WesWorld

The amount of material to cover in this period is fairly significant, and for ease of both writing and reading, I will be posting catch-up news for the period of Q3/37 - Q3/40 in a different format than usual. While I would like to deal in much greater detail, I feel a need for brevity; so I am writing up a number of summary posts for things that I consider of interest and importance. These fields include but are not limited to:

- Aviation
---- Fighters
---- Bombers
---- Recce
---- Experimental
---- Airliners, Utility, & Cargo Planes
- Land Forces, equipment and organization
- Government
- Industrial development
---- Automotive
- The Rif-Atlas War

[SIZE=3]Automotive Developments[/SIZE]
Citroën
The Citroën Traction Avant, introduced in 1934, pioneered the marketing of the front-wheel drive automobile in Europe, and established Citroën as one of the dominant European car manufacturers. The Traction Avant eventually overcame suspicion about its novel construction and achieved significant success, although the cost of development and production put Citroën deep in the red, leading to the company’s purchase by Michelin in 1935. In order to placate buyers suspicious about the front-wheel drive Traction Avant, Citroën fielded the 7U Rosalie in 1935, improving on the older Rosalie 8CV. 7U production ended in 1938 with over seven thousand vehicles built. Another important part of Citroën’s production line was the TUB and TUC series light vans, introduced in 1939, based on the Traction Avant chassis.

Citroën’s most novel automobile, the TPV would be unveiled at the 1940 Paris Auto Show. The TPV, short for Toute Petite Voiture ("Very Small Car") was designed based on the requirements of Pierre-Jules Boulanger for a reliable, extremely inexpensive small car capable of driving two peasants and 100kg of cargo to market, while using only three liters of fuel to travel 100km. Boulanger conceived the automobile as a way of appealing to France’s extensive urban population, much of which still used horse-drawn transport due to the cost of most available motor transport. Although automobile critics jeered at the TPV concept, asking “Does it come with a can opener?”, production TPVs sold out before the end of 1940, and the model had a three-year waiting list. The TPV’s aluminium construction, however, sparked concern from Citroën’s management, who noted the rising price of materials; so before the TPV even had it’s Paris Auto Show debute, designer André Lefèbvre started work on an all-steel variant. This car, dubbed the Citroën 2CV, entered production in 1942 and immediately replaced the TPV, going on to a long and successful production history both in France and abroad, with over eight million vehicles sold.

Peugeot
In 1938, Peugeot unveiled the stylish 202 model small family car; however, 1938 also saw the near-termination of the Peugeot 302 mid-weight saloon, which Peugeot fielded as competition to the Traction Avant. The 302 was a shortened version of the streamlined but larger Peugeot 402, which was significantly larger and more expensive than the Traction Avant. The Peugeot 302 additionally spawned a sports car variant built by Darl’mat, a car-body manufacturer associated with Peugeot.

Renault
The competition from Renault mostly focused around the Renault Juvaquatre, introduced in 1937, which appeared in both sedan and station wagon models. The Juvaquatre looked similar to, and indeed was inspired by, the German Opel Olympia, which impressed Louis Renault when he saw it in 1935. Renault’s German influence continued, when, after seeing the Volkswagen, he ordered his engineers to “make me a car like the Germans!” The result was the Renault 4CV, which entered production in the 1940s.

Bugatti
In the field of exclusive automobiles however, none of the French companies could compare with Bugatti, which fielded the dramatic and stylish Type 57 “Atlantic”, which many motorheads considered to be the most beautiful car of the 1930s. Bugatti also produced the Type 46 (and the derivative Type 50 sporting coupe), which gained the nickname “the Molsheim Buick”.

OOC Notes:
The French automotive industry, like many other aspects of French life, was heavily-affected by the German occupation. For example, the Citroën TPV project started development in the early 1930s, but never entered production - the prototypes were hidden from the German authorities, and after the end of WWII, aluminium was too expensive to produce it economically, resulting in Citroën spending three years - 1945-1948 - redesigning the TPV into the 2CV. I have sped this timeline along, introducing the TPV for production in 1940, and shifting it later to the 2CV. Many of the models outlined above ceased production entirely following the German invasion, only to be restarted again in 1944-45 or later; and Bugatti, as a result of the economic conditions post-WWII, lost a great deal of business (as well as their factory) and eventually Hispano-Suiza bought them in 1963. With the lack of a world war, the company might stand a better chance of surviving.

[SIZE=1]Photos may be provided later, if I can find them![/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]The Rif-Atlas War[/SIZE]
1937
The relatively sudden surge of banditry in July of 1937 took the French colonial government by surprise. The bandits, composed of Berber tribesmen and led by the enigmatic Moroccan nationalist Mahommed ibn Abd El-Krim, scored several early successes, several of their attempts to attack well-equipped Legion Etrangere outposts failed, often in spectacular fashion. To Resident-General Charles Hippolyte Noguès, these attacks did not appear symptomatic of a larger problem, though Mohammed V, the Sultan of Morocco, was much more alarmed. Noguès, however, declined to request aid from the Metropolitan Army, and General Colson, the chief of staff of the Armee de Terre, elected not to press the Resident-General to become involved.

