Allied order of battle

10 May – 25 June 1940

Allied forces

The majority of the Allied forces were French although the British Expeditionary Force (The BEF) along with the Netherland and Belgium also had committed substantial forces to oppose Germany in Western Europe.

The Supreme command was held by the French Commander-in-Chief Général d'armée Maurice Gamelin. His deputy commander was Général d'armée Alphonse Joseph Georges was was also appointed Commander of the North-western Front.

French Commander-in-Chief Général d'armée Maurice Gamelin.

www.tetragon.com

Deputy commander Général d'armée Alphonse Joseph Georges.

https://community.timeghost.tv/

Total Allied strength

“In May 1940, the French Army on the north-east front, which stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea, was divided into the 1st and 2nd Army Groups and the 7th Army.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

In total, the French had 117 divisions (some sources give 116 or 123) of which over 100 of these – the vast majority – were allocated for the defence of north France. The BEF contributed 10 fighting divisions and 3 untrained labour divisions, Belgium had 22, the Dutch 10 and there were also two Polish divisions, made up of troops who had evaded capture when Poland had surrendered to Germany.

63 infantry divisions (of which 30 were regular) ;
7 motorized infantry divisions;
3 armoured divisions;
3 light mechanized divisions;
5 cavalry divisions;
13 fortress divisions.
The general reserve comprised a further 17 infantry, 2 motorized and 3 armoured divisions.

Comparison chart for French Infantry, Light mechanised and Armoured Divisions.

www.ww2-weapons.com

France had 10,700 artillery pieces, the British 1,280 guns, Belgium 1,338 and the Dutch could muster 665 pieces. In total, this gave the Allied forces around 14,000 guns – considerably more than the Germans – 45 percent more to be exact.

Furthermore, the French Army was considerably more motorised than the opposing Germans – which relied on a high number of horses to act as transport. Although the BEF, Belgians and Dutch were not able to contribute much in the way of tanks, the French had a sizeable, armoured force at its disposal: 3, 254 tanks which included Char 1b models – heavily armoured and hard hitting models which outgunned anything the Germans had.

However, the French Army was of mixed quality. Its mechanized divisions had only recently been formed and so lacked training. The French defensive mindset meant that many of its troops had been trained to operate behind static operations – akin to the First World War – as opposed to a fast moving, fluid series of engagements.

“The French Army was poorly prepared and under trained for modern war. The French “Methodical Battle” assumed that warfare had not changed significantly since 1918 and operated at a pedestrian pace.”

Frank Baldwin

Comparison chart for French Tank Battalion Groups and Spahi (Colonial) Brigades.

www.ww2-weapons.com

Its reserve divisions were ill-equipped, and it seriously lacked anti-aircraft guns and effective wireless communications (between 1923 and 1939, only 0.15 percent of French military spending had been on communications). This created a serious deficit which the French Commander-in-Chief, Gamelin, tried to compensate for by using telephones and couriers as the main method of communication in the French Army.

“Almost 80 percent of French tanks did not have radios, since the battle doctrine employed by the French military was more a slow-paced, deliberate conformance to planned maneuvers. French tank warfare was severely restricted as tanks were assigned to infantry divisions, and were intended to provide support for infantry.”

https://maximietteita.blogspot.com

Another issue facing the French military was its outdated approach to tactical deployment. Although it outnumbered the Germans in terms of tanks, rather than concentrate its armoured forces to take advantage of this superiority, its tanks were distributed amongst its infantry units – each army having a tank brigade of 90 light tanks allocated to it -to act as infantry support.

French Renault R-35 Light Infantry tank.

https://maximietteita.blogspot.com/

The remaining heavier French tanks were hampered by inferior communications (only heavy tanks tended to have wireless fitted, and these were often unreliable). And due to outdated French views still seeing the tanks priority role as infantry support, little priority had been given to their speed, which resulted in most French tanks being slower than their German counterparts.

“Unlike Germany, which had dedicated tank divisions, France did not separate tanks from the infantry, and were unable to respond quickly to the Blitzkrieg tactics employed by the Germans, which involved rapid movement, mission-type orders and combined-arms tactics.”

https://maximietteita.blogspot.com

Air support

The Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) could field 1,562 aircraft which included the modern US Curtiss Hawk 75 and the Dewoitine D.520 (although initially, only 36 of the latter had been delivered to French squadrons by the time of the German invasion.)

