May 13, 1940. British Newsreel. On the eve of Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries, there were 93 French, 22 Belgian, 10 British and 9 Dutch divisions in the North, for a total of 134. Six of these were armoured divisions, 24 motorised divisions. Twenty-two more were being trained or assembled on an emergency basis during the campaign (not counting the reconstituted units), among which two Polish (see Polish Army in France (1940)) and one Czech division. Beside full divisions the Allies had many independent smaller infantry units: the Dutch had the equivalent of about eight divisions in independent brigades and battalions; the French had 29 independent Fortress Infantry Regiments. Of the French divisions eighteen were manned by colonial volunteer troops; nineteen consisted of "B-divisions", once fully trained units that however had a large number of men over thirty and needed retraining after mobilisation. The best trained Allied forces were the British divisions, fully motorised and having a large percentage of professional soldiers; the worst the very poorly equipped Dutch troops.The Allied forces deployed an organic strength of about 3,100 modern tanks and self-propelled guns on 10 May; another 1,200 were committed to battle in new units or from the matériel reserves; also 1,500 obsolete FT-17 tanks were sent to the front for a total of about 5,800. They had about 14,000 pieces of artillery. Enjoying thus a clear numerical superiority on the ground,the Allies suffered from an inferiority in the air: the French Armee de l'Air had 1,562 aircraft, and RAF Fighter Command committed 680 machines, while Bomber Command could contribute some 392 aircraft to operations.Most of the Allied aircraft were of an obsolete type, among the fighter force only the British Hawker Hurricane and the French Dewoitine D.520 could contend with the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 on something approaching equal terms.The French forces in the north had three Army Groups: the Second and the Third defended the Maginot Line in the east; the First Army Group under Gaston-Henri Billotte was situated in the west and had to execute a swing movement into the Low Countries. At the coast was the 7th Army, reinforced by a Cavalry armoured division, that had to move to the Netherlands via Antwerp; then came nine divisions of the BEF, which had to position itself to the right of the Belgian army in the Dyle Line; next was the First Army that had to hold the Gembloux Gap, reinforced by two Cavalry armoured divisions and having an Infantry armoured division in reserve. The most southern to move was the Ninth Army, which had to cover the entire Meuse sector, between Namur and Sedan. At Sedan, the Second Army would form the "hinge" and remain entrenched.The First Army Group had 35 French divisions; the total of 40 divisions of the other Allies in its sector brought their forces equal in number to the combined German forces of Army Group A and B. However, the former only had to confront the 18 divisions of the Ninth and Second Armies, and thus would have a large local superiority. To reinforce a threatened sector Gamelin had sixteen strategic reserve divisions available on General Headquarters level, two of them armoured. These were "reserve" divisions in the operational sense only, in fact consisting of high quality troops — most of them had been active divisions in peace time — and thus not comparable to the German reserve divisions that were half-trained. Confusingly, all mobilised French divisions were officially classified as A or B "reserve divisions", although most of them served directly in the front armies.
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@globo9090 Their border with France was one of the strongest defended defensive lines Europe had ever seen, the Germans didn't even bother with attacking it, they went around, through Belgium (the Ardennes) when the French surrendered the Maginot Line did too, those who didn't were simply cut off.
"(...)even though their country is the size of New Jersey some fought to death." Since when is size of a realm a measure for bravery of it's citizens? That's demeaning and insulting.
MebefromBelgium 2 months ago
@MebefromBelgium The Germans didnt reach France through Belgium, the crossed their border with France. And yeah if Belgium, probably if Holland, if Denmark etc. however, my respect to the Belgians, even though their country is the size of New Jersey some fought to death.
globo9090 2 months ago
@DeTooR94 In ieder geval, tegen servants of Christendom ga ik altijd in :p haha
nuclearhero 3 months ago
@nuclearhero nahh geen zin in t viel me alleen op :P
DeTooR94 3 months ago
@DeTooR94 Dat ik geen idee heb :p moet je de rest even lezen denk ik.
nuclearhero 3 months ago
@nuclearhero hahaha ik kijk dit filmpje en zie Sepp Blatter..... enige link tussen het filmpje en Sepp??? :P
DeTooR94 3 months ago
@ServantOfChristendom :P Ik bedoel de FIFA, Sepp Blatter is heel erg corrupt. Als je met een grote zak geld aankomt krijg je dat WK standaard, dus dat zal Rusland wel gedaan hebben.Tuurlijk zijn onze regeringen niet zo, daarom hebben wij dat WK niet gekregen. Onze regering is trouwens niet racistisch, de PVV zit er niet eens in, ze zijn alleen gedoogpartner.
nuclearhero 1 year ago
@nuclearhero Wat is er nu corrupt? Rusland is onvoorstelbaar meer corrupter als België en Nederland, jullie hebben een racistische regering, die ik eigenlijk nog wel snap, maar corrupt, waar haal je dat vandaan?
ServantOfChristendom 1 year ago
@ServantOfChristendom Ow, sorry, over je bericht heen gekeken :P Ik vind het ook allemaal niet zo relevant allemaal wie er nou het dapperst is en wie niet, maar ik wil je wel geloven. In deze mindere tijden ben ik wel blij dat het WK 2018 niet in onze landen gehouden wordt met een corrupte organisatie aan de leiding. Daar ben je het vast wél mee eens :)
nuclearhero 1 year ago
@nuclearhero Waar blijft je antwoord?
ServantOfChristendom 1 year ago