In the month of August, bandit activity dropped substantially as Abd El-Krim’s forces were challenged by internal disputes over the conduct of their campaign so far, with several leaders, including Abd El-Krim, encouraged by what they saw as a timid response, while others saw the likelihood of heavy Berber casualties if they persisted in their current campaign. The watching eyes in Paris drifted to the more distant “hot” war in Peru, which now involved France’s allies Atlantis, Colombia, and Chile. The French government, in the midst of hurried diplomacy with Peru’s allies Iberia and Italy, saw the decline of violence in Morocco as a success of their measures to date. The timing of the start of Moroccan violence spawned many conspiracy theories at the time, but no serious evidence ever appeared.

By October of 1937, Abd El-Krim once again was firmly in control of the Moroccan rebels, and violence picked up once again against Pied-Noirs and Sultan Mohammed V’s loyalists. Resident-General Noguès, still believing his limited response of July had proven effective, responded in much the same way with the October attacks. Noguès once again strengthened the Moroccan Gendarme, permitted the Pied Noirs to form local militias for protection, and quietly requested the deployment of more Legion Etrangere forces. Additionally, recruits for the Legion’s 8th through 14th Regiments were stripped and formed into three batalillion du marche to reinforce the Moroccan garrisons. By the end of October, these measures appeared successful: the clashes between the Moroccan Gendarmes, Coloniales, and the Legion Etrangere fell, as did raids. However, Abd El-Krim’s forces shifted tactics as well, operating in larger groups, with more sophisticated tactics and methods. Noguès’ military advisors correctly noted that overall attacks dimenished, but failed to note the increase in Berber numbers and equipment.

Resident-General Noguès, buoyed by the positive tone of the reports, continued to hold his current course through November and December, responding to the conflict solely with the local forces he had on hand, declining the support of the Armee de Terre, which he believed was “premature”. As Noguès himself later stated in his memoirs, “With the clarity of hindsight, I can see now that we had set the stage for continued conflict.” Nevertheless, before the end of December 1937, the 6th Army command put four infantry, one cavalry, and two colonial divisions on alert in the event they were needed, and created the new XXI Corps under the command of General d'armee Gaston Billotte in preparation to take control of the Moroccan situation if required. In a final move, the Batalillon de Chars de Combat de coloniale was formed in Algiers under the command of General Billotte’s son, General Pierre Billotte.

1938
Despite the optimism of the colonial administration that the situation was still in hand, Paris grew increasingly concerned about what they saw a full-fledged insurrection in French Morocco. Nevertheless, the government was increasingly divided about whether or not to push for further intervention against the wishes of the Resident-General. In March 1938, prompted in part by newspaper reports of Berber atrocities in Morocco, the Assemblée nationale passed several questions au gouvernement for President Lebrun’s ministers to answer.

On March 21, as the ministers sat down to answer the Questions, Abd El-Krim’s forces launched a major attack on the city of Taza, a city approximately 90 kilometers east of Fez, with over two thousand Berber tribesmen joining the assault. The small garrison of Pied-Noir militia and Legion Etrangere beat off three assaults, and in the third, Abd El-Krim suffered a seriously wound when his headquarters was strafed by a responding French aircraft. The Rif troops withdrew, leaving over three hundred dead and wounded, while the Legion and the militia suffered only three dead and twenty-one wounded.

The Battle of Taza, the largest yet fought in Morocco, was quickly paraded through the press as a French triumph, and initial reports suggested that Abd El-Krim died of the wounds he suffered in the action. The prevailing mood in Morocco and in France shifted, and when the Rif troops retired deeper into the Atlas Mountains, Resident-General Noguès hastened to reassure Paris that the situation was still well in hand. During April, violence almost ceased, with a quiet peace falling in Morocco.

All that changed in May. Although the rumors of Abd El-Krim’s death had been disproven fairly early, it appeared the defeat at Taza had caused another schism in the ranks of the Rif rebels. The facts which emerged later showed that the Rif rebels had spread these rumors themselves to lull the colonial administration into a false sense of security. On May 12th, Rif rebel forces launched their most daring raid yet, descending on the city of Fez with nearly fifteen thousand troops. Unlike the defense of Taza, the defending Gendarmes, coloniale militia and Legion Etrangere fell to the well-coordinated surprise assault, and the Rif troops occupied Fez, the third-largest city in French Morocco. As part of their victory, they captured one of the largest arsenals in French Morocco, which they stripped for their own under-equipped troops. On May 14th, Abd El-Krim proclaimed the independence of “the Republic of the Rif” and declared his intent to “liberate” Casablanca, Tanger, and Rabat. Both Pied-Noirs and Arabs loyal to Sultan Mohammed V were methodically rounded up in Fez and imprisoned in appalling conditions in the northwest corner of the town, where in the next two weeks, many would die of starvation or disease.

The capture of Fez shook the French colonial administration and reverberated outside the French empire, and President Lebrun and his cabinet decided to act decisively. As Lebrun later summarized, “There was great danger that other nations opposed to France would seek to intervene in Morocco for the purpose of discrediting us on the heels of so shocking a defeat. My instructions to the army were simple: ‘Crush them!’ The army responded ‘Aussitôt dit, aussitôt fait’.”