The British contributed 680 Royal Air Force (RAF) fighters (predominately modern Hawker Hurricanes) and 392 bombers (some modern, some approaching obsolescence like the Fairey Battle). With an additional 81 Belgian aircraft, the Allies fighters outnumbered the 836 German Bf 109’s and they had more aircraft in reserve.

The Dewoitine D520, the best French fighter of WW2. In May 1940 101 were delivered and by June the output had reached ten per day. This fighter was credited with 147 kills for the loss of 85 fighters and 44 pilots.

https://www.ww2-weapons.com/

However, while the French industry was churning out a significant number of aircraft – there was an estimated 2000 in reserve – it lacked spare parts and many of its reserve aircraft were therefore unserviceable. Only 29 percent (599 out of 2000) were in any state to actually contribute to the battle. Furthermore, the Germans outnumbered the French 6 to 1 in in medium bombers.

Despite these issues, the Armée de l'Air was to perform well in the forthcoming battle, destroying 916 enemy aircraft and achieving a kill ratio if 2.35:1. A third of all French air victories were achieved by the Curtis Hawk 75, despite it only accounting for 12.6 per cent of all French single-seat fighters.

French First Army Group

The First Army Group was responsible for guarding the north-east frontier of France, poised to move into Belgium or the Netherlands should Germany invade either of those countries. The First consisted of four French armies, the Belgian Army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

Général d'armée Gaston Billotte was Commander-in-Chief until he died in a car accident on 23 May 1940, He was succeeded by Général d'armée Georges Maurice Jean Blanchard.

Général d'armée Georges Maurice Jean Blanchard.

http://museedesetoiles.fr

“In armour and firepower, French tanks were generally not inferior to their German counterparts. In one incident, a single Char B1 "Eure" was able to destroy thirteen German tanks within a few minutes in Stonne on 16 May 1940, all of them Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks.”

https://maximietteita.blogspot.com

First Army

Commanded by Général d'armée Georges Maurice Jean Blanchard

Cavalry Corps - Général de corps d'armée René Prioux (vs. Hoeppner's XVI Pz Corps @ Hannut)
2nd Light Mechanized Division - Général de brigade Gabriel-Marie-Joseph Bougrain (vs. Hoeppner Corps)
3rd Light Mechanized Division - Général de brigade Jean-Léon-Albert Langlois [1]
3rd Corps - General de Fornel de la Laurencie
1st Motorized Infantry Division
1st Moroccan Infantry Division
2nd North African Infantry Division
4th Corps - Général de division Aymes
32nd Infantry Division
15th Motorized Infantry Division - Général de brigade Alphonse Juin
5th Corps - Général de corps d'armée René Altmayer
5th North African Infantry Division
101st Infantry Division
Belgian VII Corps
2nd Chasseurs Ardennais - Général de brigade Maurice-Colombe-Louis Keyaerts [2] (at Chabrehez and Houx vs. 7th Pz Div)
8th Infantry Division

French soldiers of the 4th Army, Lorraine, France, Spring 1940.

ImagesDefense - ImagesDefense

“The backbone of the French Army was the infantry which, apart from increased firepower, was in organization and training, very similar to that of World War I, and still relied on horse transport to a great extent.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

Second Army

Commanded by Général d'armée Charles Huntziger

5th Light Cavalry Division - Général de brigade Marie-Jacques-Henri Chanoine [3] (to Neufchateau-Bastogne, vs Guderian 1st and 2nd Pz, evacuated Sedan)
2nd Light Cavalry Division (to Habay La Neuve, Arlon Gap, vs 10th Pz Div)
1st Cavalry Brigade
Directly reporting: (Reserves)
4th Tank Battalion
7th Tank Battalion
205th Inf Regt
213th Inf Regt - Lt Colonel Labarthé
10th Corps - Général de corps d'armée Pierre-Paul-Jacques Grandsard [4]
55th Infantry Division - Général de brigade Henri-Jean LaFontaine [5] (Donchery and La Marfee on the Meuse, vs Guderian, 1st, 2nd Pz Divs.)
71st Infantry Division - Général de brigade Joseph-Antoine-Jacques-Louis Baudet [6] (Wadelincourt on the Meuse and Raucourt, vs Guderian's 10th Pz Div)
3rd North African Infantry Division (South of 71st Div)
18th Corps - Général de division Paul-André Doyen
1st Colonial Infantry Division
3rd Colonial Infantry Division
41st Infantry Division

