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For the Republic!
France at War and the Struggle for Survival, 1936-1947

I. Descent

“As long as decent nations stand united, we have nothing to fear in this world. Unfortunately, the decent nations are now terrified of the world.”

Security Minister Joseph Paganon
Minutes, Annual Cabinet Review
2 January 1936

Chapter 1: The Brewing Turmoil (January – June 1936)

France emerged as a victor from the Great War, but its post-war gains were insignificant. France acquired minor German colonial holdings in Africa and portions of the Levant from the crumbling Ottoman Empire France, most of it of little economic value. Alsace and Lorraine, the rallying cry for anti-German sentiments prior to the War, were finally recovered, but at a staggering cost. Indemnity payments from the former Central Powers did little to cover the true cost of war, mainly the millions of lost lives and the damage to the French psyche, the optimism and élan that had once propelled France to greatness.

As such, the post-war French public was generally wary of war and military affairs, and consequently denied the government the necessary support and resources to protect the Republic from increasing threats from within and without. In the Metropolitan area, acts of sabotage and terrorism by groups across the political spectrum threatened the democratic order and stability. The rise of militant nationalism throughout the colonies threatened the security of France, necessitating several police actions throughout Africa and Asia. In Europe, Germany showed signs of veering away from the Versailles regime under Hitler and the National Socialists. The Italian fascist government had recently declared war on Ethiopia, prepared to overrun the ancient kingdom and dominate the Horn Of Africa. In the east, Japan was busily preparing for its next expansion spurt while consolidating its Manchurian holdings.

In light of such threats, the agenda of the Annual Cabinet Review held on 2 January 1936 focused on protecting French interests around the globe. The centrist cabinet under Premier and Foreign Minister Pierre Laval had done a creditable job of stabilizing the economy still reeling from the Great Depression and was fairly popular with the electorate. Nevertheless, the Laval administration was unwilling to go too far, as only 1% of the voters support military action of any sort and the goals set forth by the Review were modest.

The North African colonies were allotted the necessary resources to expand their industries, which not only increased the overall industrial capacity of France (measured around 120 IC as of 1 January 1936), but created jobs and increased the standard of living in France’s most restless overseas holdings. The merchant marine fleet was reorganized and subsidized to create shipping lanes originating from Hanoi and Gabes; Hanoi was the core of the French Indochina rubber industry and Gabes was an industrial and mercantile hub just south of Tunis surrounded by iron mines and steel mills. At the meeting, Armaments Minister Jean Fabry, an apt resource industrialist, projected that with the incoming shipments from Hanoi and Gabes supplementing the Metropolitan steel and coal production, France will have adequate raw material to run its industries at peak efficiency, create viable strategic resource reserves and export the surplus on the world market to purchase sufficient oil, the one resource not found in abundant quantity within France, by the end of the first quarter.

The Review also evaluated the state of the French armed forces, which on paper looked formidable. With forty-six divisions, the French Army was the fourth largest in the world, after Italy, Nationalist China and Japan. Most of the divisions were located on the northeast quadrant of France, facing an increasingly restless Germany, with a single corps of two mountain divisions facing Italy down south. Three corps, including the vaunted Foreign Legion Division, garrisoned French North Africa and the two divisions of the Indochina Corps protected French Indochina. However, closer examination revealed that the French forces had little room for improvement. Bulk of the army still relied on foot and horse for mobility, with most infantry divisions lacking support brigades and many dangerously undermanned, especially in the colonies. Even the few so-called mobile divisions were equipped with obsolescent systems such as the AMR-33 tank armed only with machineguns.

The Navy also looked impressive on paper – the fifth largest in the world – with many capital ships but most were outdated vessels and geographical necessity dictated that France split its naval strength to adequately protect its Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, as well as detach vessels to protect overseas possessions and vital convoys, thereby denying the French Navy the ability to concentrate its strength for decisive action.

The Air Force was in the worst shape of all the services, plagued by obsolescent equipment and dispersal of the few air units throughout three continents.

Naturally, the generals and admirals demanded drastic measures to remedy the situation, but with meager resources at their disposal, the options were limited. Rather than build new units that might become obsolescent quickly and burden the treasury with their maintenance cost, the services agreed to put off production of new units for the fiscal year and concentrate on new technology and doctrinal development, with ground and air defense systems receiving priority funding. Fortification upgrades were briefly considered but rejected, as resources were not available to expand the Maginot Line. Researchers and engineers in various government arsenals and laboratories began work to create a new generation of landmines and halftrack troop carriers in the early months of 1936 as part of the rearmament efforts. Locked away in libraries and archives, scholars and officers gleaned data from the Great War to devise new military doctrines for the next war.

The new signs of tensions emerged just a few days after the Cabinet Review, when Germany demanded territory from Austria on 5 January 1936. Although Austria resolutely rebuffed the outrageous demand, Quai d’Orsay analysts believed that Germany would continue to pursue Anschluss, the unification of Germany and Austria, an action strictly prohibited by the Versailles Treaty.

France was not the only nation preparing for war. The United Kingdom and the Commonwealth nations, allies of France, were busy expanding their industrial base and defenses. Likewise, French diplomats and spies reported that the Soviet Union, Japan, China and the United States were also busy expanding industries and improving infrastructure. The two exceptions were Germany and Italy, with Germany concentrating solely on creating coastal defenses for Wilhelmshafen and Hamburg, and upgrading air defense in the Ruhr Valley and Berlin rather than expanding their industries. In Italy, large-scale construction projects were absent altogether.

Some pacifists within the government circles argued that this was proof that the Nazis and the fascists were misunderstood and not interested in war, only in their defense. However, others pointed out that Germany was already highly industrialized and needed no further industrialization. Plus, Italy had already initiated a war against Ethiopia, which was proof enough of Italy’s belligerency.
 
For the Republic!

While the war in Ethiopia proved Italy’s belligerency, the war – or rather the lack of one – showcased the inefficiency of the Italian military. From Djibouti, French listening posts and long-range scouts along the frontier with Italian East Africa and Ethiopia gathered no evidence of Italian movements throughout January, though enough Italians signals communications were intercepted to indicate a serious lack of supplies and planning on part of the Italians, suggesting that some elements of the Italian military were unaware of Mussolini’s decision to declare war. The Italian inaction gave the Ethiopian forces invaluable time to mobilize and entrench themselves along the invasion routes.

