After the end of World War II, there has been a joke in Europe and the United States, if you want to buy a rifle, then you must go to France, because they have the largest number of rifles in the world at that time, and these rifles are new guys who have not fired.
Of course, this sentence is just a joke, the French Army in World War II, although it did not have too bright records, but its own combat ability is still very strong. You read that right, the French Army is really strong.
After the end of the First World War, in order to prevent the Germans from suddenly going to war, the French learned from the experience of the First World War and built the Maginot Line on the German-French border. As to how strong the Maginot Line is, I will not dwell on it here, and as long as Hitler had not gone mad, he would not have attacked France from here.
In addition to building the Maginot Line, the French also formed a huge army force, which at that time had an army force of 1.7 million people, plus the navy and air force, and the total strength should exceed 2 million people.
These units are equipped with a large number of modern weapons, such as tanks, armored vehicles, artillery fighters, and so on. In terms of equipment alone, the French Army is not much worse than the German Army.
Pétain, then Field Marshal of France, said: "As long as the Germans dare to go to war against France, the brave French Army will end the battle in two months." Pétain proved too modest, and it took only a month for the brave French Army to raise his hands and surrender.
In May 1940, Nazi Germany went to war with France as planned, and the Maginot Line, which the French boasted of as impregnable, was really solid, and the French Army deployed on the Maginot Line did not even see the shadow of the Germans, and received the order to surrender in situ.
Because the Germans bypassed the Maginot Line and attacked the French mainland from the direction of the Netherlands, before the 1.7 million French Army troops reacted. On June 14, 1940, the Germans attacked the French capital of Paris, the French Prime Minister Paul Renault announced his resignation, and Field Marshal Pétain, with the support of the Germans, ascended to the position of Chancellor and formed a provisional government. Because the office of the new government is in Vichy, it is also called the Vichy government.
Because the speed of the destruction of the country was too fast, the French army, navy and air force had almost no losses, and these troops were divided into four parts, one of which followed charles de Gaulle to flee overseas, formed a free France, and continued to resist with the help of the Allies.
Some formed underground guerrillas and engaged the Germans in mainland France. Some were stationed in overseas colonies and were controlled by the Vichy government. The last part, and the largest part, about 1.5 million French troops, accepted the surrender orders of the Vichy government, and went from glorious French soldiers to nazi German dog legs, and people who spoke were traitors.
Here's a little episode, after Pétain surrendered, in order to find a step for himself, bragged that the reason why he surrendered to Germany and was willing to become chancellor of Vichy France was because the Germans promised him that as long as he could continue to control the French army, the Germans promised to maintain the integrity of France. So he's not a traitor to France, he's just saving the country in the curve.
Of course, this sentence is actually a joke, because Beidang this guy, after becoming a traitor, began to do the right thing.
In September 1940, with British support, de Gaulle took an aircraft carrier supported by Britain three battleships and ten destroyers, preparing to take over the French West African colonies by force. Before the battle began, de Gaulle himself showed great confidence, he felt that everyone was French, and as the leader of free France, as the leader of free France, as long as he raised his arms, these overseas corps stationed in the colonies should obediently surrender.
As a result, the funny thing came, under the orders of the Vichy government, the French Overseas Corps refused to surrender to de Gaulle and exploded with unparalleled combat effectiveness.
On 23 September, the Battle of Dakar broke out, and the defenders of the Vichy government withstood artillery fire and air raids, defeating de Gaulle's Free French army and even almost capturing de Gaulle himself. Seeing that the war situation was becoming more and more unfavorable, de Gaulle could only order a retreat, and the Free French counterattack plan failed.
Under Pétain's command, the Vichy army, in addition to repelling de Gaulle, was active on various fronts throughout World War II. During Rommel's command of the Army of North Africa, about 200,000 Vichy troops participated in the battle against the Allies, and the combat performance was even more reliable than that of Italy.
In 1942, Britain and the United States planned to use North Africa as a springboard to land on Italian soil, a plan called Operation Torch. This was the first planned landing operation of the Allied forces, and the first large-scale sea crossing and landing campaign in the history of the war.
Originally, according to the plan, the American and British allies only had to resist the Italians, but they did not expect that when the time came, an army of Vichy France was temporarily transferred to support the Italian allies. It was this dog-legged army that inflicted huge losses on the Anglo-American forces, and after the war began, the Italian army was quickly defeated by the Allies.
Instead, the Vichy French army erupted into a super combat force, and they braved the sea artillery fire of the British and American forces and launched a fierce counterattack against the allied landing forces. Throughout the battle, the French puppet army lost 490 people, while the Allies lost as much as 2225 people.
This combat effectiveness was not much worse than that of Germany, and the Italian generals at that time were stunned, and such a powerful French army could not resist the German attack, how strong the Germans had to be.
In addition to the heroism of foreign wars, the Vichy French army was also ruthless in internal warfare, and in order to fight against the partisans at home, the Vichy French army preferred to kill the mistake rather than let it go. But whenever a trace of guerrilla evidence was found, the direct shooting was carried out without mercy. To put it bluntly, under the Pétain government, more than 1 million French troops were all turned into hitler's handmaidens. If it were not for de Gaulle's formation of a free France overseas, it is also considered an ally, it is estimated that after the end of World War II, France will definitely be divided among countries.