Royal Artillery 25-pounder field gun in action at Saint-Maxent, northern France, sometime between 26 and 29 May 1940.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/

“The basic French infantry division had provided a model for those of many other countries, and consisted of a divisional headquarters, three infantry regiments, two artillery regiments, and a reconnaissance group of 4 squadrons: headquarters, motor-cycle, horse and weapons.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

Seventh Army

Commanded by Général d'armée Henri Giraud

21st Infantry Division
60th Infantry Division
68th Infantry Division
1st Corps
1st Light Mechanized Division
25th Motorized Division - Général de division Molinié
16th Corps
9th Motorized Division

“In May 1940 France had over 3,000 tanks, and in terms of numbers, quality and firepower they were generally superior to those employed by the Germans.

Tactically, however, the French were definitely inferior, and with one or two exceptions the handling of this valuable force was uninspired and wasteful.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

Ninth Army

Commanded by Général d'armée André Corap

4th North African Infantry Division - Général de division Charles-Èugene Sancelme [7] (at Onhaye, vs 7th Pz Div)
53rd Infantry Division - Général de brigade Jean-Marie-Léon Etchberrigaray (vs 2nd Pz)
2nd Corps Général de corps d'armée Jean-Gabriel Bouffet [8]
4th Light Cavalry Division - Général de division Paul-Louis-Arthur Barbe [9] (deployed into the Ardennes, across the Meuse to the Ourthe, then Marche, vs 7th Pz Div)
5th Motorized Division - Général de brigade Jean-Noël-Louis Boucher [10] (Haut-le-Wastia, vs 7th Pz)
11th Corps - Général de corps d'armée Julien-Françoise-René Martin
1st Light Cavalry Division
18th Infantry Division - Général de division Camille-Léon Duffet [11] (on the Meuse at Houx, vs 7th Pz Div)
66th Regt
77th Regt
125th Regt
22nd Infantry Division - Général de brigade Joseph-Louis-Françoise Hassler [12] (Givet on the Meuse, vs 7th Pz Div)
41st Corps - Général de corps d'armée Emmanuel-Urbain Libaud [13]
61st Infantry Division - Général de brigade Arsène-Marie Paul Vauthier (N of Monthermé vs 8 Pz Div)
102nd Fortress Division - Général de division Françoise-Arthur Portzert [14] (Monthermé, vs 6th Pz Div)
3rd Spahi Brigade [fr] - Colonel Marc (La Horgne v 1st Pz)

General Lord Gort, commander of the BEF, with General Alphonse Georges, commander of the French Ninth Army.

Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk)

French armored reserves

1st Armored Division - Général de brigade Marie-Germain-Christian Bruneau [15] (deployed to Charleroi then to Flavion, arrived low on fuel or out of fuel, vs 7 Pz Div and then 5th Pz Div)
2nd Armored Division - Général de brigade Albert-Charles-Émile Bruché [16] (to Signy, deployed piecemeal, destroyed by Reinhardt's XLI Pz Corps)
3rd Armored Division - Général de brigade Georges-Louis Brocard [17] (to west of Stonne, versus Grossdeutschland Regt, 10th Pz Div, dispersed, small detachment attacked Stonne but driven off)
3rd Motorized Infantry Division - Général de brigade Paul-Jean-Léon Bertin-Bossu [18] (to west of Stonne, dispersed, attacked Stonne but driven off)
4th Armored Division - Général de brigade Charles de Gaulle

“The basic armored unit was the tank battalion, comprising a staff, three tank companies and a reserve company (in all, some 45 to 60 tanks).