While Major Guy Juppe, the French military attaché in Addis Abeba, praised the courage and the hardiness of the Ethiopian soldiers in his January report, his report also mentioned that most of them lacked modern equipment and any notion of military discipline. The major concluded his report with pessimistic remarks that the Ethiopian forces were incapable of defending their country against a determined Italian attack, contradicting optimistic outlooks of some officials that suggested a stalemate based on the rugged terrain of the region and the strain on Italian logistics.

The major was correct, for when the Italian forces began their long awaited attack in late February, the Ethiopian frontier defenses collapsed. Three Ethiopian divisions made a stand at Makale on 18 February, but were thoroughly defeated by a numerically inferior Italian task force. Major Juppe, who had accompanied the Abyssinian Foot Guards to Makale, described the carnage as worse than what he had witnessed during the Great War.

The Guardsmen held the left flank and came under heavy mortar fire. With no weapons to effectively counter the mortars, the Guardsmen attempted several futile assaults on the Italian gun positions with horrible results. Machineguns cut down wave after wave of Ethiopian soldiers as they pushed forward. Finally, the Guards pulled back, but were pursued by enemy armored cars. The Foot Guards alone lost 1,000 men by the end of the day.

By the next day, the Ethiopians had enough and retreated west, many abandoning the colors and returning to their homes. The war dragged on for another month, mainly due to the mountainous terrain that impeded rapid advances. By mid-March, the Italian forces had methodically encircled Addis Abeba, which fell on 25 March and led to the annexation of Ethiopia by Italy two days later.

However, the war in Africa quickly became a sideshow when Germany reoccupied the Rhineland on 8 March, proving once and for all Germany’s aggressive intentions. Support for war shot up to 14%, but with most citizens still opposing military action, the Laval administration was unable to take actions to expel the already entrenched German forces in the Rhineland. The best the French government could do was activate Plan Q, the forward deployment of seven corps to the German border and two to the frontier with Italy, placing pressure on the two pariahs. Also, Japan provoked Nationalist China with unreasonable demands during the Sian Incident in 16 April, increasing tensions in Asia.

In the wake of the crisis in the Rhineland and elsewhere, the French parliament authorized funds to develop the industries of southern France and the Levant colonies. Further funds were also released for the development of 40mm antitank gun and 20mm tank gun. Along the Maginot Line, engineers began the construction of modern antiaircraft batteries. In addition, Air Marshal Marcel Deat was appointed the new Chief of Air Force on 17 March, replacing Air Marshal Victor Denain. For years, Deat had opposed Denain’s support of carpet bombing, believing such indiscriminate and inexact doctrine to be a waste of resources. Instead, Deat advocated a doctrine of air superiority on the theory that the control of the modern three-dimensional battlefield began with dominance in the air.

In the east, Tannu Tuva entered into an alliance with the Soviet Union and Mongolia on 2 July, becoming the latest addition to the growing communist bloc. Nationalist China successfully annexed renegade Communist China with brute military force on 19 May, executing Mao and other leaders of the Eighth Route Army. While many leftists cried foul and demanded France to break diplomatic ties with Chiang’s regime, French leaders were glad to have a united China to face Japan in the future. Furthermore, the leftists of France would soon have something to worry about much closer to home.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 2: The Rain in Spain (July – October 1936)

For almost a year, the Spanish socialists in power had angered the Catholic Church and the conservative elements of Spanish society, including many military men, with radical policies that threatened great social and economic upheaval. Under the leadership of General Franco, several military units renounced their allegiance to the government in Madrid and sparked a civil war on 18 July. After the initial confusion settled, the regions of northern and western Spain, plus the Spanish colonies, pledged their allegiance to the forces under Franco, the fascist Nationalists. The incumbent Republicans controlled the eastern and southern portions of Spain with Madrid as the anchor in the center.

Immediately, a state of marginal importance became the focus of international politics, as great powers wasted no time in backing their Spanish proxies. The United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and France decided to send volunteers and supplies to the Republicans, while the Germans sent men and material to the Nationalists.

After the customary respite, the war escalated in earnest. Republicans in Barcelona surged into Bilbao on 16 August, and as French gendarmes on the border watched, the Republican troops lowered the hated flag of the Nationalists and raised the banner of the Spanish Republic, only to have the Nationalists repeat the ritual the next month with different flags.

In the south, the main Nationalist force advanced towards Madrid and soon isolated the capital. The September Offensive consolidated the Nationalist hold throughout Spain, with the Republicans tenaciously holding on to Madrid and Barcelona. However, Madrid fell on 20 October and all Nationalist forces converged on the last Republican stronghold in the east. The Nationalist vanguard of cavalry and motorized troops entered Barcelona on 27 October and engaged four battered Republican divisions, including several International Brigades of foreign volunteers. The Battle of Barcelona bogged down till two Nationalist infantry divisions arrived on 2 November to turn the tide. Barcelona finally fell on 7 November and the Republicans laid down their arms, ending the war.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 3: Hydra at the Gates (November 1936 – March 1937)

Despite all the turmoil, the electorate overwhelming voted for Laval’s government on 15 September and allowed France to carry on with its preparations for the inevitable. However, with the conclusion of the Spanish Civil War, France was faced with a strategic impasse unprecedented in recent history. If Germany, Italy and Spain entered into an alliance based on their shared militaristic ideology, they had the capability to isolate and strangle France.

If the Berlin-Rome-Madrid Axis became a reality, Metropolitan France faced a potential three-front war. Lightly garrisoned French North Africa was squeezed between Spanish-held Cetua and Villa Cisneros to the west and Italian-held Libya to the east. Furthermore, the Spanish navy, reinforced with German or Italian fleets operating from Spanish ports, could deny the movement of the French fleet between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean and interdict French shipping at will.

Of course, the British Royal Navy was nearby and still held Gibraltar and Malta. Nevertheless, the British Empire had commitments all over the world, more so than the French, and there was no guarantee that the British and Commonwealth reinforcements would arrive on time. Worse, the British had few land forces to spare in a time of war. The forty French divisions on the Continent had little chance of holding back the coordinated offensive of 35 German, 25 Italian and 10 Spanish divisions, a total of 70 enemy divisions.

At the 1937 Annual Cabinet Review, Chief of Staff Marshal Maurice Gamelin commented that, “The hyrda is at our gates,” referring to the mythical monster with multiple heads. “Yet, we do not have the strength of Hercules to slay the beast.” This bleak outlook and the accompanying desperation plagued the second Laval administration. In the interim, the two divisions of the VII Corps in Toulon was promptly transferred to Bayonne on the Franco-Spanish border and a mountain division from the I Corps in Sedan was shifted to the I Alpine Corps in Grenoble near the Italian border. The General Transport Fleet of ten transport flotillas was relocated from La Rochelle to Tunis to transfer the Tunis and the Algiers Corps (five divisions) to Metropolitan France in case of war. Although Laval and other high-ranking officials have vehemently denied abandoning Africa, recently released confidential memos have clearly stated that the French Army would only assign the 29th Colonial Division in Morocco to protect all of North Africa, a clear sign that France was prepared to abandon Africa and the Levant in case of war.

