With the miracle of hindsight the question you should be asking is not "does france have a chance" but rather "does germany"
The problem with France was that it was not a mobile army.
This is inccorect.
The French had their own versions of tank divisions and motorized divisions. Those performed relativly well in Belgium.
Its doctrine relied on static defense IE: the Maginot Line.
No, it did not. The French doctorine relied on limiting of casualties by use of technology.
Maginot line was ment to chanel an invading german army, which it did btw, and then the French army was to strike it down. It didnt work out because of lack of strategic preperation.
It also had a problem mobilizing its army to strike at Germany when they did invade Poland.
No it didnt, it had a psycological problem of attacking into trenches.
France also lacked the understanding on how to use its better armed tanks against Germany. Had they grouped them into armored divisions, instead of an infantry support unit, then they might have had better luck against Germany. German doctrin prohibited tank vrs tank clashes for the simple fact that allied tanks were typically better gunned and armored. They prefered to lure them into a predetermined anti-tank screen, or bypass and let the infantry and AT divisions role them up.
Hmm, maybe you should read up on the short yet relativly succesfull French campaign in Belgium.
I belive the 2nd and 3rd Panzer divisions were stoped cold by French 3rd and 4th LCDs..or LMCs ?Dont remember the correct abreviation!
What all of you seem to forget is how the Germans won.
They launched a surprise attack through a sector guarded by 2 French Cavalry divisions(the horse kind) by the vast majority of the Panzer divisions. Thus we had the a battle which had the worst of the French divisions fighting the best of the German divisions. No wonder that the Germans won, imagine what would happen if the best of French divisions fight the best of German. Actualy, you dont have to imagine, you just have to look at the Belgium campaign where the French performed fair enough, halting the Germans. Anyways, with hindsight, all the French would have to do is put 2 armored divisions instead of 2 cavalry divisions infront of the Ardenes. Voila, the Germans lost.
Also, I dont understand what your hangup with the Maginot line is. It performed perfectly, it chaneled the Germans through the Ardenes. Had French planers predicted the offensive through the ardenes all they would have to do is mine them or bomb them and the Germans would have stalled.
Plus you must not forget, the Maginot line actualy freed more men for offensive action.
Yes I believe they can. There are several options I believe that Germany has in her favor. If this game reflects history to some degree then if a French player choses to try and grind Germany down in a semi-defensive circle then Germany could, depending on her alliance status and what has been aquired(territory), could possibly invade through Italy.
No, it cant. Why would they succed where the Italians failed ? 2 French reserve divisions held back the entire Italian army for christsake. Without air support. The only way to invade France is either from the Ocean or from North Western Europe.
Germany could go with a more direct approach and paradrop behind French lines causing mass confusion then bang in. This would of course cause more casualties than actually experienced by Germany.
What would parachutists do ? Provide the French with so many German prisoners they would just have to give up instead of atempt to feed them all brat wurst? Look at Crete, the single largest German parachute operation was a near failer, the Germans suffered horrible casulties.
Germany could attack France first instead of Poland and see if Poland actually reacts, or maybe Russia makes good on the German pact and invades Poland drawing attention away from Germany.
What would that do ? How would that chang anything ?
If the French extend the Maginot line then paradrop behind and do an EBManuel (SP) type raid into the many many individual fortresses while keeping the remaining one's busy via bombing/arty dualing. The Maginot had little or no airdefense capability.
You are..joking ?