There were 39 tank battalions in 1940 and for tactical purposes they were twinned to form tank battalion groups.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

British Expeditionary Force (BEF)

Commanded by General Lord Gort

5th Infantry Division - Major-General Harold Franklyn
12th Infantry Division - Major-General Roderic Loraine Petre
23rd Infantry Division - Major-General William Norman Herbert
46th Infantry Division - Major-General Henry Curtis
I Corps (UK) - Lieutenant-General Michael Barker succeeded by Major-General Harold Alexander
1st Infantry Division - Major-General Harold Alexander
2nd Infantry Division - Major-General Charles Loyd, succeeded by Brigadier Noel Irwin
48th Infantry Division - Major-General Andrew Thorne
II Corps (UK) - Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke succeeded by Major-General Bernard Montgomery
3rd Infantry Division - Major-General Bernard Montgomery, succeeded by Brigadier Kenneth Anderson
4th Infantry Division - Major-General Dudley Johnson
50th Infantry Division - Major-General Giffard Le Quesne Martel
III Corps (UK) - Lieutenant-General Ronald Adam
42nd Infantry Division - Major-General William Holmes
44th Infantry Division - Major-General Edmund Osborne

4th Battalion Border Regiment on the Somme Front, May 1940: Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, Border Regiment take up defensive positions by the roadside.

Imperial War Museum

French Second Army Group

Commanded by General de Armee Andre-Gaston Pretelat, the French Second Army was tasked with manning and defending the Maginot Line region from Montmédy to south of Strasbourg. The 87th African Infantry Division and 4th Colonial Infantry Division reported directly to Second Army.

General de Armee Andre-Gaston Pretelat.

https://batailles-1939-1940.1fr1.net/

“At the outbreak of war only five battalions had received the latest tanks (the Somua S-35 and Char B-1 models) while the rest still retained a variety of modern and semi-obsolete types.

In addition to the battalion groups there were also 11 independent tank companies.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

Third Army

Commanded by General Charles-Marie Condé

3rd Light Cavalry Division - General Petiet
6th Infantry Division - General Lucien
6th North African Infantry Division - General de Verdilhac
6th Colonial Infantry Division - General Carles
7th Infantry Division
8th Infantry Division
French Colonial Corps
2nd Infantry Division - General Klopfenstein
British 51st (Highland) Infantry Division - Major-General Victor Fortune
56th Infantry Division
6th Corps
26th Infantry Division
42nd Infantry Division
24th Corps - General Fougère
51st Infantry Division - General Boell
42nd Corps - General Sivot
20th Infantry Division - General Corbe
58th Infantry Division - General Perraud

Lost French patrol during the Battle of France.

3qTjZs2.jpg (1175×821) (imgur.com)

“Troops from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia counted as part of the metropolitan army, and North Africans made a large contribution to the French Army.

The 12 North African infantry divisions were each composed of three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment. They included regiments of the French Foreign Legion, Zouaves, and Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian tirailleurs (light infantry).”

www.ww2-weapons.com

Fourth Army

Fifth Army

Commanded by General Edouard Réquin

Polish 1st Infantry Division - General Bronisław Duch
45th Infantry division - General Roux
9th Corps - General Laure
11th Infantry Division - General Arlabosse
47th Infantry Division - General Mendras
20th Corps - General Hubert
52nd Infantry Division
82nd African Infantry Division

Commanded by General Victor Bourret

44th Infantry Division
8th Corps
24th Infantry Division
31st Infantry Division
12th Corps
16th Infantry Division
35th Infantry Division
70th Infantry Division
17th Corps
62nd Infantry Division
103rd Infantry Division
43rd Corps
30th Infantry Division

French Third Army Group

The Commander-in-Chief of the French Third Army Group was Général d'Armée Antoine-Marie-Benoit Besson. His forces were tasked with guarding the southern section of the Maginot Line by the River Rhine.

Général d'Armée Antoine-Marie-Benoit Besson.

Gallica (bnf.fr)

“Armored fighting vehicles were also to be found in the cavalry divisions undergoing mechanization, in five light cavalry divisions which were also still not completely mechanized, and in the reconnaissance groups.

