Time for a rethink?
Stephen Robinson considers the resilience and fall of France in WW2, rethinking its tactical performance in 1940
Stereotypical views of the French Army are still powerful factors in accounts of the French campaign in 1940. Their defeat is often depicted as resulting from a backward firepower doctrine echoing back to 1918 that failed to withstand the fast pace of blitzkrieg. For example, BH Liddell Hart claimed: “The French, trained in the slow-motion methods of World War I, were mentally unfit to cope with the new tempo, and . . .