Fortuitously for the French, the eyes of the world were largely fixed on the much larger and more bloody civil war in Persia. The Persian factions were furiously buying any and all surplus military equipment they could get their hands on, and paying either with gold or oil. The Berbers, by contrast, had little in the way of hard cash or tradeable concessions even after their capture of Fez. In April 1938, French intelligence discovered the identities of the Berber rebel’s main purchasing agent, a British subject named Claude Beasley, who lived for ten years in Morocco. French agents started tailing Beasley to meetings with expatriate Czech arms dealers who promised rifles, tanks, artillery, and aircraft - none of which they had realistic chances of actually providing. After the French learned that Beasley also moonlighted for Arab anti-British groups in Palestine, they tipped off British Intelligence, which quietly “dealt with” Beasley. As a result, the Moroccan rebels never managed to acquire modern small arms or supporting weapons, and depended almost entirely on battlefield acquisitions.

Before the Assemblée nationale had even voted to deploy the Metropolitan Army from France to Morocco, forces were set on the move to Toulon, where they could quickly embark in chartered ships sailing for Algiers, Tanger, Casablanca and Rabat. The Armee de l’Aire added their own strength, shuttling bombers, fighters and transports into the region. Even as troops deployed, the Army leaders argued about whether to use them offensively, as many of the younger officers demanded, or defensively, as French doctrine had long stated. Despite the constant pressure for haste from the government, General Gaston-Henri Billotte, charged with the overall conduct of the campaign, seemed to be in relatively little hurry to open the campaign, declaring that he would wait for nine divisions in Morocco before undertaking operations.

On May 28th, aerial observation showed the Rif army advancing from Fez to Rabat. Sultan Mohammed, having spent the last year in a constant state of worry, lost his nerve and hired a British merchant ship in Rabat, declaring to reporters that “Morocco has fallen.” The commander of the French troops arriving in Rabat, Lieutenant-General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, did not share the Sultan’s defeatist view, and requested permission to attack the advancing Berbers. Billotte replied “Defend Rabat; make no offensive moves.” Although reluctant, de Lattre set up a defensive perimeter and on May 31st, the French 14th Division clashed violently with the Rif troops. The Rif troops, despite possessing new arms seized from Fez, suffered heavy casualties while inflicting very light losses on de Lattre’s troops. After only twelve hours, the Berbers fell back in disarray.

Though this satisfied General Billotte, de Lattre believed the job was only half finished. Under his command was Lieutenant Colonel Jean Touzet du Vigier‘s Armored Cuirassier Regiment. du Vigier, a supporter of Charles de Gaul’s armoured warfare theories and a leading voice for the mechanization of the army, requested de Lattre’s permission to pursue the retreating Berbers with his tanks. de Lattre agreed to this proposal, and determined to ignore Billotte’s orders to refrain from offensive action. With Colonel du Vigier’s tanks leading the way, de Lattre’s 14th Division marched in pursuit, overtaking the Berbers at the city of Meknès. Despite a relative parity in numbers, General de Lattre aggressively attacked the rearguard of the Rif forces, conducting a textbook double envelopment which trapped three thousand rebel troops, including Abd El-Krim himself, south of Meknès. de Lattre’s infantry beat off three counterattacks while du Vigier’s Cuirassiers drew the net tight. On the evening of June 4th, Abd El-Krim was captured as he attempted to escape disguised as a woman, and on June 5th, two thousand Berber troops surrendered.

Following the Battle of Meknès, General de Lattre’s troops halted due to their supply situation, despite his hope of marching straight to Fez. General Billotte, upon receiving news of de Lattre’s advance, issued multiple contradictory orders ordering him to withdraw, advance, change the direction of his march, or fortify his position. When news reached him of the Battle of Meknès, Billotte, still safely in Algiers, fretted that de Lattre had overextended himself even as he reported positive news to General Colson in Paris. Colson, meanwhile, was quite unhappy with Billotte’s own performance in the campaign, and flew to Algiers where he met personally with Billotte and his division commanders, including General de Lattre, who deeply impressed him. Colson’s interviews with Billotte and the other commanders deepened his dissatisfaction, and he firmly ordered Billotte to “get a move on.” Despite the coaching session, Colson seriously considered replacing Billotte as he flew back to Paris. However, the decision was made for him; on June 18th, only a day after Colson left Algiers, Billotte’s staff car driver lost control following a blowout and collided head on with a lorry. General Billotte was thrown from the car and badly injured; although he survived the accident, his injuries were extensive and he never fully recovered, eventually dying in 1940. With Billotte unable to exercise command, Colson promptly gave General de Lattre a field promotion to general de corps d'armee and put him in command of XXI Corps.

Following the capture of the charismatic Abd El-Krim, the Berber tribes virtually disintigrated into feuding factions. Although the Berbers were ferocious fighters and aggressively resisted all invaders throughout history, they were fractious even towards each other, and needed a charismatic leader such as Abd el-Krim to bring them together. With his loss, no rebel leaders were able to assert control over the remains of the army he had built, and the rebel army promptly split into the Atlas Berbers and the Rif Berbers. de Lattre went to work with the same aggressive style that had won the Battle of Meknès, and once the supply situation cleared up, the French launched a three-pronged attack to retake Fez. The Rif Berbers fought ferociously, but their defensive strategy, coordination, and supply situation proved woefully inadequate to withstanding the French Army in the open field. On June 28th, forty-seven days after the city fell to the surprise Berber assault, French troops liberated Fez. In the vanguard of the French troops was General Pierre Billotte’s Batalillon de Chars de Combat de coloniale.