For long-term solutions, the Laval administration sustained its “technology first” policy and the rearmament efforts slowly but surely bore fruit. The flamethrower was approved for field use in August 1936 and the 20mm tank gun, perfected in September, finally gave the French tank the ability to engage enemy armor, though only effective against light armor and the French Army lacked a chassis to carry the new gun. Nevertheless, this breakthrough allowed France to develop tank guns of larger caliber.

More importantly, French scientists created the basic electromechanical computer. This new device calculated numbers at a fraction of the time it took a human to complete, thus reducing the time and cost associated with scientific research. A serendipitous incident brought forth a scientific breakthrough, when a researcher spilled a cup of tea on a mat and gained an insight when he saw the colorful patterns of the spilled liquid. With the insight, he created the cavity magnetron, an advanced electronics technology.

In the United States, Democratic candidate Franklin Roosevelt won the presidential elections in November and took office in January 1937. Stalin was busy purging the Soviet officer corps, and in September, China formally annexed Sinkiang to its west after a series of negotiations to co-opt the local warlords, which modestly expanded China’s resource reserves. However, the greatest news during this period was the formation of the Berlin-Madrid Axis on 27 March 1937.
 
Very nice so far, sir! :)

A creditable story, and one would be led to believe that France faces some rather hard times ahead.
 
For the Republic!

II. Cause & Effect

“The ancient order is on the wane. The defeat of China, the suicidal purges in Russia and the indecisiveness of England, France and America are signs that power is no longer based on the size of a state’s population and territory but on its efficiency and motivation. The new world is upon us and Japan will lead the way.”

Colonel Sato Hiroyuki
Preface, Kwangtung Army External Assessment
12 July 1938

Chapter 4: Hydra Unleashed (April – September 1937)

The alliance between Germany and Spain confirmed the worst fear of French leaders. Along with a demarche to Madrid, troop movements expressed France’s intense displeasure of Spain’s actions. The I Alpine Corps was promptly transferred to Montpellier adjacent to Barcelona, while the Foreign Legion and the 26th Colonial Infantry Division of the Algiers Corps were relocated to the frontier with Cetua. The Quai d’Orsay also requested and received formal permission from the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa that allowed French forces to operate within their territories starting in April.

Gloom and doom understandably shrouded the French government, as some hardliners suggested a preemptive strike against Spain. Nevertheless, even with the manifestation of the Berlin-Madrid Axis, only a third of the French citizens supported war, so direct military action was out of the question.

Premier Laval suggested a diplomatic alternative: luring Italy away from the Axis. While the most aggressive of the fascist powers, Laval noted that Italy refused to support the Spanish Nationalists during the civil war. French analysts believed that Mussolini’s ego hindered Italy’s participation in a German-led alliance, for Il Duce believed that as the original fascist statesman, he should be in charge of an alliance, not an upstart like Hitler. Plus, the Italian economy was in shambles after the Ethiopian adventure and Italy’s traditional fear of the British Mediterranean Fleet precluded Rome from relinquishing its strategic initiative to Berlin. Therefore, Laval concluded that Italy’s entry into the Axis was not inevitable. To paraphrase Marshal Gamelin’s words, the hyrda was unleashed, but it was possible to cut off one head before it was too late.

After consultations with the British Prime Minister, Laval dispatched Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Bonnet to Rome on 12 May to persuade Italy to the join the Allied camp. Initially, Rome refused to even meet with the French envoy, citing the busy schedule of key Italian officials and the diplomatic mission yielded little. However, Laval insisted Bonnet carry on with his mission despite the lackluster results.

Meanwhile, French braced for the worst and continued with its preparations. Intelligence estimates concluded in July that France lagged behind Germany in key land military technologies, particularly in doctrinal development. Hence, emergency funds were released for the development of three key doctrines: the Maneuver Artillery, the Combined Arms and the Deep Area Defense Doctrines.

Even with the formation of the Axis, the world remained mostly quiet throughout most of August and September. China continued to pressure Tibet for annexation to no avail, but soon, China was faced with a far more serious problem. On 27 September, a far right coalition of nationalists, conservative military officers and businessmen came to power in Japan. The next morning, the new Japanese government declared war on China under the pretext of protecting Japanese citizens and property in China from the hands of “greedy thugs and corrupt warmongers.” The Great Pacific War had begun.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 5: Our Man in Rome (October 1937 – April 1938)

Just as Laval was prepared to recall Bonnet, the veteran diplomat secretly met with Italian Foreign Minister Ciano for the first time on October 2. While the exact nature of this meeting was never made public, the state-controlled Italian media expressed pro-French and pro-British sentiments in their editorials the next week, signaling a shift in Italy’s attitude towards the Allies. Soon, Bonnet and Ciano were meeting on a weekly basis at Ciano’s villa outside of Rome, away from prying eyes, and after each meeting, the Italian media always had something positive to comment about France and the Allies.

In September, the Renault plant in Lyons began prototype tests for a new generation of medium tanks under a government contract, with the 40mm tank gun perfected in December to equip the new tank. Also in December, the French government selected the Morane-Saulnier MS.406 as the next generation interceptor for the Air Force and Navy, a remarkable aircraft that superseded the current Dewoitine D.501 fighter in all categories of performance. Impressed, the government authorized the retooling of all available aircraft plants for the mass production of the MS.406, a daunting task that would take over six months.

The world greeted the New Year with cautious optimism and until January, peace reigned over an edgy world. However, the peace was broken on 1 February 1938 as Japanese forces in Manchuria launched a series of probes against the Datong-Beijing-Tianjin line in northeast China. Cables from diplomats in Japan somewhat eased the fears of French leaders, as they predicted that Japan was not likely to launch a full-scale offensive till their current industrial expansion was completed in April.

A greater shock came a month later, as Germany declared its union with Austria on 6 March 1938. Anschluss became a reality as thousands of German troops entered Austria to consolidate the latest conquest of the Third Reich. Like the aftermath of the Rhineland crisis, the French public clamored for action, but with only half the public supporting military action and the French military in a sorry state, the Laval administration was reluctant to go beyond diplomatic protests like the rest of the world.

