Even if germany had better equipment, the french should of put up more of a fight. It's almost as if they chose to let the nazis conquer them instead of putting up any real resistance.
To a large degree I think you are doing the French a disservice here as the French Military in WW2 generally performed extremely well with the exception of the German invasion of France where they were poorly led and using outmoded tactics/thinking for the time.
However if you look at the exploits of the Free French forces from 1941 - 1945 you will see a very different story, even if you look at the Vichy forces in Africa they put up far a far greater fight than was ever expected of them.

Personally I would be inclined at this point to say that France was beaten tactically in 1940 but it was not a true representation of the French ability to fight.
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