(3/12) Battlefield I: The Battle of France Episode 1 (GDH)

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Videos Running Time 01:54:00 in 12 Parts

Battlefield: Fall of France


This episode of Battlefield chronicles the German triumph over French and British forces in France 1940.

After the fall of Poland, Denmark and Norway; British and French forces, on the Western Front, sat out the Phony War, behind their prepared defenses. One of the marvels of 20th Century technology, the Maginot Line, gave the French a false sense of Security. Unfortunately, for the French and British, they were led by perhaps the worst general and leader of World War II. General Maurice Gamelin led a disastrous campaign that fed right into the Germans plans.

On paper the French and British forces were impressive. French tanks were superior too many of the German models. The Char IB and S-35 were stand outs in the French arsenal. However, the French amour was dispersed among infantry units and handled with a complete emphasis on infantry support. The Germans doctrine, of Blitzkrieg emphasized concentration, breakthrough and exploitation of openings in the front with powerful armored forces. With Germans generals Manstein, Guderian, Rommel, Kleist and Hoth the French forces were completely outwitted.

The Fall of France proved to the world the brilliance of Blitzkrieg, German strategy and the weaknesses in the old military doctrine.

Enjoy this excellent episode of Battlefield.


World War II World War II World War Two France Tanks German Germany Hitler British tank French Panzer tactics 1940 Matilda General

Category:

Education

Tags:

• World
• War
• II
• WorldWarII
• WorldWar2
• Tank
• Tanks
• France
• French
• British
• Britain
• 1940
• anti-tank
• German
• Panzer
• Guderian
• Hitler
• Battlefield

[HoustonGD]

Talk about opposites. Chamberlain to Churchill.

[elKarlo]

@steve5123456789 Very true, but you can't cover all the ground with you best forces. You have to pick and chose, what you are going to defend to the fullest, and what is expendable. The French did a bad job, but they were also fighting a war with outdated methods of warfare. It was a case of everything that could go wrong, in fact did you

[steve5123456789]

@elKarlo But they left the crappiest divisions to guard that area. In war you can never say "o they might not come that way, because it's to much trouble", it's grade E art of war stuff; shame on france.

[elKarlo]

@steve5123456789

It wasn't a bad plan. It forced the Germans to fight in the area of France's choosing. France also couldn't afford to make a decent defensive line, that was double the size of the Maginot line.

[mackshayster]

@narref91 some defenses could be thrown up, but it was politically unacceptable at the time for france to do that as it was practically abandoning belgium to its fate.

[steve5123456789]

Thats quite a big flaw leaving a big hole in the defense line.

[marcobagut]

it's siCHel...Not sikel! but it's ok these documentary are simply excellent!

[WiredDragoon]

It was also a problem of diplomacy, for that would have left the Belgians on the "other" side of it.

[SShaupsturmfuhrer]

the general francisco franco (what later go to become spain's head of state) said about the maginot line to the french generals in a tour for the line "ok, well, well is a nice trap for an army my friends" franco see the main weakness of the line: his flanks, the line could be outflanked and destroyed, later in 1940 the wehrmacht prove what franco was right, they outflank the line and defeat the french army

[LTDcunuk]

5/5