In 1939 Germany found itself in a war with
Britain and France. At that time the strength of sides was similar,
but the Allies had a significant long term advantage and in the following years could
field a much stronger army. Germany’s only chance for victory was to
defeat the Allies as soon as possible. It set out for an all out attack. This video is sponsored by War Thunder, more
on that later. For the Western Campaign the Germans had less
than 3 million men in 135 divisions. France had 2 200 000 men in 104 divisions. They were supported by the British expeditionary
Force with the size of half a million. This made the Allied and the German forces
roughly equal. France had prepared to defend its borders. Its southern flank was covered by the Rhine
river and the Vosges hills and needed few additional defences. Further North, the Franco-German border didn’t
have the benefit of natural obstacles. Here the French had built the strongest defences
of the Maginot line, which was held by significant forces. The mobile divisions of the French army and
the British forces were on the Franco-Belgian border. They could be used to hold the Northern part
of the French border or to reinforce the Maginot line or the Belgian army if Germany was to
invade. The French had more tanks than the Germans,
but they had dispersed many of them among their infantry and could only field 3 tank
and 3 light mechanized divisions. The Germans had deployed their tanks in single
units and had 10 tank divisions at hand. The Germans wanted to use this as the core
element of their plan. At first they would invade the Low countries. This would have the Allies to commit their
forces to Belgium, so they were not able to counter the real German attack in the South. The main german tank force would move through
the Ardenne region and break through at the weakest part of the French defences, then
extend the offensive towards the coast and cut off the Allied forces. In order to move into the Low countries Germany
would have to pass through their defensive lines. Germany exploited the fact that these nations
were not at war and had therefore not fully manned the defenses. They were able to launch an airborne assault
and capture a section of both Dutch and Belgian lines. Now the paratroopers had to hold out until
they would be reinforced by the land forces. Learning of the German invasion, the Allies
now had to decide how to intervene in Belgium. They could move part of their forces into
Western Belgium or they could deploy most of them in the Central part of the country. They wanted to give Belgium maximum assistance
and went for the latter. They also sent part of the troops to help
the Netherlands, fully deploying their forces. In Belgium the Germans were able to link up
with their airborne troops. With Belgian defences breached, the Belgian
army began pulling back to Central Belgium. In the North the Germans advanced into the
gap between the Belgian and the Dutch defences and linked up with the paratroopers holding
part of the Dutch line. This allowed them to move part of the tank
forces behind the Ducth main line. When the Germans threatened to launch a terror
bombing campaign against the Dutch cities, the Netherlands surrendered. At the same time the tank divisions further
south had overrun Luxembourg and pushed aside the Allied screening units. Soon they reached the prepared French defensive
lines. The Germans launched a massive aerial bombardment. The French second rate divisions could not
withstand the attack by the best German units and the Germans were able to breach the defences. The French thought that the Germans wanted
to outflank the main body of the Maginot line by moving South and concentrated on that direction. Seeing that the French Western flank was barely
covered, the German tank commanders took a risk and moved forward without waiting for
their infantry. The Allies were surprised by the German breakthrough. But they now knew that this was the main German
attack. They began redeploying their reserves to the
area. At the same time they ordered the troops in
Belgium to fall back in order to put them into a better position and free up some divisions. The Allies did not know whether the Germans
were moving towards Paris or the Channel coast and had to cover both directions. For that they could use the three tank divisions
located in the area. But the question was, where should they make
the stand. The French believed that the German tanks
will wait for their infantry to consolidate and therefore won’t be moving very fast. As a result they believed that they had the
time to prepare defensive positions on the Oise river. The German command had indeed ordered their
tanks to slow down, but the German tank commanders had ignored the orders and continued to advance. They moved much faster than the French had
expected and the Germans encountered the French units as they were still assembling. This caught the first French armoured division
off guard and it was destroyed, while the second division was dispersed and overrun. The 4th tank division was not on the main
axis of the German advance and was able to cover the assembly of the French troops on
the Paris direction. The German tanks now needed for their infantry
and supplies to catch up. As a result, the advance of the German tanks
slowed down and in the following days they were able to take only limited territory. The Allies were in the process of finishing
the withdrawal in Belgium and they were able to deploy troops to cover the Paris direction. But they hadn’t had the time to put their
troops between the Germans and the Channel. They decided that their best hope was to attack
the German spearhead from two sides and encircle it. However, their Light Mechanized divisions
were still pinned down on the front and with two of their tank divisions destroyed, they
lacked the sufficient strength. As a result the Allies were only able to undertake
limited counterattacks. First one was by the Fourth tank division,
but it didn’t have much effect. Meanwhile, the Germans had consolidated their