With Anschluss, the Bonnet mission came under greater pressure to turn Italy away from the Axis. On 8 March, two days after Anschluss, Bonnet’s efforts culminated in a clandestine meeting with Mussolini. At the meeting, Mussloni expressed grave concern over the loss of Austria as a buffer, for states always placed security above common ideology. As expected, Mussolini demanded resource and technology transfers, claiming that Italy would become a much more valuable ally with an expanded economic and technological base, as well as strengthen its military due to the lack of a buffer with Germany. Bonnet offered to provide Italy with select technologies as well as rubber and oil, two resources Italy desperately needed, France had in abundance and Germany lacked, with the details to be worked out later by experts from both sides.

As a result of this meeting, Italy was now closely aligned with the Allies and brought a sigh of relief from the French leadership. However, the devil was in the details and further negotiations came to a standstill. Bonnet had assumed that the transfers would take place after Italy formally became an Allied power, but Mussolini assumed that France would offer something substantial as a token of good faith. The French government was adamant that it would not transfer a block of rubber or a drop of oil till it saw Mussolini’s signature on the treaty. Even when France conceded to transfer a few technologies as sign of good faith, the Italians demanded the latest technologies available, a demand that was firmly opposed by French military and intelligence officials. Eventually, the negotiations were postponed indefinitely and Italy remained neutral, though chances of Italy joining the Axis had substantially diminished.

Confident in the wake of Anschluss, Germany began to press Czechoslovakia for the return of Sudetenland in late March, a region with a sizeable ethnic German minority that also contained most of the Czech frontier defenses. Germany also approached the fascist regime of Hungary in order to secure an alliance and military access to outflank the Czech defenses in case war with Czechoslovakia erupted over Sudetenland.

The escalation of events around the globe coincided with the long-awaited introduction of new weapons in the French Army. In March, frontline infantry units received the first production batch of sub-machineguns. Soon, the sub-machinegun found its way to other branches of the Army, rear units and reserve depots that increased the firepower of the French fighting men. 100mm field artillery pieces and infantry guns supplemented the firepower in April, with larger caliber tubes in the works.

In late April, the industrial expansion in southern France and the Levant was completed and gave France the necessary resources (now at 200 IC) to raise additional military units, starting with the creation of the 30th Infantry Division with an attached engineer brigade.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 6: The Dragon Engulfed by the Sun (May – August 1938)

May 1938 was the turning point for democratic societies around the world, as the free citizens of the world finally shed their pacifist inhibitions and clamored for their governments to take action to preserve world peace. On 5 May, anti-Axis demonstrations broke out all over France and opinion polls showed that two-thirds of the voters now supported direct military action against the Axis. French fascists also held their counter-demonstrations, aimed at exposing the depravity and treachery of Stalin’s Soviet Union and the Comintern.

Elsewhere, Americans were in an uproar after the Nanking Massacre in China, spiking anti-Japanese and pro-interventionist sentiments in 19 May. The Nanking Massacre occurred during the peak of the Japanese “38 Spring Offensive,” a two-pronged offensive aimed at capturing the most industrialized and resource-rich provinces of eastern China. The Northern Army under General Miyazawa advanced from its bases in Manchuria to quickly encircle Beijing, while the Southern Army, commanded by General Ito, launched a daring amphibious operation and captured Shanghai before the stunned Chinese defenders could react. The fall of Shanghai proved that the Japanese military had perfected amphibious landing equipment and methods, a quantum leap in offensive warfare. With the beachheads in Shanghai secure, the Japanese forces moved east along the banks of the Yangtze and easily occupied the Chinese capital of Nanking.

In early June, a small Japanese force landed on the Qingdao peninsula and by the end of the month, the Northern and Southern Armies had linked up in Xinxiang, just west of Xingdao. By the end of July, Japan controlled most of eastern China north of Ningbo except Beijing, which held out till the Chinese garrison surrendered after running out of supplies in August. Japanese cavalry and motorized units pursued and annihilated many retreating Chinese divisions, while the remaining Chinese forces established a new defensive perimeter in the west to protect the provisional capital of Kunming. While casualty reports from China were notoriously unreliable, estimates suggested 30,000 to 60,000 Japanese casualties and roughly 120,000 to 240,000 Chinese casualties between May and July.

Back in Europe, French agents in Wilhelmshafen raised the alarm in early May as they witnessed 9 capital ships and 3 destroyer flotillas of the Kriegsmarine, bulk of the German surface fleet, sortie west. For days, Allied scout planes kept an eye on the German fleet as it sailed down the coastline of the Low Countries, passed the English Channel and took up station in Quesseant near the French port of Brest. As a precaution, Chief of Navy Grand Admiral Darlan took personal charge of the French 1st and 4th Fleets, and permanently based their 13 capital ships and destroyer flotillas in Brest. In addition, 1 Submarine Group was stationed on the island of d’Quesseant and the French Navy was prepared to pounce and mortally cripple the German fleet at the onset of a potential war.

After funding delays and technical setbacks, the aircraft plants were finally retooled for the mass production of the MS.406 interceptor on 6 July. The pilots and technicians of the 1st Fighter Division were withdrawn from active service and reported to the Paris Aerodrome the next week to train on the new machines.

Increasing international tensions and the introduction of new military doctrines prompted sweeping reorganization efforts in the French Army in August, with the emphasis on mobility. Gone was the “mixed corps” organization, the haphazard amalgamation of different types of divisions suited only for static defense. For example, the old II Corps had one cavalry and two infantry divisions, but the cavalry division’s operational speed was limited to that of the corps’ poilus. Instead, divisions with similar capabilities and speed were formed into “specialized corps” to take advantage of their inherent strengths. Thus, the infantry divisions were organized into five corps, with four corps to garrison the Maginot Line and serve as the first line of defense. Three mobile corps were formed to act as a strategic reserve and quick reaction force based on their superior mobility: the Metropolitan Corps in Paris with one mechanized and three motorized divisions, the I Cavalry Corps (3 cavalry divisions) near the Belgian border and the I Armored Corps (2 armored divisions) just west of the Maginot Line. The Expeditionary Corps in Cherbourg, the longtime tool of colonization and Quai d’Orsay’s gendarmes, was disbanded, for the France no longer had the luxury to send troops abroad in times of war; its infantry division was sent to Field Marshal Leclerc’s V Corps (formerly the VII Corps) in Bayonne and the mountain division was transferred to the I Alpine Corps in Montpellier. While the disposition of the southern defenses left the province of Tarbes undefended, the General Staff agreed that the Spanish forces were unlikely to attack an area with high mountains and low infrastructure levels. As Chief of Staff and Army Gamelin was an advocate of defense, the military production and manpower priorities were focused on the formation of new infantry divisions reinforced with engineer brigades.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 7: Running Out of Time (September – December 1938)

On 9 September, Renault completed its prototype tests for the new medium tanks. However, it lost the production contract to the Hotchkiss Works when intelligence reports noted that foreign powers had the 50mm tank gun. Naturally, the Army requested greater firepower for its tanks. However, the Renault medium tank design was only capable of mounting the current 40mm gun, whereas the competing Hotchkiss design could accommodate larger guns. The 50mm tank gun was perfected shortly thereafter, but some Hotchkiss engineers and tank officers wanted to wait till the 70mm gun was available, thus delaying medium tank production for several crucial weeks.

