On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded France;
On 18 June, the French government announced the cessation of resistance;
On 22 June, Vichy France officially announced its surrender, becoming the first European power to be destroyed.
So the question is, why is France, known as the first army power in Europe, so weak?
Today we are not insulting France, but to pick up how strong France was before World War II.
As a victorious power in World War I, France had an area of 550,000 square kilometers, while Germany's land area at the same time was 530,000 square kilometers.
In addition, France has colonies in Asia, Africa and the Americas, with a total colonial area of 12.34 million square kilometers, second only to Britain, and is the second largest colonial power in the world.
And France is also in the world's leading position in terms of industry.
In the early 1930s, France accounted for 8% of the world's total industrial output, on par with the United Kingdom and the United States.
France has a complete industrial system and has the strength to independently produce military equipment such as tanks, fighters, warships, etc.
And France also has world-class infrastructure technology, which can be referred to the Maginot Line.
Although this super line did not play a role in blocking Germany, even Hitler had to admit that in the face of the Maginot Line, the Germans could not break through the French line.
As a super defense line built by France, the Maginot Line was built from 1928 to 1940, and the cost was as high as 5 billion francs.
According to the design, the main body of the defense line is about 390 kilometers long, the depth is 4 to 14 kilometers, the length of the underground tunnel is about 100 kilometers, and it takes 150,000 tons of steel reinforcement, 1.5 million square meters of concrete, 12 million square meters of earth, and roads and rails are also built inside the tunnel.
According to the French military's expectations, after the completion of the Maginot Line, France no longer has to worry about Germany invading the French mainland.
In addition to the industrial and infrastructure industries, France's military strength is equally strong.
In 1940, for example, France had more than 3,500 tanks, compared with just over 3,300 tanks in Germany during the same period.
However, two points are very important, the French main Renault FT 17 tank was developed in 1917, which is very old in technology, and only a small number of Charles B1 and Soma S 35 tanks can compete with German tanks.
And some of the tanks in service were deployed in overseas colonies, which invisibly weakened the strength of the French army.
Another point, at that time, the French military boasted that France had the largest number and most technologically advanced tank unit in Western Europe, and as a result, it was beaten into a sieve by Germany after the war.
The French Air Force is more stretched;
In 1940, the number of French fighters was about 1500, of which only 1000 could go to war, accounting for only a quarter of Germany.
Although in 1939, the French Air Force ordered 2,200 new fighters at a time to counter the German offensive, but before it could be produced, France announced its surrender.
After talking about the Air Force, let's talk about the French Navy.
As an old naval power in Europe, France's naval strength is very strong, or take 1940 as an example.
The French Navy had one aircraft carrier, five battleships, two battlecruisers, nineteen cruisers, and a large number of destroyer frigates, hundreds of submarines of different types.
As far as the navy is concerned, the French navy is not a problem to single out Germany and Italy.
Unfortunately, after the start of World War II, before the French Navy could exert its strength, the Vichy government announced its surrender.
However, it should be noted that after the surrender of France, one of the important reasons why Germany did not dare to completely occupy France was because of this naval force.
When the Pétain government announced its surrender, the unscathed French navy became the object of british and German co-optation, and Hitler voluntarily abandoned the occupation of France in order to prevent the French navy from joining Britain.
Here is a small episode, the British also tried to integrate this navy, but the French naval leader Darlan refused. In order to prevent this force from being controlled by the Germans, the British developed a ballista plan to completely destroy the French navy.
In 1941, the British Navy sneaked into the French Fleet in North Africa, which was fiercely resisted by the French Navy. The two sides fought fiercely off the coast of North Africa, a naval battle was fought, although the French navy was severely damaged, but the British navy also suffered heavy casualties, and finally the British could only give up the illusion of defeating the French navy.
However, the British approach completely infuriated the French Navy, which shelled the British-controlled Strait of Gibraltar.
In 1942, the British tried to land in North Africa, and was also retaliated by the French North African Fleet, even though the French naval leader Darlan ordered the North African Fleet to stop resisting and accepting British integration, but because the naval soldiers were very resentful of the British and unwilling to surrender to Germany, the French fleet simply chose to sink itself.
Having said all this, in fact, it is not difficult to see that France's military strength in World War II was not worse than Germany's, and it had every opportunity to compete with Germany, even if it could not be fought, it would not be defeated so quickly.