lines and finished the resupply. They resumed the offensive in full strength
and with little Allied troops to cover the channel direction, they soon reached the sea. The Allies launched an attack at Arras, but
it was only of limited success. The Germans turned north with the intention
of capturing the Channel ports and cutting the Allies off from their supply lines. This move threatened the Allied units with
outflanking and they had to send many of the units they had gathered for the counterattack
to extend the flanks north. As a result the northern force was unable
to launch the counterattack. At the same time their forces in the South
held their positions to have a chance to link up with the possible counterattack from the
main French lines. The Germans ordered their units in the West
of the pocket on defensive to meet the possible Allied breakout attempt. The French were deploying forces for an attack
from the South, but as more of German infantry arrived to the sector, they needed more troops. But with the troops in the North without access
to supply and being threatened with encirclement, it was impossible to wait any longer. Therefore it was decided to evacuate the troops. They could attempt to break out or be pulled
out by sea. As the Allies had become too weak to attempt
a breakout, it was decided to pull their troops out from the ports still under their control. The Allies began the retreat to the sea. The Germans attempted to break their lines
and cut off part of their forces. As the Allied forces were leaving, the Belgian
army was unable to resist the Germans on its own and surrendered. The Germans were able to cut off and encircle
part of the French forces. Other troops managed to hold a solid front,
reached the Sea and proceeded with the evacuation. The Germans pulled most of their forces back
and started to prepare for their second attack on France. More than 300 000 Allied soldiers were able
to be evacuated, but all of their equipment was lost. As the Allies weren’t able to replace it
in time, most of these soldiers didn’t take part in the next phase of the Battle of France. Now the Germans outnumbered the French. The French were holding the positions on the
Somme and Aisne rivers. However, the Germans had established several
bridgeheads, which weakened the defense. To overcome that, the French could pull the
main forces back to the next river line around Paris, but they decided against it. The French wanted to use the defensive advantage
provided by the rivers in Northern France to inflict significant casualties on the advancing
German army in the hope that it would run out of steam. In order to do that the French needed to avoid
the breakthrough by the German tanks at all costs. The Germans did not want to give France any
time to recover and as soon as part of their forces got ready, they attacked. At first the French plan worked and they were
able to fall back in an organized manner, but soon the first breakthrough happened. The German tanks broke through the French
lines and reached the river Seine. The French were able to destroy the bridges
and block their advance. But the German tanks now moved towards the
sea and cut off part of the Allied forces. By then the other part of the German forces
had joined the attack. The French were able to slowly pull back,
but eventually the German tanks were able to break through. The French troops west of Paris had been encircled
and destroyed and as a result the Germans were able to cross the Seine unopposed and
the French lacked the troops to contain them. The French command was afraid that now their
troops were going to be encircled and ordered them to break contact with the Germans and
move further south to make a stand on the Loire river. The defence of Paris was abandoned. But the withdrawal broke the cohesion of the
French armies and the German tanks were able to fully break through into the French rear. Germany wanted not to allow the French forces
to escape and attempted to cut off and destroy as much of them as possible. With most of the French army moving on foot,
the tanks could easily outmaneuver them. They pushed deep into the French rear and
many of the French units were caught or bypassed and dispersed. With most of the French army in the west in
retreat, the largest portion of intact French forces were behind the Maginot line. They had pulled a lot of the forces off from
line into field divisions, which could pose a threat to Germans. The Germans set out to destroy them. They attempted to overwhelm the French defenders
by attack from all directions. Their main force would move in from the west,
while the tanks outflanked the line from the South. At the same time they launched attacks through
the weakened line from north and east. Meanwhile the French had reached the Loire
river in force and attempted to make a stand. However, they were unable to cover all the
crossings and on the same day the pursuing German forces crossed the river. The French continued the retreat. At the same time the German tanks overran
the French forces retreating in the North. The French in the East were unable to form
a solid front against the German offensive from several directions and the Germans were
able to encircle them and push them into a small pocket making them surrender. Only a small part of the French forces was
able to survive the retreat and the odds had become too unfavorable to continue the war. Although the French were successfully resisting
attempts by Italy to cross the Alps, they were unable to resist Germany. They agreed to German terms and signed the
Armistice, which would come into effect two days later. There were several reasons why France lost
the campaign, but lacking good tanks was not one of them. While the lighter French tanks did not perform
too well, their heavy Char B1 breakthrough tanks and SOMUA S35 Cruiser tanks were more
than a match for the Germans. Large part of the German victory was that
they managed to outmaneuver the French armour on operational level. If you are wondering how the French tanks
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