Over the next three weeks, the French Army continued pursuing the remnants of the defeated Rif-Atlas tribesmen. Although the Atlas Berbers continued launching irregular raids, they never again directly challenged the French Army in the field, and through the course of July, August, and September, the French Army, spearheaded by the late-arriving Regiment Chasseurs Parachutistes, entered their mountain strongholds and eliminated their military capabilities. The Rif Berbers held out longer, aggressively courting action as late as November 1938, but never with sufficient numbers or equipment capable of defeating the overwhelming French forces brought to bear against them. By the middle of 1939, the situation in Morocco was quiet enough that most French Army forces were withdrawn, once again leaving the defense of Morocco in the hands of the Gendarmes, the Coloniale militia, and the Legion.

Summary
Though brief, the Rif-Atlas War helped spark a major sea-change in French military doctrine. Following his return from Africa, Lieutenant Colonel Jean Touzet du Vigier, commander of de Lattre’s armoured forces, partnered with General Pierre Billotte to press for a number of changes in the design of French tanks, the most important of which was the installation of radios in all French tanks, as well as training in their employment.

de Lattre’s aggressive at-the-enemy style was heavily-critiqued by the older officers of the army, who still believed in the traditional doctrine of defense from the Great War. de Lattre and an increasing number of officers disagreed, citing not only the campaign in the Rif-Atlas War, but also similar campaigns fought in the wars in the 1930s. Through 1938 and 1939, this debate on stategy and tactics, and the slow retirement of defense-minded generals from the Great War period, resulted in a slow but steady shift towards a more balanced combined-arms doctrine.

One of the more immediate changes, prompted by regular requests from commanders in the field, was an effort to design infantry carrier vehicles that combined mobility and troop-carrying capacity with protection from small arms fire. Although the French used a number of half-track designs, including the Citroen-Kregesse, these vehicles were smaller than comparable half-tracks elsewhere in the world. The Lorraine 37L and variants, particularly with the barely-in-service Voiture blindée de chasseurs portée 38L variant, proved itself in the field, but cost significantly more than a comparable half-track. This led to Rennault, Laffly, and Transall all developing new infantry carrier designs for the army’s consideration.

The Armee de l’Aire saw many changes in the postwar period as well. Though the air force saw little decisive action, the counter-insurgency missions in the second half of 1938 proved to be their greatest contribution, as aerial reconnaissance was responsible for spotting, tracking, and attacking marauding bands of Berbers. Aircraft additionally proved useful in much the same role that cavalry once provided, protecting the flanks of an advancing column, pursuing and attacking defeated enemies, and conducting scouting. The Armee de l’Aire found, however, that they had relatively few good aircraft for this mission, with the Loire-Nieuport LN.40 dive bomber not carrying a large enough bomb load; the Breguet 690, however, proved extremely useful due to its heavy bomb-load. The Rif-Atlas War led to the creation of requirements for a “counter-insurgency aircraft” which could serve as a spotter, strafer, and light bomber, with an emphasis on ease of maintenance in harsh conditions such as Africa.

The Armee de l’Aire also realized, belatedly, the need to provide sufficient cargo aircraft to support their deployments. In May 1938, the Army proposed deploying the Regiment Chasseurs Parachutistes, a unit created in January 1937, to Morocco. This plan suffered repeated setbacks while the Armee de l’Aire attempted to gather sufficient transports for the job. Eventually, through “creatively acquiring” retired airliners from Air France and hastily converting a number of old bombers to supplement the few existing transports, the regiment deployed in August 1938. The converted bombers in particular proved exceptionally unsuitable for paratrooper deployments, and at least on two occasions, paratroopers were killed jumping from the planes. When one of the converted bombers crashed in January 1939 with a full load of paratroopers on board, killing eighteen soldiers and three aircrew, the Armee de l’Aire suspended all paratrooper operations until sufficient transport aircraft could be acquired. These accidents resulted in more men of the Regiment Chasseurs Parachutistes killed by mishap than killed in action, despite deploying in three combat jumps and fairly regular campaigning between August 1938 and January 1939.

In addition to revising military doctrine on the strategic and tactical level, the French Army used the war as an opportunity to test new weapons, not least of which was small arms. de Lattre’s French 14th Division, in 1937, was the first army division to receive both the new 6.5mm MAS-36 semiautomatic rifle and the Fusil-mitrailleur modèle 1937 (FM37) general purpose machine gun. The combination of these two weapons gave the French infantry overwhelming firepower against the Rif-Atlas rebels, most of whom used either captured Lebel bolt-action rifles, or even more antiquated single-shot weapons, and had no machine guns whatsoever.

