What could France have done differently in 1940 to avoid defeat?
>>447927
not have dogshit communication and morale
>my dick when it sees that qt brunette blue eyed French qtpie/10 baguette
>>447927
Invade Germany when its entire military was in Poland
keep a closer eye on the ardennes
ta-da, war over
>>447950
the entire german military was not in poland at the time
Don't sent all reserves into the Netherlands.
Like someone said already, better communications. That's what crippled them from the start.
Their forces were better equipped across the board than the Germans, but they didn't have a fluid enough command structure or mechanized tactics to fight a mobile war.
>>447993
B-but muh Schleiffen, m-muh Maginot, muh Ardennes...
On a purel strategic level? Don't bumrush into Belgium. Adequately guard against any offensive north of the Maginot Line and counterattack once the sickle is blunted.
>>447927
Scout planes above the Ardennes to spot the massive traffic jams of German military hardware and bomb them to pieces.
>>447955
If i'm not mistaken Germany had about 105 divisions when the war started, of which 62 were fighting in Poland. That left more than 40 divisions free for the western part. That force could have been easily dealt with in September 1939 if the French and Brits weren't such pussies who just sat around doing nothing while the Poles bled.
>>447927
>What could France have done differently in 1940 to avoid defeat?
Militarize the border to the Rhineland when Hitler did, and request aid from Britain before the eventual surge.
>>448933
you need to read the op again
Listen to De Gaulle before the war and heavily mechanize the Army.
Pure tank units that act independently. Mechanized infantry that have trucks, towed artillery, and tanks for support.
>>447927
Make belgium play ball with the damn wall system.
Granted politically it was more complex than that, you can't just have your country build up a defense line alongside an aggressive nation when your official stance is neutrality.
>>448973
You most certainly can - see... well, pretty much any border defenses anywhere anytime!
The political problem was not somehow antagonizing Germany, but actually convincing Belgium.
>>448976
No I was talking about Belgium's pov. They were neutral, and the maginot line was a very specific "in case shit happens" defensive line, a form of preventative aggression if you will. If Belgium agreed to build the wall along their borders as well, they could no longer claim neutrality. They'd have to be seen as collaborators with France, and neutrality has benefits that most nations don't like to give up.
There's a very book called "Si la France avait continué la guerre" which deals with this question. It's quite complex, but tl;dr: the government shouldn't have been fucking pussies and give up all control to Petain.
Have better defenses at the Belgium border?
>>449144
the defenses at the belgium border were not a problem
really there was no inherent and obvious negative side to the french plan
maginot saves money and manpower and forces germans north
there the french meet them to avoid ww1 destruction
sure we can debate finer points of having more dedicated armored divisions or something
but ultimately their plan as it was laid out was sound enough - except for the achilles heel of the ardennes forest
>>447927
Fought.
>>449200
they did
>>448933
>if the French and Brits weren't such pussies who just sat around doing nothing while the Poles bled.
>implying most of the BEF was even in France before Poland fell
>implying there was sufficient mobilised men and materiel to invade Germany (properly, the Saar Offensive doesn't count) in 1939
Not declare war on Germany.
>>447927
Fortify their border all the way to channel coast and get enough communication gear.
>>449902
This 2bh.
>tfw playing France in HoI 3
>>449200
>memeing this hard
>>448994
>the government shouldn't have been fucking pussies and give up all control to Petain.
Leftist traitors...
>>447927
Purged the synarchy.
>>447927
>What could France have done differently in 1940 to avoid defeat?
Apart from make anime real?
You fucking sicken me.
>>447927
Nothe use out dated battle tactics
>>447927
without hitler, 1968 would never happen, so be thankful to live in a peaceful democracy
>>451684
>without hitler, 1968 would never happen, so be thankful to live in a peaceful democracy
>without hitler, education wouldn't have become a sad joke, birthrates wouldn't have fallen below replacement levels, and the political discourse wouldn't be dominated by self-righteous hippies and their descendants.
If you're trying to convince people that Hitler was bad, you're doing it wrong.
>>447927
They'd have to start over from 1920's.
French political-military system was bullshit. Government has changed? Oh well, the modernisation of army the previous one started has to start over except in a completely different course.
Renault got good contract on tanks but Hotchkiss didn't? Buy tanks from Hotchkiss anyway, so we have 2 separate tanks doing the same shit and having similar characteristics. Future bribes have to be secured.
And then you have complete ignorant approach to the first and last year of WW1 or to the entire eastern front of it.
>>452552
Birthrates were falling since the end of 19th century.
>>447927
Nothing? I don't think the French, much less most of the world, realizes the type of warfare that was about to be waged.
Remember, they were digging trenches and fortifying the Siegfried line like they expected another war of attrition. They also thought the terrain of the Ardennes was enough to stop or deter any enemy force. Whoops.
>>448929
IIRC they captured German invasion planes from a crashed German scout plane. They literally were content with preparing for it and sat and waited.
The Germans, realizing the fuck up, changed their plans.
>>452728
Maginot** Goddamn my memory sucks lately.
>>447927
Possess the will to fight another long war.
1. Attack while half of German forces were tied up in Poland.
2. Steamroll Germany
3. ????
4. Profit
Absolutely nothing. Technically it could have become Vichy France earlier.
Apply new ideas.
How the Germans used tanks was a french idea, but it was refused.
De Gaulle wrote a book about what should France do. No one cared in France, but in Germany, they learned from it.
>>447927
Not using the Dyle Plan
>>447927
brought all its tanks together as single blitz units and attacking Germany while it was in Poland instead of distributing them among the infantry and waiting for the German offensive
>>454760
Not possible, French were still mobilizing and didn't have the reserves to back up such an offensive. This is why they abandoned the Ruhr offensive.
Altered their culture. Almost every problem France has experienced since Napoleon is the result of their overwhelming arrogance and xenophobia. They're an immensely inward looking culture, convinced of their own superiority in every regard even while they lag behind the rest of Europe in everything but pastry and chocolate bread production. This inward focus prevented them from adapting to the changing face of war just as it prevents them today from abandoning the post modern malaise within their academy.
>>447927
Get Belgium to allow them to move into the country over the Phony War winter. With a shorter front, rivers to dig in behind, and no stupid gaps in the line, the Germans would have had an enormously tough time if they could advance at all.
>>454788
Literally all the Germans would have to do is advance through the Ardennes and encircle the French army.
Wait, sounds familiar, doesn't it?
>>454816
After pushing through the Maas AND Dyle rivers to get there? Which are now heavily entrenched and covered by thousands of artillery pieces?
Good luck with that.
>>454827
You don't understand, this is exactly what the French and British did in real life. They created fortified positions along the Dyle River. The Germans struck south of the defenses and encircled them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyle_Plan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manstein_Plan
>>454842
But they were rushed into place, as allied forces didn't enter into Belgium before the German presence barreled in. They certainly didn't have time to fortify heavily.
There's a huge difference when you have an extra 4-5 months to plan your defenses in depth, and actually construct them, than just rushing out willy-billy and hoping for the best.