The impetus for immediate medium tank production was the Munich Settlement of 30 September, when Czechoslovakia ceded Sudetenland to Germany. Impatient with the delays in the 70mm tank gun, the Army insisted on the production of a medium tank with the existing 50mm gun. The Hotchkiss Works obliged and began prototype production of the requested tank, dubbed the H-39. The Air Force was more fortunate, for the 1st Fighter Division, now equipped with the new MS.406, became operational on 5 September. Soon, the 2nd Fighter Division was rotated out of service and equipped with the new interceptor.

The Indochina Corps was activated for a show of force in October, as the Japanese forces occupied most of southern China, with the Chinese forces precariously holding on to the Ningbo Pocket on the coast. To express French commitment to the security of its Far East colonies, the Indochina Corps engaged in maneuvers and live-fire exercises near the Chinese border for the most of October and November.

The defenses of Metropolitan France were strengthened in the fourth quarter, as the 31st, 32nd and the 33rd Infantry Divisions, all reinforced with engineer brigades, were formed and deployed in Colmar and Strasbourg.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 8: Reassessment (January – March 1939)

The highlight of the 1938 Annual Cabinet Review was the National Intelligence Estimate presentation. As of December 1938, France had fifty divisions, with 42 divisions, including 2 armored, 1 mechanized and 3 motorized divisions, in France proper. Of the 10 available air divisions, 7 were in the Metropolitan area with the option of recalling the remaining air divisions to France within days if necessary. The Navy was in a decent shape, equally divided between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

The United Kingdom and the Commonwealth possessed impressive military strength but regrettably spread out thin across the world. Despite pleas to the British government, the United Kingdom placed its priority on the buildup of her naval and air strength rather than ground forces. The British were particularly interested in fostering a strategic bomber force, but according to the latest reports, Germany had level 10 air defenses in the Ruhr and Berlin, as well as an unknown number of fighter divisions to thwart British strategic bombing. In addition, Wilhelmshafen and Hamburg had level 5 coastal defenses to repel British amphibious operations.

Of potential foes, Germany had forty-three divisions, including 5 panzer divisions and Spain had 16 divisions in Europe and 3 in Africa, a truly formidable force. The combined Axis air forces contained 10 air divisions, small compared to almost 30 Allied air divisions, though in Europe, the Allies could muster less than 15 air divisions on short notice. Of course, the Allies held naval supremacy, though air power proponents were convinced that land-based naval and torpedo bombers rendered capital ships extremely vulnerable.

Japan’s military force was truly impressive, with approximately fifty ground divisions, 15 air divisions and 40 ships and flotillas, with approximately a third of its ground and air forces engaged in China. The military capabilities of the Soviet Union and the United States were insignificant at the moment, though they had the potential to field large, powerful armies based on their enormous economic resources. To illustrate the innate strength of the Soviet Union and the United States, the France had already fallen behind the two sleeping giants as well as Germany in land technology. In naval and air technologies, the United States was unrivaled in its technological prowess. Once both nations devoted their economic resources to military production, they would become unstoppable and hence, valuable allies. However, the inertia of isolationism was too great in the United States and Stalin was a dangerous man with grandiose ambitions of his own.

Nevertheless, France had made great strides in the past three years. The French armed forces benefited from the new weapons and doctrines being developed at a brisk pace. During the same time, the French industrial capacity had more than doubled to 236 IC, especially after the Paul Marchandeau replaced Fabry as the Armaments Minister in December 1938. Considered an administrative genius, Marchandeau spent years as a successful business executive before he became a lecturer at Ecole Polytechnique and other prominent institutions, and under his helm, the French industry produced enough surplus resources to continuously train and equip at least two reinforced infantry for the rest of the fiscal year.

February was a busy month for diplomats as Germany constantly approached Hungary to join the Axis cause, which forced France and the Allies to entice Hungary to the Allies.
The diplomatic tug-of-war came to an abrupt end on 1 March when French listening posts noticed a significant drop in the volume of German military communications along the Franco-German border, indicating the reduction of German forces facing the Maginot Line. French spies in the Rhineland soon confirmed the sudden disappearance of German troops and the race was on to track the whereabouts of the “missing divisions.” Though nobody was certain, the most likely destination was east, for the synchronization of diplomatic and military pressure against Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Japanese troops were also on the move in early March. French outposts noticed multiple Japanese divisions in Nanning along the China-Indochina border advance east into Kaiyun, a mountainous province defended by three Chinese divisions. Raul Livor, reporter for Le Temps, was in Kaiyun in February and March as he followed the progress of the Ever Victorious Army, a highly embellished and fictitious designation of the former Chinese VII Corps, a mixed regular infantry-militia formation that had retreated all the way from Nanking in the past months. As Livor recalled, the morale of the Ever Victorious Army was high after the arrival of new recruits eager to expel the eastern barbarians, but morale was not enough to compensate for the lack of training and equipment. Many lacked basic weapons, armed only with bamboo spears and wooden clubs. Even the properly armed soldiers only had a handful of rounds for their rifles and pistols, while artillery and other heavy support weapons were almost nonexistent. A militia officer told Livor that only the mountains of Kaiyun and more important targets were keeping the Japanese away. However, the lull gave time for the Ever Victorious Army to train its troops, fortify their positions and receive additional supplies to resist the inevitable Japanese attack. However, the Japanese struck with at least three infantry divisions on 9 March and the Ever Victorious Army fought desperately, for if it fell, nothing stood between the Japanese and the provisional capital of Kunming to the west. The next day, the Never Yielding Army (another highly fictitious name) arrived in Kaiyun with valuable reinforcements, but even the addition of two militia divisions was not enough to hold back the Japanese and Kaiyun fell on 12 March. The Japanese forces were at the gates of Kunming.

