The French defeat in 1940 is PARTICLUARLY infuriating (for a frenchman) and, if looked from a much larger perspective: it was catastrophic for the Wallies because it mandated D-day on the way to Berlin (and Omaha beach, among others butcherings).
Okay... so let's reel back the whole thing. Two major dates
- January 30, 1933: Hitler rise
- May 19, 1940: the day the Panzers storming their way from Sedan (Franco-Belgium border) touched the Atlantic coast at Abbeville.
This way, they turned the northern tip of France into a giant pocket they soon shrunk from the south, resulting in Dunkirk. Inside that pcoket were trapped a) 2/3rd of the French army, and the best ones b) the BEF and c) the Belgian army, which was pretty well made.
Once the pocket closed and everything inside destroyed, on June 5 the Germans turning south toward Paris at 90% of their strength faced merely 25% left of the French Armies. Weygand (which was a SOB at many levels, but a passable military commander) did his best but could no longer stop the onslaught.
Bottom line: after May 19 and the closure of the "northern France big trap" France is toast and the only honoroable option is, well - FRANCE FIGHTS ON (from Algiers, because it takes the goddam Mediterranean sea to stop the Nazi juggernault).
This all said and done, the two dates to prevent France collapse and lick Hitler ugly arse before Wannsee and the jewish genocide (because THAT'S what matters in WWII, above all) are thus a bracket of time between
-January 30, 1933
-May 19, 1940
Soooo... any whatif scenarios there ? What France, with Great Britain in "tow" could have done ?
I'm keeping a personal short list of all the missed opportunities and, well, it is rather infuriating and depressing.
More on this in another post.
