France

## France (Faction)

A country in western Europe

In War of Tactics France is an allied faction, a somewhat major early war faction, but only a minor late war faction.

The french arsenal can be described as a combination of something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. This is because the french arsenal consist of relics from the previous wars, brand new prototypes only hindered by the outbreak of the war, Lend lease supplied by it's allies and equipment found in collonies far away form the mainland.

The arsenal is a bit of a paradox as it stand out from the norms set by other factions. But also setting the norms for many other factions as French equipment can be found around the world. Almost all nations would in the interwar period find itself possesing some kind of equipment which could be traced back to France. Be it the famous Canon de 1897, FT tanks, their many copies or variants, the Hotchkiss Mle 1914 machine gun or a selection of aircraft which saw service in many different air forces. All would form the back bone of other nations, but none would at the same time seem so unusual.

France has a wide selection of equipment available, including unique variants of something as simple as FT-17 in variants not available to other factions. The older equipment tends to be cheap but still capable of at least hindering the enemy. France also has internal competition which means they have many units which serve the same purpose but with minor alternations.

While there is no doubt the French arsenal is waste and inclusive, it also has some shortcomings, namely firepower and flexibility is lacking. The defeat in 1940 also put a stop to any domestic development, leaving many projects dead in their tracks. This effectively means a proud french commander will have to face the likes of deadly heavy tanks, agile light tanks or modern medium tanks with the likes of B1 bis, Renault R35s and Somua S35. While a more humble commander would be able to rely on captured Panthers, lend A15 Crusaders or supplied M4 Shermans and get a better result but also admitting that while unique, french equipment may not be the most modern or capable around.

Despite the waste arsenal, the nation does suffer some gaps in it's options which can be felt across all brances. The selection can be rather basic with few edges over other factions with the exception of economy.

## Infantry

French infantry have mixed performance but shouldn't be relied on for more than dealing with enemy infantry as a support unit. They lack modern weapons of their own and are poorly suited for engaging vehicles. While they do not have gaps in their arsenal, many of the infantry weapons are of an older generation and leaves a lot to be desired.

French infantry mostly excel at providing firesupport for other units as their War Gear allows them to do so effectively, thanks to the light infantry mortars. The french resistance ( referred to as F.F.L.) stand out from this pattern as they do have acces to proper AT measures, stolen and supplied weapons on top of single-shot pistols for melee, giving them an edge over other factions counterparts.

The Legionnaires are perhaps one of the more capable elite infantry as they have both French, American and British weapons available. This lets them overcome the weaknesses of the 1940-based regular infantry, but also comes at a price.

Their infantry types are as followed

* F.F.L. - Militia infantry with decent AT measures.
* "Frøæder" - Stand-in title for Professional infantry.
* Legionnaires - Elite infantry with acces to allied weapons
* Chasseurs-Paras - Paratroopers
* Ingenieur - Engineers

### Pros & Advantages

* Legionnaires have acces to French, American and British weapons to boost their firepower.
* F.F.L. are capable at dealing with armour and come equipped with pistol for melee used.
* Light mortar available as War Gear.

### Cons

* While the professional infantry has access to a full arsenal, they can be somewhat lacking in automatic and modern weapons.

## Armour

French armour stands out from any other faction as their armour appears to be nothing like foreign counterparts. It has a sense of being designed after very different ideas than what other factions would come up with. It is not uncommon for french units to have certain redundancies or overlapping units. An example of this, would be France having nothing less than 6 different tanks which can fill the same role, with only minor variations and destinations between them. Though picking one design over the other will leave the player with economical flexibility or minor advantages. It's also common to see the french having features which

French armour on average can feel lacking in certain aspects, as many decisions were build on economy rather than combat efficiency or capability. French armour has a somewhat stiff play style, almost akin to old century naval warfare with two opposing sides face off and shoot at each other till one goes down or can no longer fight. The rapid conquest of France in 1940 showed the outdated nature of french doctrine and design.

This also mean, post-1940 equipment and designs are either supplied, field conversion or a paper project. French armour lacks the ability to support itself as SPAAGs and SPGs are rare outside of prototypes and even simple modifications like an MG on a turret are uncommon. France also has a worrying amount of relics from the previous war, their armoured forces are usually a result of evolution rather than revolution.

French armour somewhat falls into boxes, but if played to their strengths they can preform very well. *B1 bis* tanks can easily crush waves of infantry and combat more technological counterparts due to it's volume of firepower. French domestic tanks are well suited for laying siege as many of them have tough armour for their era at the expense of speed. While french armour can appear as outdated, their large selection of prototypes gives them more than just a fighting chance at least on an individual basis.

French commanders will typically follow 1 of 3 styles of warfare when it comes to deploying their armour, though they are not restricted to follow either of them.

* Traditional - Domestic armoured units mainly, either relying on squeezing out advantages in the deployment or on the latest prototypes.
* International - Relying on support from british and american allies, making it the more modern and capable option but effectively just a reskin of other factions.
* Under dog - relying on equipment from colonies, improvised vehicles or captured equipment.

### Pros & Advantages

* Heavier than average armour.
* Large selection of prototypes available.

### Cons

* The average unit is outdated or lacks combat efficiency.
* The best units are either prototypes or supplied from allies.
* French designs have a tendency to be 5 years ahead when designed, but 10 years out of date when war is declared.

## Artillery

The expression "They shall not pass" is credited to General Robert Nivelle in 1916 and while more than 20 years has passed, this still applies strongly to the doctrin and guns available to France. It could be argued France has some of the most all-around artillery available as they have a tool for every job. If a commander has invested enough in models to get acces to various bunkers an fortifications, french artillery will be able to destroy any foe from afar and in the safety of bunkers or underground shelters.

The quote by the general however is somewhat dated, and like the rest of the French equipment, the artillery follows that trend. While often cheap, it is not uncommon to see black powder relics like De Bang designs, starting from Medium+ Artilleri and onwards. Specially the heavier calibers are rarely new designs or haven't been updated in the interwar period.

Despite the ageing artillery, France posses all types of weapons, including naval artillery and a waste selection of fortress weapons. In hindsight, it is easy to humor the Maginot Line and with it, the fall of France. One must however, remember it technically served it's purpose by forcing the enemy to go around. What wasn't expected, would be the amount of forces able to bypass, a movie which did not fall into the Franco-Belgian defense plan.

### Pros & Advantages

* Wide selection of guns in all calibers and types
* Many fortress guns, armoured turrets, tank turrets, naval guns and combi-mountings available.

### Cons

* Many guns are vintage from a different time or relics of the previous wars.
* Lacking in modern high-caliber AA guns, with the majority of them being naval artillery.
* Most AT-guns are fortress guns and have a limited field of operation.

## Air Force

-pending-

France posses their share of irregular and perhaps outright bizarre designs.