[SIZE=3]Military Equipment[/SIZE]
OOC Notes
France has, in the final few years leading up to 1940, an extremely extensive catalogue of military equipment. In many cases this is beneficial for me, the player, as I have a large number of options to choose from. In other cases... it’s quite easy to get bogged down and confused by the sheer number of types available for selection. For various reasons, I am choosing not to build every single piece of equipment historically produced, and when the occasion demands, designing my own fully ahistoric equipment based on developments elsewhere.

While I have attempted to account for everything, this is NOT an exhaustive listing.

[SIZE=3]Development of the French Air Force (1937-1940)[/SIZE]
General Developments
During the late 1930s, the French aircraft market saw a number of noteworthy changes in the aviation landscape. These changes, driven in part by the Armee de l’Aire’s rationalization of aircraft types, resulted in several mergers and one buyout. One of the first mergers occurred in 1938 when the firms Potez, its subsidiary CAMS (also known as Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine, a longtime manufacturer of flying boats), and ANF Les Mureaux merged to form Societe Nord. For various reasons, the “Potez” name continued to occasionally appear on several new designs up until the late 1940s; however, most new aircraft carried the “Nord” name. Nord gathered a number of raised eyebrows by purchasing a license to build the German Bf108 under the name “Pingouin”.

In 1939, Avions Farman (Farman Aviation Works) bought a 40% stake in Hanriot, and the two firms began working together extensively on their projects. Farman, having successfully built bombers for the Armee de l’Aire in the late 1920s and early 1930s, also spearheaded French research into high-altitude aircraft. This research and design experience led Farman and Hanriot to challenge Bloch as the main bomber supplier for the Armee de l’Aire.

Aero Engines
In the mid to late 1930s, French aviation developers began to see the trend of increased horsepower in aero engines around the world. Although both Hispano-Suiza and Gnome-Rhone saw high levels of export success, their engines slowly began falling behind the power curve internationally. Hispano-Suiza began working on two new aircraft engines, with the first being the HS-12Z [1], which entered production in 1938. [2] The HS-12Z would eventually top out at between 1,500-1,650 horsepower. Hispano-Suiza also began working hard on a brand-new 24-cylinder “H-engine” [3] which used the 12Z cylinders as a development base. The HS-24H would run first in 1940, and enter production by 1943, developing 2,350 horsepower in it’s initial versions. After 1937, both the 12Z and the 24H engines benefited from the addition of supercharging, using a supercharger designed and built by Turbomeca. [1]

Gnome-Rhone continued to specialize in developing radial engines, fielding the two-row fourteen-cylinder 14R [1], which generated over a thousand horsepower. The derivative 14R, equipped with a two-stage supercharger [1], entered production three years later, in 1938, and varied between 1,300 and 1,650 horsepower. While the 14R showed remarkable improvements, in early 1937 Gnome-Rhone started working on a two-row 18-cylinder engine that eventually became the 18K “Mistral Titan.” [4] The Mistral Titan first ran in late 1939 and entered production in 1941, with the initial versions delivering 2,240 horsepower. In 1940, with the race for more horsepower showing no signs of slacking, Gnome-Rhone began working on a four-row 28-cylinder radial with a two-stage supercharger called the 28R. Designed with contra-rotating propellers in mind, the 28R was intended to generate 3,750hp at 6,000m.

Fighters
The aircraft of four companies (Morane-Saulnier, Dewoitine, Bloch, and Arsenal) dominated the French fighter force in the late 1930s. Morane-Saulnier fielded France’s first modern fighter, the MS.406, in 1932, and continued their tradition with the improved MS.410 in 1935. Dewoitine produced the higher-performance D.520 and the improved D.524 derivative (the latter with the new HS.12Z engine), while Bloch built the radial-engined MB.152 and it’s MB.155 derivative [1] [2].

Arsenal, a company founded by the government to produce military aircraft, flew the VG.30 light fighter [1], which morphed into the larger, more capable VG.33 series. [1] The VG.33 was quickly replaced by the trailing VG.36, and the long-ranged VG.37 version. In 1940, the final development of the line emerged with the highly-streamlined 388mph VG.39bis. [3] Arsenal additionally produced the novel VB.10 twin engined fighter. [3] Equipped with two 1,150hp Hispano-Suiza 12Z engines in a tandem configuration, driving two contra-rotating propellors, the VB.10 passed four hundred miles per hour on its first flight. Although advertised as a “super-plane”, the VB.10 proved cantankerous in service, with the shaft extension to the second engine (located behind the pilot) causing extensive mechanical difficulties. Furthermore, the VB.10 suffered from being severely overweight, particularly in comparison to its wingloading. Although spectacular on paper, the VB.10 only equipped two escadrons before production ended.

At the beginning of 1940, Arsenal continued their attempts to improve the VG.39bis, redesigning the plane to use the same bubble canopy used on the VB.10. Arsenal also started a comprehensive redesign of the failed VB.10 [4], hoping to use the new Hispano-Suiza 24H. However, this engine would not be ready until 1943, and Arsenal considered buying foreign engines in the interim. In the end, the development of the airframe took longer than anticipated, and the new plane, dubbed the VB.20 Rafale [5], entered service in 1943. Among the many changes proposed was the move to wing-root located air scoops and radiators which permitted the Rafale to carry extensive armament on its centerline mounts.