All these formations combined horsed cavalry, motor-cycle troops, armored cars, tanks, and infantry mounted in cross-country vehicles.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

Eight Army

Commanded by General Marcel Garchery

7th Corps
13th Infantry Division
27th Infantry Division
13th Corps
19th Infantry Division
54th Infantry Division
104th Fortress Division
105th Fortress Division
44th Corps
67th Infantry Division
45th Corps
57th Infantry Division
63rd Infantry Division
Polish Second Infantry Fusiliers Division - Brigadier-General Bronisław Prugar-Ketling

French machine gun crew, 1940.

labrujulaverde.com

“The Air Force had suffered considerable neglect between the wars, and its performance in 1940, with machines which were in general much inferior to those of the enemy, was not impressive. Indeed, according to French sources, only 420 modern fighters and 31 heavy bombers were serviceable when the Germans struck in May.

Total French front-line strength on 10 May 1940 was 1,604 aircraft (764 fighters, 260 bombers, 180 reconnaissance planes, 400 liaison aircraft).

Total strength of the French Air Force together with Aviation Colonaile: 1,200 fighters, 800 reconnaissance planes, 1,300 bombers.”

www.ww2-weapons.com

French forces facing Italy

French Reserves

Three reserve corps were already in position at the start of the German invasion of France. The Vii and XXIII Corps were located behind the 2^nd and 3^rd French Army Groups.

The following divisions were also kept in reserve:

10th Infantry Division
14th Infantry Division
23rd Infantry Division
28th Infantry Division
29th Infantry Division
36th Infantry Division
43rd Infantry Division
1st North African Infantry Division
7th North African Infantry Division
5th Colonial Infantry Division
7th Colonial Infantry Division

Armee des Alps Commanded by Général d'Armée René Olry

3 infantry divisions of type B

14th Army Corps

15th Army Corps

- Fortification sectors: Dauphiné, Savoie, Alpes Maritimes
- Defence sectors: Rhône, Nice

Originally the French Sixth Army, the Army of the Alps was responsible for manning the southeast frontier with Italy. Overall, French forces in the region numbered about 35,000 soldiers.

Char B1 bis French heavy tank, 1940.

ww2aircraft.net

Belgian Army

Approximately 600,000 troops in 22 divisions and supported by 1,338 artillery pirces, 10 tanks and 240 other combat vehicles. Personally commanded by King Leopold III of Belgium and advised by Lieutenant-general Raoul van Overstraeten with General-major Oscar Michiels serving as Chief of the General Staff.

King Leopold III of Belgium.

http://belgieroyalist.blogspot.com/

I Corps - Lieutenant-general Alexis van der Veken
4th Infantry Division
7th Reserve Infantry Division
II Corps - Lieutenant-general Victor Michem
6th Infantry Division
14th Reserve Infantry Division
III Corps - Lieutenant-general Joseph de Krahe
2nd Infantry Division
3rd Infantry Division
IV Corps - Lieutenant-general André Bogaerts
12th Reserve Infantry Division
15th Reserve Infantry Division
18th Reserve Infantry Division
V Corps - Lieutenant-general Edouard Van den Bergen
13th Reserve Infantry Division
17th Reserve Infantry Division
VI Corps - Lieutenant-general Fernand Verstraete

5th Infantry Division
10th Reserve Infantry Division
VII Corps - Lieutenant-general Georges Deffontaine
8th Reserve Infantry Division
2nd Chasseurs Ardennais Division
Cavalry Corps - Lieutenant-general Maximilien de Neve de Roden
1st Infantry Division
14th Reserve Infantry Division
2nd Cavalry Division
Group Ninitte
Group K - Lieutenant-general Maurice Keyaerts
1st Cavalry Division
1st Chasseurs Ardennais Division
General Reserve
11th Reserve Infantry Division
16th Reserve Infantry Division

The Belgium Army in 1940 mechanised quick reaction border defence squads, equipped with Carden Loyd Tank variants and T15 tanks.

http://tank-photographs.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/

Royal Netherlands Army

Divided into four corps, a motorised division and a defence division, the total strength of the RNA was 240,000 troops. Supported by 676 artillery pieces and 32 armoured cars, and was led by Generaal Henri Winkelman, Supreme Commander of the Royal Netherlands Army and Navy.

Field Army Command - Luitenant-generaal Godfried van Voorst tot Voorst

“Winkelman was well aware of his army's limitations. He had 280,000 men at his disposal; not enough to defend the entire country.”

https://www.facebook.com/HollandinWOII