WOW, it is three AM, do you know what that means?
Time for another suggestion
The state of the french...state, again, this post is inspired on the anglo american nazi war, to quote here part of the book:
"National forces were fielded by nations that had more or less joined the German wars voluntarily, these were chiefly forces from Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, Hungary, Norway, Romania, and Slovakia, with France joining these early allied states in late 1945, The National forces had notional independent command under their respective governments, but all were obligated to a greater or lesser degree, to follow Berlin’s specific directions in military matters. All of the National forces were able to, if they desired, manufacture their own weapons and other equipment, including in the case of Italy and France, their own aircraft and warship designs."
Basically there are three kinds of armies in europe
The german army (Wehrmacht and SS)
The national armies, that are composed of armies of states allied to germany, that apart from italy and france, adopted German equipment and their mobility doctrine
And the pan european divisions, composed mostly of "undersirables" and slavic auxiliaries, they are mostly militia with left over equipment, but very well trained (and pressed) to fight
Well, on the current version of the Fatherland scenario, one of the possible ways to start WWIII is to have france to try to defect the axis and join the allies, and this usually get''s france crushed because it's army is small and the allies cannot flood it with troops
Meanwhile, in the AANW there is a very important thing that should be taken notion here, first some info taken from
Petáin Biographic website:
"As of July 3, 1940, the Minister for Defense entrusts to the General of the DOOR OF the THEIL the responsibility to deal with these men. It is the starting point of the "Building sites" but it is also the starter of an experiment which will be at the origin of a great policy of Youth. Polytechnician and former Police chief of Scouts de France, the General of the DOOR OF the THEIL has the idea to divide the young people of this quota given up in camps to install in full nature, out of the barracks and the cities. This idea is officialized on July 31 by a decree signed by the Marshal deciding that the young people called will be versed for one six months period in "Groupings of Youth...""...
June 29, 1941 in Vichy Marshal PETAIN solemnly gives their National Flag to the Building sites of Youth during an imposing ceremony gathering an enthusiastic crowd. The Flag is deposited with the Museum of the Army since 1970.
Thus from 1940 to 1944, in spite of the defeat and the occupation, four hundred and fifty thousand young French framed by twenty thousand heads accepted thanks to the "Building sites" a physical, civic formation and morals which gave them the taste of the life in the open air, the respect of nature, the direction of the team work and the love of their country."
My point? Well, when the war goes hot in the anglo american nazi war, the french population already have been under the pact of steel for a while, someone born in 1930 would have joined the french youth organizations in 1942. By 1948 (when the fatherland mod starts), most of the french youth would already been indocrinated, and the prospect of them cooperating with the allies would be unlikely, there wouldn't have such a mass flight of volunteers and the reception of american troops with flowers as it did OTL, in the scenario the americans reduced Lyon to ruins due the massive resistence put by the french army combined by the wehrmacht
So my sugestion is during the late Hitler era (1948-1951/2/3) in the mod, France should consolidate his power as a axis nation, rebuild it's army (maybe change to the mobility doctrine as the wehrmacht or continue the standart french doctrine). Of course, a hardline player could keep france as a poor impoverished puppet state and have it to defect, but a saner player and the AI need to rebuild france - on their standarts - because we are talking about a country with fourty million people, that is this close to the Uk, they are crucial to have in their side in WWIII