Dewoitine, having turned out the successful D.520 and D.524 in the late 1930s, pressed forward with a new and improved variant [4], the D.525 Bourrasque, for introduction in 1941. Though the D.525 shared many visual similarities with the preceding D.524, it was the product of a redesign virtually from the ground up. The plane was somewhat larger, with the cockpit moved forward for better visibility and the hump of the rear fuselage reduced. The tail-wheel retracted, and the designers applied more advanced streamlining while cutting as much weight as they could. Like the D.524 that preceded it, the D.525 was powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Z, but used a more advanced model with a two-stage Turbomeca supercharger which generated over 1,650hp. The designers also addressed the vicious ground handling qualities of the D.520, and most pilots generally believed these changes were a success. The results were impressive, and the aircraft regularly achieved over four hundred miles per hour at altitude, the first French single-engine fighter to manage this feat. Foreign pilots dubbed the Bourrasque “the French Spitfire” for its resemblance in profile, although from above the differences were much more pronounced. [6]

Bombers
By 1936, the French bomber force, once one of the most modern in Europe, was falling behind. Several modern types, such as the Bloch MB.131 and the Breguet Br.462 Vultur, kept the French forces up to date while new bomber designs emerged.

Lioré et Olivier’s excellent LeO-45 [1], which emerged for a first flight in 1935 [2], quickly became the mainstay of the French bomber force. The production LeO-451 version flew at a maximum speed of 495 kph and boasted a bomb load of over 1,500kg, and the plane’s range was excellent as well. The LeO-451 and its descendants proved to have extremely long service lives in the Armee de l’Aire even after their replacement by newer planes [1], claiming their place as one of France’s best bombers.

In 1937, Bloch unveiled the new MB.170 reconnaissance bomber [1] [2]. Powered by twin Gnome-Rhone 14R radials, the MB.170 achieved 530 kph with a bomb-load of 400kg. The Armee de l’Aire ordered the production version, the MB.174, in quantity, and the torpedo-carrying MB.175T version [3] achieved note in Aeronavale service. The MB.174 additionally served as a fast night-bomber.

The firm Avions Amiot, in 1938, debuted the new Amiot 354 medium bomber [1] as competition for the LeO-451. The Amiot 354 featured the same maximum speed as the LeO-451, but had a lighter bomb load. In compensation, the 354 had a significantly longer range. As a result, the Armee de l’Aire deployed most Amiots to colonial units in Africa and Indochina, where its range came in handy.

Farman’s extensive research into high-altitude aircraft paid dividends in their development of a third medium bomber design, the Farman F.380 [3] [7]. The F.380 featured an unusual three-engine arrangement. Two HS-12Y engines were wing-mounted on the wings as propulsive power, while a smaller HS-12X engine was buried in the fuselage itself. This third engine, rated at 690hp, powered three-stage superchargers for the main engines and kept the crew compartment pressurized. This allowed the F.380 to achieve unparalleled high-altitude performance and a maximum speed of 373mph. The buried third engine proved to be a source of maintenance headaches, however. In 1940, Farman licensed the design to the associated firm of Hanriot, which built a modified version as the Hanriot H.250. Hanriot’s engineers eliminated the pressurized cabin, removed the HS-12X engine, and re-engined the plane with supercharged HS-12Z engines. The H.250 improved on the F.380’s speed at lower altitudes and eliminated maintenance issues, but could not match the Farman’s high-altitude performance.

Attempts to replace the aged and obsolete heavy bomber fleet finally saw success in 1940 with the adoption of the Bloch MB.162 [3]. Based on the four-engine Languedoc airliner, the MB.162 featured an excellent mix of range, speed, flight ceiling and bomb-load. The MB.162 eventually reequipped the entire French heavy bomber force.

Also of note in the French bomber lineup is the Breguet Br.690 [1], which entered service in 1936 [2]. The Br.690 served in assault bomber units for purposes of ground attack, as in the early 1930s, the Armee de l’Aire did not believe dive bombing was the most effective method for attacking ground units. The Br.690 showed mixed performance in the Rif-Atlas War, mostly due to the unreliability of the undercarriage and the lack of a bombsight. However, crews found the plane very pleasant to fly.

The events of the Rif-Atlas War saw an increased interest in the Armee de l’Aire in fielding light bombers as counter-insurgency aircraft. In this, the French had relatively few capable aircraft. In early 1937, however, Morane-Saulnier forged a partnership with the Swiss firm EKW, where Morane-Saulnier assisted the Swiss in continued development of their MS.406 line in exchange for licensing the C-3603 ground attack plane [8]. The resulting Morane-Saulnier MS.440 was powered by a 1,250hp Hispano-Suiza 12Z inline, and carried three 20mm HS.404 cannons (one as a motorcannon and two in the wings) in addition to 400kg of bombs. This matched the Breguet Br.690’s loadout, but the MS.440 had longer range, permitting it greater loiter times. The single engine design had fewer maintenance issues than the twin-engine Breguet, and following the MS.440’s combat debut in the closing months of the Rif-Atlas War, the Armee de l’Aire largely abandoned the Br.690 in favor of the MS.440. [9]

Naval Aircraft
Through the last five years of the 1930s, the French Navy payed increasing attention to the capabilities of the Aeronavale. The Navy’s determination in 1937 to lay down for large Bucentaure-class fleet carriers sparked an increased commitment to provide the Aeronavale with aircraft competitive to those elsewhere in the world.

