A Policy of Defeat | Small Wars Journal

"Lessons from France’s defeat have implications for countries and militaries today. France’s over-reliance on collective security was a fatal mistake. France’s security agreement with Poland and Belgium forced France into coming to Poland’s defense when it wasn’t ready and into a relationship with Belgium whose concerns for its neutrality did not make a meaningful contribution to France’s security.35 France’s ally Britain embarked upon a war with Germany without the political will to engage in real combat. Chamberlain’s cabinet regarded war as a symbolic act to make Hitler see the folly of violating international agreements.36

France’s methodical battle doctrine overemphasis on fires and the belief they could alone control and develop the fight blinded the French to consider the improvements in tactical mobility and maneuver. Attacking German forces were able to quickly dislocate French forces which eventually resulted in disintegration of French forces. This was further exacerbated by the lack of flexible communications which denied French Commanders and their staffs a common operating picture, flexible timely options to developing engagements, and unity of effort amongst French forces. Battlefields with peers and near-peers require a joint force that is able to quickly assess an engagement, develop flexible timely options, and defeat the adversary with the right application of combat power. "