Photos WW2 French Forces

[AtlanticFriend]

And finally for today, an illustration showing what the Joffre-class carriers would have looked like. There were two planned, the Joffre and the Painlevé. They would have launched a navalized version of the Dewoitine 520 (15 planes) and 25 Bréguet 810s (a navalized Br_693).

 

[AtlanticFriend]

Nah, a last picture, since this one is a real curiosity. I give you... the Char K! This tiny tracked vehicle produced as a prototype shortly before the war was "card-guided" : like a saloon's mechanical piano, a punched card inserted in its command center would order the Char K to move forward, turn, go back, etc. It was not a military project per se, but who knows? Maybe its descendants would have been used by the army somehow.

 

[JimHPTN]

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One of the more interesting aspects of this video is the issue of No. 4 rifles to Free French Troops in North Africa, long before the British received the type in the North African/Italian theater. They might have been issued immediately after the withdraw from Bir Hakeim.

 

[BravoZulu]

French soldiers of the 1st African Jäger Regiment (1er régiment de chasseurs d'Afrique, 1er RCA; operated as part of the French 1st Army / 1re Armée) with a destroyed German StuG III self-propelled gun after the liberation of Kaysersberg, France - 18 December, 1944

 

[BravoZulu]

Char B "GAILLAC" No. 368 of 49e BCC 3e company knocked out with no survivors at Stonne on May 15th 1940

 

[BravoZulu]

Char B1bis "RHÔNE" No. 309 of 37e BCC 1ère compagnie destroyed by its own crew in Beaumont on May 16th 1940 after running out of fuel

 

[BravoZulu]

"Char 2C" super-heavy tank with crew of 12 and their commander (France - c. 1940)

 

[BravoZulu]

Char B "GAILLAC" No. 368 of 49e BCC 3e compagnie burned out at Stonne on May 15th 1940 with the loss of all its crew

 

[SamWell]

French reservists arrive at their positions on the Maginot Line

 

[Connaught Ranger]

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[Jake84]

While a fairly interesting video and the fight/sacrifice/contribution from the African tirailleurs was and is still very much valued, it’s an idiotic title from France 24.

No one has « forgotten » about these soldiers, who for many made the ultimate sacrifice in both World wars for France. Unless one didn’t go past junior school here.

On top of their bravery, they were often easy target of massacre by the Wehrmacht in the early days of the invasion of France, massacre of Senegalese were reported in May 1940 in the Somme and shortly after in June near Lyon were they bravely fought and tried to defend the city before being captured and summarily executed.

The tirailleurs held a bad reputation since the Great War and later in the French occupation of the Ruhr region in neighboring Germany where they were accused by Nazi propaganda of literally anything from rape, killings and kidnappings.

 

[BravoZulu]

The grave of French tankers and their Char B1-bis tank near the city of Châlons-sur-Marne - June, 1940

 

[SamWell]

French POWs from the Foreign Legion

 

[SamWell]

French POWs marching into captivity

 

[SamWell]

Video with french tanks

 

[BravoZulu]

German soldier poses on the turret of a French Hotchkiss H35 knocked out in Belgium in May 1940

 

[BravoZulu]

Penetrations and ricochets in the glacis of a Hotchkiss light tank knocked out in the Netherlands in May 1940

 

[BravoZulu]

FCM-36 light tank knocked out from losing a track during the Battle of France - May/June, 1940

 

[BravoZulu]

Char B1 bis "RHÔNE" No. 309 of 37e BCC 1ère compagnie in Beaumont in Belgium after running out of fuel and being destroyed by its own crew on May 16th 1940

 

[BravoZulu]

German personnel inspect a knocked out SOMUA S35 in Liège in May 1940