Likewise, German troops were at the gates of Prague on 15 March when the Czechoslovak government capitulated to German diplomatic and military pressure. In the aftermath of the annexation, the western portion of Czechoslovakia was annexed by Germany and the east became the independent nation of Slovakia under Tiso, while the province of Ruthenia was offered to Hungary as a bribe for its commitment to the Axis cause. Hungary eagerly accepted the gift and became the newest member of the Axis.

Germany’s act of unbridled aggression provoked great anger around the world, as 83% of Frenchmen supported war. Likewise in Britain and the Commonwealth, support for military action hovered above an unprecedented 80%. Perhaps because of such global outrage, Germany uncharacteristically refused to annex the Lithuanian province of Memel late in March.

While Italy had little interest in joining the Axis, its thirst for expansion was not sated, for Mussolini issued an ultimatum to King Zog of Albania: become part of the New Roman Empire or face destruction. When King Zog refused, Italy declared war on Albania on 26 March, much to the consternation of France and other Allied powers.

With much of Eastern Europe under the shadow of Germany and Italy, the Allies needed to take a stand lest it face a world without allies to counter Nazism and fascism. On 30 March, France, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth declared its commitment to protect Polish sovereignty and welcomed Poland as the latest Allied member. The pledge to Poland was reinforced by the show of French military and technological prowess on the same day: the H-39 medium tank armed with the potent 50mm gun went into mass production.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 9: A Line in the Sand (April – August 1939)

April brought some positive news in the Orient, as China commenced a counteroffensive to recapture Kaiyun. Of the ten or so available divisions, it mustered a force of six infantry and militia divisions supported by its only fighter division in Kunming on 1 April. Due to the lack of good roads and vehicles in a rugged region, the Chinese task force took over a week to reach Kaiyun, where it engaged three Japanese divisions on 8 April. A pitched battle raged on for days, but the Chinese were no matched for the well-entrenched and superbly trained Japanese soldiers. The Second Battle of Kaiyun broke the back of the Chinese High Command, for China no longer had enough battle-ready divisions or adequate resources to rebuild its military. On 12 May, Chiang’s government abandoned Kunming and sought shelter in the wilderness of Sinkiang. By June, China was effectively out of the war, but China refused to surrender and Japan was reluctant to wage war in an inhospitable environment of Western China to capture a few worthless provinces, so a ceasefire ensued in China.

King Zog of Albania was not as lucky as Chiang, for he had nowhere to run when Italian forces overran and annexed his tiny kingdom on 13 April.

Despite the triumph of expansionists around the world, France was ecstatic to finally have a respectable ally on the Continent. Though the Polish military was much less sophisticated than its German or French counterparts, the Polish Army had over 30 divisions and compelled Germany to divide its forces on two distant fronts. The first order of business was to bolster Poland with technology and resource transfers. Every week, French diplomatic couriers arrived in Poland with schematics and prototypes for weapons and military equipment, while ships filled to the brim with oil, rubber and military supplies sailed from Cherbourg to Danzig around the clock. Germany lodged protests with the French ambassador in Berlin, citing “irresponsible actions that encouraged Polish militarism and aggression.” When such protests fell on deaf ears, Germany pressured Poland to surrender Danzig, Poland’s lifeline. With guarantee of Allied protection, Poland refused to budge on the issue and resumed with its modernization efforts.

However, one issue remained unresolved and that was the fate of the “missing divisions.” Even with intelligence from Poland, the Allies were unable to account for several key German units. The uncertainty of Germany’s intentions and capabilities prompted some politicians and security officials to introduce legislation that banned fascist groups and publications on 27 May, but such efforts fell through due to overriding concern for civil rights.

Despite the uncertainty, the alliance with Poland generated much-needed optimism in France. The corps commanders of the four infantry corps (I, II, III and IV Corps) on the eastern frontier were replaced with generals adept in defensive strategies. In addition, infantry divisions were shuffled to place all the reinforced divisions, mostly with engineer and antitank brigades, in Colmar and Strasbourg along the German frontier. Since January, half-dozen new divisions had become operational, including a motorized division and a mountain division with an engineer brigade. The core of the new French Army was to be the five armored divisions equipped with the H-39 tanks, though not till December. As per Air Marshal Deat’s preference, two new fighter divisions with MS.406 fighters were authorized for formation, to be completed in March 1940.

To bolster Metropolitan defenses in the interim, the French General Staff ordered the 27th African Infantry (AT) in Tunis transferred to Colmar. More significantly, Deat ordered the relocation of a fighter division and two tactical bomber divisions from Africa and Asia to France in June.

Soviet Union surprised the world when it demanded the annexation of Latvia on 26 August. Though the small Baltic nation refused, such extreme diplomatic actions indicated that the purges were over and Stalin felt confident enough to go to war.

However, the aggression of the Soviet Union faded from memories when Germany declared war on Poland on 30 August.
 
For the Republic!

III. A House of Cards

“We must be resolute, for we are fighting not only for our Republic, but for the future of freedom and democracy. Tyranny will reign if we fall, so France must stand up to the darkness. And united we stand, for next to the valiant Frenchmen are the determined Poles and our brothers-in-arms of the British Empire and the Commonwealth. We ask all the free nations of the world to join our crusade.”

Premier Pierre Laval
Declaration of War Speech to the Republic
1 September 1939

Chapter 10: Inevitable Collision (September 1939)

Immediately, the Allied nations declared their collective intention to protect Poland and declared war on the Axis. While some cautious leaders wanted to fight a defensive war behind the Maginot Line, Premier Laval and Marshal Gamelin favored a limited offensive into the Ruhr Valley for three reasons. First, Poland was weak and France had to prevent Germany from concentrating all of its forces in the east lest France be left alone to face Germany on the Continent. Second, an incursion into the German industrial heartland would deprive Germany vital economic resources. Third, the occupation of the Ruhr would neutralize German advanced air defenses in the area and allow British bombers to strategically bomb Germany at will. In a sense, the French forces were merely moving their defensive perimeter east. Mobilized, the I, II, III and IV, the I Armored, the I Cavalry Corps and the Metropolitan Corps struck Saarbrucken and Freiburg.

Before the first shot of the war was fired on land, the French Navy dealt a crippling defeat on the Kriegsmarine off the coast of Brest on 2 September. Once Grand Admiral Darlan received orders to engage Axis forces, the 1st and the 4th Fleets in Brest steamed out to meet the German fleet. When the French surface fleet arrived in Quesseant a few hours later, the 1 Submarine Squadron from d’Quesseant had already engaged the German vessels. Distracted by the submarines, the German fleet was caught off guard as the French battleships and cruisers unleashed their first volley. Stunned, the German ships fled north back to the safety of Wilhelmshafen, but were continuously harassed en route by Anglo-French naval and air units. Once in Wilhelmshafen, the Kriegsmarine did not dare venture out into open waters for the rest of the year.

