LogFAQs > #962521671

ShineboxPhil posted...

The Germans just were not ready against actual countries that can actually defend themselves.
Lol France.

I always feel like I need to toss France a bit of a bone when this subject comes up. The French army was eminently capable of conducting a defense against the Germans, it just turned out that they had set up for that defense in the wrong spot. Their plan was to dig in behind a line of rivers and canals in Belgium, which was exactly where the Germans planned to attack until Manstein altered the plan to include the armored thrust through the Ardennes.

It's not like the French completely discounted the possibility of the Germans coming through in the Ardennes either. They just thought it would take the Germans longer to get through the forests, perhaps a week or more, and the expected slow speed of the advance would give them time to react. When the attack came through and the enemy had crossed the Meuse within 60 hours, the French command effectively seized up.