Prefab model 1/72 figure French infantry Infanterie Francaise WWII Heller 49602

The French Republic entered the Second World War on September 3, 1939, but until May 1940 it was a strange war. Real large-scale military operations began only in May 1940 (the so-called French campaign). Soon after mobilization, the French army grew significantly and numbered about 2.2-2.3 million men on the northeastern border. It is assumed that the French armed forces at the time of the German attack in May 1940 consisted of 117 divisions. A significant part of them consisted of infantry divisions. Each of them (without mountain and motorized rifle units) consisted of three infantry regiments, divided into three infantry battalions. Each battalion, in turn, was divided into 3 infantry companies and a heavy company. One French infantry regiment numbered about 4080 men. At the division level, this also included: a command company, an anti-tank weapons company, a sapper company, and other supporting units. In total, the French infantry division had about 17,000 men, 370 machine guns, 170 heavy machine guns, 81 50-mm grenade launchers, 29 60-mm mortars, 27 81-mm mortars, 40 25-mm anti-tank guns, 12 47-mm anti-tank guns. , 36 75-mm guns and 24 155-mm howitzers. The main problems of the French infantry during the French campaign - poor communication, not very modern tactics of fighting, often - but not always! - low morale of soldiers or bad command. Another drawback was very poor anti-aircraft defense.