A modern day combat

[night owl]

But there was actually some fight left in the French army when the government surrendered. Not that would probably have changed the eventual out come...

And the Germans didn't seem to suffer from this problem. Admitedly when they first fought they had the Soviet steam-roller distracting the Poles from the other side...

Nick

The problem for the French in 1940 very much involved a collapse of political will and poor leadership by peacetime officers. In a few places they did have good leadership and they gave the Germans serious problems. There was too little of this though. The Germans could just bypass this resistance.

The German army didn't always perform well in Poland but the situation was so favorable for them there that it didn't matter. They also got to cut their teeth earlier in the civil war in Spain where errors did not cause severe strategic problems for them.

The French had some equipment problems and were inexperienced in the type of warfare they faced but the individual French soldier is quite capable of making an excellent showing (then and now) with decent leadership. There is nothing wrong with the individual Frenchman in uniform. Never has been.

----
The French knightly noble crowd was a rather thick headed bunch on the other hand but no worse than their English counterparts *cough* BannockBurn *cough*

 

[Rick]

Don't discount the French, up to the Gulf War, they were suffering from the same morale problems as the Americans had after Viet Nam, with the loss of Algeria.

Think the Gulf War, and their actions as peacekeepers has changed all that. They do have a strange fascination with armoured cars, though!

 

[night owl]

The modern French soldier is quite well trained, well equipped and has good morale. They have performed quite well on the battlefield under quite difficult conditions in places like Afghanistan.

Where the French stumble militarily it is because of French politicians rather than any deficiency in the French soldier out on the battlefield.

Why they thought it was a good idea to build a CVN is beyond me. It's probably beyond many Frenchmen too really. Then again why is the US building a whole new, high tech and expensive class of SSN when their mission has been pretty much gone for 15 years or so now?

 

[cOwgummi]

on the matter of the frenchs loosing in WW2:
afaik it was not also a matter of poor leadership but especially of poor strategy and tactic concerning tanks. They had some of the best tanks worldwide in that year, much much better than anything the germans threw at them, some could be destroyed only through stuka attacks as anything else the germans had just bounced off the armor.
but they used single (!) tanks along with infantry, a big french tank force was three (!!!) vehicles...against a german tank squadron blitzing around...thats absolutely no resistance no matter how good the tanks are

 

[captainsmirk]

I'm well aware of the actual reasons for the French defeat in WW2. As I've said repeatedly now, my comments about the French are not to be taken literally. I just like ribbing them is all.

However I wasn't aware that there were any French troops in Afghanistan. Its a NATO op and the French have had only minimal involvement in that for years. Plus most of the non-British/Canadian soldiers seem to have been kept out of the main combat zones by their governments...

Nick

 

[emperorpenguin]

However I wasn't aware that there were any French troops in Afghanistan. Its a NATO op and the French have had only minimal involvement in that for years.
Nick

Well according to the French army's website they have troops in Afghanistan....

France has not been part of NATO's command structure for years but they remain a member

 

[captainsmirk]

They obviously manage to avoid ending up in the news...

Nick

 

[roughneck GIR]

They obviously manage to avoid ending up in the news...

Nick

I never knew they where in iraq till now

 

[Shadow Queen]

They take one look spot the reporters and hide

 

[lastbesthope]

They take one look spot the reporters and hide

Wouldn't you, Kate Adie showing up in a War Zone is like Jessica Fletcher arriving at a conference, you kow somthing's going to happen, and that that something will be bad.

:lol:

LBH

 

[BuShips]

Wouldn't you, Kate Adie showing up in a War Zone is like Jessica Fletcher arriving at a conference, you kow somthing's going to happen, and that that something will be bad.

:lol:

LBH

I always wanted to see a skit where a good crime investigator looks at the fact that probabilities of her being in proximity to that many deaths and not being the perpetrator would lead to her arrest for being a mass murderer :lol: . All those innocent set-up people in jails would need to be released as well. :wink: It's either that, or they reveal her true identity as the grim reaper in drag... :roll:

 

[roughneck GIR]

you kow somthing's going to happen

Yes I certainly kow somthings going to happen

 

[klingsor]

A Pacific campaign does sound pretty jolly to me as well. It does suggest though that ships might play a part – well that is off table support taken care off. One thing that does spring to mind is hovercraft, while maybe not so much use a conventional shooting war for littoral and island warfare they might be ideal whether as tank substitutes or troop transports.

You can now get a 1/48th scale kit of a WW II vintage landing craft and jolly nice it looks too) but we will need something a bit more modern. I had been thinking of building a couple for another game with huge implausibly huge weapons so I should just these as a bit more plausible and a bit more modern looking and they will be perfect.

One thing that might be important are oil production facilities, why else do you think so many Asian countries are looking to the islands? An oil rig would be an interesting place for a fire fight.

 

[BuShips]

you kow somthing's going to happen

Yes I certainly kow somthings going to happen

What would happen if the classic Star Trek series cast beamed through a time hole to Jessica Fletcher's front door. Those Red-shirt security guys wouldn't last 30 seconds, lol.

 

[BuShips]

A Pacific campaign does sound pretty jolly to me as well. It does suggest though that ships might play a part – well that is off table support taken care off. One thing that does spring to mind is hovercraft, while maybe not so much use a conventional shooting war for littoral and island warfare they might be ideal whether as tank substitutes or troop transports.

You can now get a 1/48th scale kit of a WW II vintage landing craft and jolly nice it looks too) but we will need something a bit more modern. I had been thinking of building a couple for another game with huge implausibly huge weapons so I should just these as a bit more plausible and a bit more modern looking and they will be perfect.

One thing that might be important are oil production facilities, why else do you think so many Asian countries are looking to the islands? An oil rig would be an interesting place for a fire fight.

I play a little Battlefield 2 and it would be fun to make a Wake Island tabletop, heh. It's one of my favorite maps to play. I'm thinking I'd need those U.S. and Russian LCACs to bring in mass troops and tanks. They would be the modern version of the SST Viking dropship. I can see it in my mind's view right now (and I want it, heh).