48029 '40 - FRENCH INFANTRY ON THE MARCH NO.6

The French Republic joined the Second World War on September 3, 1939, but until May 1940, the so-called strange war. The actual, large-scale military operations began only in May 1940 (the so-called French campaign). Shortly after the mobilization, the French army grew significantly and numbered about 2.2-2.3 million people on the north-eastern border. It is assumed that the French armed forces at the time of the German attack in May 1940 consisted of 117 divisions. Infantry divisions constituted a significant part of them. Each of them (excluding mountain and motorized infantry units) consisted of 3 infantry regiments, divided into three infantry battalions. Each battalion, in turn, was divided into 3 infantry companies and a heavy company. A single French infantry regiment numbered approximately 4,080 men. At the division level, this also included: the command company, the company of anti-tank weapons, the company of sappers and other supporting units. In total, the French infantry division had about 17,000 full-time employees, 370 manual machine guns, 170 heavy machine guns, 81 50 mm grenade launchers, 29 60 mm mortars, 27 81 mm mortars, 40 25 mm AT guns, 12 47 mm AT guns, 36 .75 mm and 24 howitzers 155 mm caliber. The main problems of the French infantry in the course of the French campaign are poor communication, not very modern combat tactics, often - but not always! - low morale of soldiers or bad command. Another drawback was the very poor anti-aircraft defense.