Having made a carrier-based variant of the D.520 for the Aeronavale (called the D.790), Dewoitine attempted to repeat that success with a carrier-capable D.525. The Aeronavale had bad experiences with the D.790, mostly as a result of the plane’s difficulties in ground-handling, but the much-improved D.795 showed promise. However, only two weeks after the D.525 first flew, Marcel Bloch unveiled a radial-engined MB.1050 Milan [4], powered by the 2,240hp Gnome-Rhone Mistral Titan. The Milan followed the development line of Bloch’s earlier MB.152 and MB.155 fighters, but was an entirely new aircraft designed specifically for use as a carrier-based fighter. While the D.795, due to the excess weight incurred from its conversion to a carrier-based fighter, lost much of the base model’s speed and improved handling, the more powerful purpose-built Milan, with five hundred more horsepower, made 625kph on it’s first flight in May 1940, and by December, preproduction Milans edged over the 650kph mark.

Two new purpose-built naval aircraft, the Breguet Br.890 Épaulard [4] and the Latécoère Late-550, flew in April 1940. Breguet and Latécoère jointly developed the Épaulard to replace the Late-299 torpedo bombers and the twin-engined Breguet 695, building a “shared basic airframe”. Breguet then completed their plane as a dive bomber, while Latécoère completed their model as a torpedo bomber. The Épaulard was noteworthy for its use of tricycle landing gear, which was adopted as Breguet’s engineers expected the aircraft would be too heavy to operate from the older French aircraft carriers, requiring the use of a catapult. The nosewheel strut was thus heavily-strengthened to accommodate catapult operation. The Épaulard additionally featured the same Gnome-Rhone radial that Bloch used on the MB.1050 Milan. The Épaulard carried much more formidable armament than earlier French carrier bombers (even compared to the twin-engine Breguet 695), with a 900kg torpedo, or bombs.

Latécoère, participating alongside Breguet in the design of the Épaulard, took the basic airframe design and added a number of modifications intended to permit its use as the Late-550 torpedo-bomber, replacing the company’s own Late-299. Latécoère’s engineers re-styled the aircraft’s belly to permit a streamlined weapons bay for a torpedo. This belly bay resulted in Latécoère’s version of the Épaulard looking slightly more “plump” than Breguet’s dive-bomber.

Breguet, for their version of the Épaulard, mounted an extended the tail-boom, where they added a four-flap dive brake system in drogue configuration [10]. Breguet additionally redesigned the wing flaps to provide greater stability during a steep dive. The extra weight of the tail drogue dive brakes had a slightly unfortunate effect on the balance of the aircraft, resulting in a number of early aircraft “sitting down” on their tails during takeoffs, landings, and taxiing, To fix this issue on production aircraft, Breguet lengthened the nose and added extra weight forward of the center-of-balance. All the differences between the Breguet and Latécoère versions of the Épaulard added up, and French pilots eventually called the more graceful-looking Breguet the “Female Épaulard” and the stockier Latécoère version the “Male Épaulard”. The issue was confused somewhat when Breguet built a number of Épaulard torpedo-bomber versions in 1942.

Although the Aeronavale had, prior to this point, largely accepted navalized variants of land-based aircraft, the move towards their own purpose-built carrier planes was indicative of their own independence from the Armee de l’Aire. The deciding factor for the Aeronavale in its aircraft selection was the choice of engines, with the Breguet-Latécoère Épaulard and the Bloch Milan both equipped with the same Gnome-Rhone Mistral Titan. This simplified parts and supply situations aboard already-crowded French carriers, and the naval aviators all agreed that the overall reliability and maintainability of the radial engine was preferable. Dewoitine and their D.795 was thus quietly shut out of the naval aircraft market, becoming a fascinating “never was”.

In addition to their work on the Late-550 carrier aircraft, Latécoère also developed the Late-611 flying boat for maritime reconnaissance. This aircraft, powered by four Gnome-Rhone 14N radials, was adopted by the Aeronavale as well as being license-built by Accrisius for the Atlantean Navy. Breguet additionally released the Br.790 Nautilus, a single-engined flying boat for use in the Aeronavale.

Trainers, Transports, Utility and Liaison Planes
Unlike many countries, France preferred monoplanes as primary trainers, largely eschewing the biplane in this role. Veteran designs such as the Morane-Saulnier MS.230 and MS.315 continued to dominate [1], and most manufacturers updated their products rather than designing all-new planes. One of the updated designs was the Mauboussin M.129 [3], which followed on a number of earlier trainers dating back to 1928 [2].

Loire-Nieuport broke from the traditional French disinterest in biplane trainers when they acquired the license to the Belgian Stampe SV.4 in 1940. These planes were eventually made in France, Algeria, and Indochina.

Sparked by the dramatic fighter advances over the course of the 1930s, the Armee de l’Aire and Aeronavale requested a new advanced training aircraft. Only Morane-Saulnier entered a successful contender, first demonstrating the MS.470 Vanneau in 1940. Both branches accepted the plane for service, and production started in 1941. The Vanneau came originally equipped with an inline engine, but a Gnome-Rhone radial engine appeared on the Vanneau in late 1941.