While unoccupied Saarbrucken fell to the III Corps on 4 September, the German infantry division in Freiburg was swiftly reinforced by a panzer division under the able command of Field Marshal von Reichenau and fiercely resisted the IV and the I Armored Corps. The battle waged on for over two weeks and gave time for the Germans to pour reinforcements into Freiburg. Pre-war tacticians had predicted that the tank would be the decisive arm of the next war, but the obsolescent tanks involved in the Battle of Freiburg contributed little to the outcome. The lightly armored French AMR-33 and the German PzKpfw I were easily defeated by the infantry’s antitank guns, while their all-machinegun armament lacked the decisive firepower to overwhelm the enemy.

Overhead, an air battle as fierce as the one on the ground ensued. Initially, French MB.210 tactical bombers sent in to support the ground forces were chased away by German flak and interceptors. Unperturbed, the French Air Force committed fighters to clear the skies above Freiburg, though only the older D.501 fighters were available on the first day. The German Bf109Bs had little trouble in repelling the French fighters, though the arrival of the newer MS.406 fighters tipped the scale and the French had achieved air superiority over Freiburg by 10 September.

However, the French ground forces were unable to overwhelm the German defenders even after the arrival of the II Corps and on 19 September, General de Gaulle reluctantly ordered a general retreat. The suicidal rearguard action by the 4th Infantry Division allowed the French forces to withdraw in good order back to Colmar. Unfortunately, the venerable 4th Infantry, with some of its regiments tracing their origins back to the days of Louis XIV, was lost during the retreat.

The first land engagement with German forces concluded with a French defeat. As expected, the German army units were much better armed and trained than their French counterparts, but the battle proved that the much-feared German panzers were highly overrated. The Air Force won a narrow victory and confirmed Air Marshal Deat’s paramount belief in air dominance, though air dominance alone was insufficient to guarantee victory on the ground.

On the eastern front, the Germans pushed rapidly into northern Poland. Danzig fell to an armored spearhead of three panzer divisions on 7 September, though intelligence sources were unable to determine whether these panzer divisions were equipped with tanks more advanced than the PzKpfw I encountered in Freiburg. However, once the Poles pulled back forces from their eastern frontier with the Soviet Union and achieved sufficient concentration, they were able to blunt the German advance. On 20 September, the Polish 38th Infantry crossed the Oder and occupied German territory.

On the Spanish front, the I Alpine Corps with its five mountain divisions occupied and fortified the ancient city of Barcelona on 10 September. For the following weeks, the Spanish forces launched pell-mell attacks to retake the city, but the French alpine troops, reinforced with an engineer brigade, easily repelled the counterattacks. With the French occupation of Barcelona, the Spanish Mediterranean Fleet was forced out into the open seas. The 2nd and 3rd Submarine Squadrons chased the Spanish fleet south into a trap set by Grand Admiral Auboyneau on 12 September. Off the coast of Aldjazair, the French 2nd and 3rd Fleets awaited the 12 Spanish ships and flotillas with 18 capital ships and flotillas. Without an escape route, the Spanish fleet under Rear Admiral Merida had no choice but to fight and the battle raged on for four days. The fighting stopped only when the French warships exhausted their ammunition and allowed the remaining six Spanish ships to flee north and seek refuge in the island of Mahon.

Further south, the Foreign Legion led the Algiers and the Tunis Corps to expel two Spanish divisions from Oran and the Colonial Cavalry Division pursued the retreating Spaniards all the way to Cetua, which fell to France on 23 September.

On the Continent, Hungary finally mobilized and engaged Polish forces in earnest in late September. On the western front, the French launched two more futile attacks to expand its German gains. The IV Corps with its five reinforced divisions attack Koln on 24 September, but were unable to overwhelm the single defending panzer division and fell back to Saarbrucken the following week. A second attack on Freiburg also came to an anticlimactic end and French forces fell back behind the Maginot Line the next week.
 
For the Republic!

Chapter 11: Victory in Spain (October 1939 – February 1940)

As predicted, Allied navies reigned supreme and Axis vessels were confined to their home ports after demoralizing defeats in September. In the absence of the Axis fleet, Allied submarines were free to roam and target Axis convoys in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. French submarines stationed off the coast of Cordoba and Sevilla effectively halted Spanish shipping and denied Spanish troop movements between Iberia and Africa.

The French offensives into Germany achieved its first goal of diverting German units away from the Polish theater, for the Polish front stabilized after September as Germany now had Danzig to link East Prussia and Germany proper but insufficient forces for large-scale attacks elsewhere in the theater. While defensive-minded French commanders wanted to fortify Saarbrucken and wait for a German counterattack, the bolder generals wanted to “bleed the Germans white” by forcing Germany to commit more troops to the defense of its industrial heartland. Hence, the French General Staff ordered I, III and the I Armored Corps for the third incursion into Freiburg on 7 October. The third Battle of Freiburg began on 11 October, but the 19 French divisions were unable to quickly break through the defenses of a single German panzer division. Victory came only after five divisions of tactical bombers provided continuous air support and the Germans finally withdrew on 13 October. After three tries, the French finally held Freiburg, but it was a pyrrhic victory. Instead of bleeding the Germans white, a single German division had held back 19 divisions and inflicted at least 20,000 French casualties in two days before retreating in good order. Indeed, it was the French who had been bled white.

Yet, the temptation to push further before the Germans solidified their defenses was too great and the Marshal Gamelin authorized the attack on Konstanz to outflank the German southern defenses. General de Gaulle arrived in Konstanz on 23 October with the I Armored and the III Corps to meet his nemesis, Field Marshal von Reichenau, the man who had defeated him at First Freiburg. However, the French were able to overwhelm the two defending German divisions rather quickly and Konstanz was secured the next day. Spurred by the victory in Konstanz, the French IV Corps hit lightly garrisoned Stuttgart on 2 November, but the IV Corps’ numerical superiority eroded as Field Marshal von Bock reinforced Stuttgart with a mechanized and three panzer divisions. The battle for Stuttgart ended in a significant French defeat as the French forces fell back to Saarbrucken on 6 November. The second attack on Koln also failed miserably. After the Stuttgart and Koln debacles, the French General Staff decided to suspend major offensives till in-theater forces had time to rest and receive the necessary reinforcements and supplies for the next big push.

