The French Army of 1939 was considered by contemporaries to be the strongest army in the world at that time. In fact, as the events of the next ten months soon revealed, the Army was riddled with fatal weaknesses. In this book, the first of two volumes examining the French Army of World War II (1939-1945), Ian Sumner and François Vauvillier examine the organisation, uniforms and equipment of the army of 1939-40 and Vichy France. It includes orders of battle and formation charts as well as many illustration and colour uniform artworks.
By 16 June 1940, De Gaulle, with the decisive support of Churchill, had come to the conclusion that, whatever happened, France could not stand to one side in the struggle against Nazi Germany. And so, Free France was born. In this companion volume to MAA 315: The French Army 1939-45 (I) , Ian Sumner and François Vauvillier examine the history, uniforms and insignia of the Free French, Fighting French and the Army of Liberation.
By 16 June 1940, De Gaulle, with the decisive support of Churchill, had come to the conclusion that, whatever happened, France could not stand to one side in the struggle against Nazi Germany. And so, Free France was born. In this companion volume to MAA 315: The French Army 1939-45 (I) , Ian Sumner and François Vauvillier examine the history, uniforms and insignia of the Free French, Fighting French and the Army of Liberation.
But for his early death, many Frenchmen believe Leclerc would have been their greatest figure to emerge from World War II. De Gaulle himself admitted to his son-in-law that he gave up smoking when Leclerc died, in order to retain his health in case France needed him, because Leclerc was no longer there. From the fall of France until 1943, Leclerc dovetailed his operations with the British effort in North Africa, establishing himself as a dynamic combat leader in the battles against Rommel. But once the conflict shifted to European soil he became even more prominent as the commander of the 2nd French Armored Division (the famous 2e DB). For the next two years he was under the operational control of either Patton's Third Army, as in the Normandy breakout, Hodges' First Army, at the Westwall, or Patch's Seventh Army in the south. His career not only includes the liberation of Paris, for which he is most famous, but the retaking of Strasbourg and the reduction of the Colmar Pocket. Helping to spearhead the advance into Germany itself, Leclercs armor comprised a rock upon which American units could rely, and its waving the tricolor during the Allied counter-invasion went far toward retrieving French prestige in the war. By the German surrender in May 1945, Leclerc is one of very few Frenchmen of whom it can be said that he never stopped fighting to regain France's freedom, from the debacle of 1940 right through to the end. After VE-Day Leclerc was dispatched to reassert French authority in Indo-China, an uphill task given the atrophy suffered by the French colonial government due to its isolation from its homeland and local Japanese superiority. While being partly successful in the south and Cambodia, Leclerc soon discovered that the Viet Minh were harder to dislodge in the North, and that Ho Chi Minh was more than a match for frequently changing postwar French governments. Recognizing that France had neither the means nor the will to recover control, Leclerc advised his government to "negotiate at all costs." This didn't happen, leading to Dien Bien Phu eight years later and thence to US involvement. Surprisingly, Leclerc has never yet been the subject of a thorough biography in English. Nevertheless many Americans and Englishmen will inevitably have noticed the plethora of monuments to Leclerc in any moderately sized French town. With a fast-paced narrative covering combat at all levels of command and a foreword by Martin Windrow, author of The Last Valley: Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Vietnam, Free France's Lion will make fascinating reading for any serious student of the full scope of World War II.
After the Fall of France in 1940, a new puppet state was set up in the south. Officially known as the French State, it is better known as Vichy France. This collaborationist Vichy regime's armed forces were more active and usually more numerous than German troops in the task of hunting down and crushing the maquis - the French Resistance guerrilla forces This book will cover the organization and operations of Vichy French Security Forces, including: the new Vichy Police Nationale, particularly their Groupes Mobiles de Reserve, the Service d'Ordre Légionnaire , and the Milice Francaise, a ruthless anti-Resistance militia armed partly with British weapons captured from SOE airdrops. Fully illustrated throughout with contemporary photographs and commissioned artwork, it tells the story of Occupied France from the perspective of those who sought to keep it in German hands.
This, the thirteenth book in the "Officers and Soldiers" collection, shows the French Army during the Phoney War and the French Campaign in May-June 1940. Continuing the work - started two years ago by Andr Jouineau in the two volumes dealing with the 1914-1918 armies - given over to an almost exhaustive survey of French Army uniforms and outfits during the two World Wars, this volume shows almost sixty color plates with no less than 300 uniforms, several dozen insignia and equipment illustrations. Particular attention has been paid to the description of the combat groups and the servants of the unit weapons. Andr Jouineau, figurines maker and collector, has worked with Histoire & Collections for more than 16 years. His uniforms plates, which have been fully carried out using data processing, have made him a pioneer in this field.
Hitler first considered an invasion of Great Britain in autumn 1940, then scheduled Operation Barbarossa, the conquest of the European part of the Soviet Union, for May 1941. Anxious to emulate Hitler's successes, the Italian dictator Mussolini embarked upon unnecessary military adventures in North Africa and the Balkans, which forced Hitler's intervention, diverting and depleting precious German resources, and a six-week postponement of Barbarossa. In this second of four volumes [Men-at-Arms 311, 316, 326 & 330] on the German Army of the Second World War, Nigel Thomas examines the uniforms and insignia of the forces involved in North Africa and the Balkans. Men-at-Arms 311, 316, 326, 330 and 336 are also available in a single volume special edition titled 'German Army in World War II'.
On 1 September 1939, when Germany attacked Poland, the Wehrmacht numbered 3,180,000 men. It eventually expanded to 9,500,000, and on 8-9 May 1945, the date of its unconditional surrender on the Western and Eastern Fronts, it still numbered 7,800,000. The Blitzkrieg period, from 1 September 1939 to 25 June 1940, was 10 months of almost total triumph for the Wehrmacht, as it defeated every country, except Great Britain, that took the field against it. In this first of five volumes examining the German Army of World War Two, Nigel Thomas examines the uniforms and insignia of Hitler's Blitzkrieg forces, including an overview of the Blitzkrieg campaign itself. Men-at-Arms 311, 316, 326, 330 and 336 are also available in a single volume special edition titled 'German Army in World War II'.
This book gives the reader a straightforward and continuous survey of the history of the French Foreign Legion. By outlining the Legion's vicissitudes, victorious campaigns, epic marches, heroic and sometimes hopeless stands, dirtiest combats and dramatic defeats, but also by briefly placing the Legion back in the historical background of France, and by describing its development, organization, uniforms, equipments and weapons, the author hopes to dispel myths, and try to give a true and accurate picture of what the French Foreign Legion has been from 1831 until today. There are well-researched, detailed line drawings throughout.
