page_title: Tanks in France
section_title: Consequences of the battle of Bir Hakeim
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks in France / History / World War II / Consequences of the battle of Bir Hakeim
caption_attribution_description: English: Cropped from the image in the link. Title: Three members of the Free French foreign legion who distinguished themselves in the battle at Bir Hacheim in the Western desert. They are from Senegal, Equatorial Africa, and Madagascar, respectively Date Created/Published: 1942? Medium: 1 negative&#160;; 4 x 5 inches or smaller. Reproduction Number: LC-USW33-055038-ZC (b&amp;w film neg.) Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black &amp; White Photographs(https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/071_fsab.html) Call Number: LC-USW33- 055038-ZC [P&amp;P] Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Notes: Image source: Free French press. Title and other information from caption card. Transfer; United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944. More information about the FSA/OWI Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.fsaowi Subjects: Africa--North Africa. Format: Film negatives. Collections: Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives Part of: Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress) Bookmark This Record: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/owi2001046306/PP/
context_page_description: French development into tanks began during World War I as an effort to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare, and largely at the initiative of the manufacturers. The Schneider CA1 was the first tank produced by France, and 400 units were built. The French also experimented with various tank designs, such as the Frot-Laffly landship, Boirault machine and Souain experiment. Another 400 Saint-Chamond tanks were manufactured from April 1917 to July 1918, however these tanks were largely underpowered and of limited utility due to the design of the caterpillar tracks, which were too short in comparison with the tank's length and weight. The most significant French tank development during the war was the Renault FT light tank, which set the general layout for future tank designs and was used or redesigned by various military forces, including those of the United States.
context_section_description: For the Free French, a victory was badly needed to show the Allies that the army of the Free France was not, as often suggested, a bunch of desperados, but a serious force that could contribute in the battle against the Reich. The Free French used the battle to show the world that France was not the decadent nation it appeared to be after its catastrophic defeat in 1940. De Gaulle used it to delegitimize cooperation with the Vichy regime. To withstand the overpowering Rommel army was an enormous achievement by Koenig and his men. British General Ian Playfair said: "The lengthened defense of the French garrison played a major role in the re-establishment of the British troops in Egypt. The free French gravely disrupted, from the beginning, Rommel's offensive, resulting on a disturbed supply line of the Afrika Korps. The growing Axis troop concentration in the sector, needed to subjugate the fort, saved the British 8th Army from a disaster. The delays in the offensive caused by the relentless French resistance increased the British chances of success and eased the preparation of the counter-offensive. On long term, holding back Rommel allowed the British forces to escape from its meticulously planned annihilation. That's why we can say, without exaggerating, that Bir Hakeim greatly contributed to El-Alamein defensive success". General Claude Auchinleck said on June 12, 1942, about Bir Hakim: "The United Nations need to be filled with admiration and gratitude, in respect of these French troops and their brave General Koenig". Winston Churchill was more terse: "Holding back for fifteen days Rommel's offensive, the free French of Bir Hakeim had contributed to save Egypt and the Suez Canal's destinies".
  Even Adolf Hitler responded to the journalist Lutz Koch, coming back from Bir Hakim: "You hear, Gentlemen? It is a new evidence that I have always been right! The French are, after us, the best soldiers! Even with its current birthrate, France will always be able to mobilize a hundred divisions! After this war, we will have to find allies able to contain a country which is able of military exploits that astonish the world like they are doing right now in Bir-Hakeim!".
  Rommel himself declared that "nowhere in Africa was I given a stiffer fight".
  On 6 June, Rommel had already received orders from Hitler to kill all enemy soldiers in battle or shoot them when captured. In Hitler's view the Free French troops were a group of partisans, rather than regular soldiers, that also hosted political refugees from Germany. Rommel supposedly burnt this order: regardless, he never followed it and took Free French soldiers as regular POWs.
caption: Three African soldiers of the French Colonial Artillery who distinguished themselves in the battle at Bir Hackeim. They are from Senegal, Equatorial Africa, and Madagascar, respectively
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