By November, the French industrial capacity stood at 258 as the industries in occupied German territories contributed to the French war effort. However, such narrow gains were not enough to compensate for overall French inferiority vis-à-vis Germany in manpower, industrial capacity and technology. Preliminary analysis indicated that successful French offensives so far in the war had required at least a four-to-one numerical superiority and constant air support to overwhelm the better trained, equipped and organized German forces. Therefore, what France needed was concentration and enlargement of its forces to overwhelm the Germans. While raising additional units was possible, the surest way to achieve concentration was to knock Spain out of the war and news from the Spanish front was encouraging.

General Corap’s V Corps in Bayonne advanced into Bilbao on 2 October with three infantry divisions. The V Corps was in for a surprise as it encountered the Bilbao Army under Major General Barron, which included a tank division. Initially, the presence of Spanish tanks unnerved the French soldiers without air support or tanks of their own. However, the Spanish tanks were of obsolescent pre-war design with weak armament and the mountains of Bilbao hindered their mobility. When the Spanish committed these tanks during a counterattack, the French 70mm antitank guns of the 23rd Infantry’s antitank brigade easily penetrated their thin armor. Afterwards, the surviving tanks were relegated to static defense, in effect becoming bunkers that were easy prey to French mortars and sneak infantry attacks. Within two days, the Spaniards fled, leaving behind much of their equipment and tanks.

In Africa, French forces swung south and advanced on Villa Cisneros once Cetua was secured. Franco personally commanded the garrison, but outnumbered, Villa Cisneros fell to French forces on 7 October as Franco fled back to Spain on the last transport. With North Africa firmly in French hands, the General Staff decided to transfer the Tunis and the Algiers Corps to Barcelona as a prelude to the invasion of Spain. Dubbed Operation Matador, the plan was straightforward: a methodical advance down the Iberian Peninsula. The I Cavalry Corps, almost useless on the mechanized battlefields of the German theater, was assigned to the Matador force. Once in Barcelona, the infantry divisions of the Tunis and the Algiers Corps were merged to form the new Colonial Corps under the command of General Touchon and the Colonial Cavalry was transferred to the I Cavalry Corps. In addition, the Colonial and the V Corps received two new infantry divisions each in early December. Reinforced and reorganized, the Matador force launched its long awaited offensive on Christmas Eve.

Lleida and Pamplona fell quickly and the Spanish troops fled to the mountainous pocket of Huesca. However, the province’s primitive infrastructure was overwhelmed by the influx of military units and soon, the isolated Spaniards were out of supplies. Surrounded on all sides by French forces, demoralized and hungry Spanish soldiers deserted their posts and soon, entire divisions melted away. The deserters surrendered to the French en masse and the I Alpine Corps easily secured Huesca on 3 January 1940.

The V Corps advanced west from Bilbao, capturing the Spanish industrial center of Gijon on 7 January and moved towards Vigo. In the south, the I Alpine and the Colonial Corps advanced towards Madrid, which fell on 17 January. Even with the loss of their capital, the Spanish forces fought on and made a stand at Valladolid on 22 January. Franco took personal command of 3 infantry and 3 militia divisions to repel the V and the I Cavalry Corps on the hills of Valladolid. After hours of fierce fighting, the Spanish units attempted to retreat south to Salamanca. However, the I Alpine Corps had taken control of Salamanca and blocked the escape routes. With nowhere to go, the six Spanish divisions surrendered to the French the next day. Again, Franco escaped with his staff to rally the remaining Spanish units in Cordoba. At this point, some French cabinet officials wanted an armistice and make Spain a French protectorate to concentrate prosecuting the war against Germany. However, the General Staff and intelligence officials were concerned that some militant Spanish leaders would not accept such an arrangement and continue to fight for the Axis. Therefore, the only acceptable solution was the unconditional surrender of Spain and the annexation of its territories lest they and Spain’s still formidable navy fall into German hands.

Encouraged by the French advance, the British forces in Gibraltar launched an offensive into Sevilla on 25 January, the first commitment of British ground troops in the war, though cynical Quai d’Orsay insiders commented that Britain only acted to prevent France from annexing all of Spain. On 1 February, the I Cavalry Corps reinforced the 2nd Tanzanian Colonials and the Gibraltar Defense Force in Sevilla to defeat the hardened desert troops of the Spanish Sahara Infantry under General Mola. In Cordoba, the V and the Colonial Corps subdued the last Spanish stronghold and accepted the formal surrender of Franco and all remaining Spanish forces on 4 February. The next day, the French parliament accepted the terms of the surrender and Spain was formally annexed as part of Metropolitan France, though under martial law till the end of the war and the “eradication of fascist elements that had plagued Spain.” The integration of the Spanish economy boosted France’s industrial capacity to 304 and the economic windfall was immediately devoted to armament production.

While Poland was spared the full wrath of the German military, German troops with superior mobility and fighting power continued to pose a threat on the eastern front. The Polish government declared a war of national survival and mobilized the entire nation to expel the invaders. Newly raised militia divisions plugged the numerous gaps along the frontlines and were quite effective in combating Hungarian units in the south.

On 23 October, the strategic province of Radom fell into German hands and the capital of Warszawa was encircled from the north and the west. To take pressure off Warszawa, the Polish forces launched numerous counterattacks to recover Radom to no avail. To make matters worse, Polish intelligence sources sighted a new class of German tanks in the theater, an advanced vehicle with a large caliber gun, though detailed data was not available. With the fall of Danzig, France was unable to send raw material to Poland, so it concentrated on providing technological aid. In addition to new arms designs, numerous French instructors were sent to teach the Poles new French military doctrine that drastically increased the fighting quality of Polish units.

While the British failed to contribute to the ground war, its naval and air forces worked closely with other Allied powers to break the German economy. The Royal Navy enforced a blockade around German waters and the RAF strategic bombers demolished the coastal provinces of Hamburg, Kiel and Wilhelmshafen. However, the British bombers were unable to strike further inland due to air defenses and roaming interceptor patrols.

On 14 November, Finland became the victim of Soviet aggression when it refused to cede its southern territories. Enraged, the Soviet Union declared war and invaded the small nation. While Finland was not a formal ally, France ships sent covert shipments of oil and rubber to Turku.

As France was contemplating the next push into Germany after the pacification of Spain, the Quai d’Orsay handed a gift to the General Staff on 6 February, an agreement that allowed French military units access through Italy. Throughout February, French units in Spain were shipped to Venezia to open a third front against Germany and on 1 March, the I Cavalry Corps entered the former Austrian province of Innsbruck.
 
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