A number of utility aircraft appeared throughout the Armee de l’Aire, with the Caudron Goeland and the Caudron Simoun being among the most prominant.

Societie Nord chose an unusual path when they pitched a utility aircraft to compete with the Caudron Simoun, acquiring the license to the German BF108 Taifun. This plane, which Nord built as the Nord Pingouin [1], was later re-designed to use tricycle landing gear, and dubbed the Nord Noralpha [1]. Its Germanic heritage aside, both the Pingouin and the Noralpha were well-liked and had long service lives.

The Bloch MB.220 twin-engine airliner saw a great deal of construction post 1938, as the French Army found it was one of the best aircraft available for their paratroopers. Upon the formation of Nord in 1938, their designers began working on a new military transport [4] designed to transport either a reinforced platoon of paratroopers or light vehicles.

Civil Airliners
One of the principle airliners introduced in the late 1930s was the Bloch MB.161 Languedoc. This aircraft, developed in parallel with the MB.162 heavy bomber, carried thirty-three passengers to a range of nearly two thousand miles. Bloch also built the smaller twin-engined MB.220, which carried sixteen passengers.

The Breguet Br.810 Bretagne [1][11], unveiled in 1940, effectively ushered in a new era for French airliners. The plane was heavily-used by Air France on both domestic and international routes and spawned a number of later variants.

One of the other aircraft of note was the massive Latécoère L.631 flying boat [1]. When it first flew in 1941, the six-engined L.631 represented the pinnacle of French flying-boat airliners, and a number of them were built for trans-Atlantic passenger service, where they competed directly against ocean liners and airships.

Experimental & Miscellaneous
After starting in 1933, Rene Leduc continued his work on ramjets, acquiring a number of working wind-tunnel models. However, Leduc’s funding was uncertain due to official disinterest, although that changed following the flight of Italian motorjet and German turbojet aircraft, and the goverment approved funding for the construction of the futuristic Leduc 0.10 in May 1939. [12] Leduc was officially employed by the Service Technique de l'Aéronautique from 1939 onward. Leduc additionally served as a technical reviewer for turbojet project design teams.

Among the most unusual experimental projects of the decade came through the work of Roland Payen, who began working on novel swept-wing aircraft in the early 1930s. Payen designed several novel aircraft with unusual wing arrangements, using a canard forward and a delta wing aft. The Pa.101, using a 300hp Gnome-Rhone radial, might have challenged the speed record for landplanes, but was written off after a crash during flight testing. In 1939, ONERA [13] acquired Payen’s Pa.22 design for flight and wind-tunnel testing. The tandem wing designs of Maurice Delanne also attracted notice from ONERA, but interest from the Aeronavale and the Armee de l’Aire for actual production aircraft was limited solely to experiments.

Of more interest to the armed forces was Rene Dorand’s GII helicopter [3], manufactured by Dorand’s own Societe Francaise Du Gyroplane, in collaboration with Breguet. The GII, which first flew in 1937, was one of the most modern helicopters in the world, and performed well enough that both the Armee de l’Aire and the Aeronavale ordered production versions for testing. The Atlantean firm Roth joined the development project and provided a number of major changes for production-ready craft. In mid 1938, a demonstration unit of GIIs was formed to participate in the Rif-Atlas War, where they received modest employment as artillery spotters and reconnaissance aircraft. From this deployment, Dorand accumulated a great deal of information as a result of these deployments, and in September 1940, held a conference on helicopter design at Ivry-sur-Seine outside Paris.

Following news of the flight of German turbojets and Italian motorjets, the Armee de l’Aire also sharply increased its interest in jet technology.

Notes
Note [1]: Historic fact, event, development, or model.
Note [2]: Timeline advanced by use of the +3 Rule.
Note [3]: Historic but never entered service (usually as a result of WWII), or entered service following wartime disruptions..
Note [4]: Ahistoric development.
Note [5]: When I introduce ahistorical aircraft, it’s highly likely I’ll “precycle” names from existing French aircraft, as I do here with the Rafale, and do later with the Breguet Épaulard.
Note [6]: The D.520 always struck me as a good-looking plane, partly because of its similarity to the Spitfire.
Note [7]: The OTL SNCAC NC.150.
Note [8]: Historical aircraft acquired for license.
Note [9]: In exchange for the MS.440, the French provide Switzerland with HS-12Z engines and help Doflug develop the 422mph D-3803 for release in autumn 1941.
Note [10]: Look at the historical Do-217 for an OTL example of a similar system.
Note [11]: Historically developed by SNCASO as the SO-30.
Note [12]: Before anyone decides to whine, this is two years later than historical.
Note [13]: ONERA - Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aéronautiques .

An interesting overview of the current aeronautical situation and the projected development over the next few years.

Thanks. Once it's into 1941, I'll probably address any new planes that I didn't touch on here (but I think I got all the main ones).

Great post Brock. Some interesting stuff in there and I like the way you've put the threads together.

Leduc will certainly build a very sophisicated machine, if anything its appearance will do much to ensure the Miles M.52 is completed in WW. Likley as not Italy won't be far behind and Germany had some 1944 ramjet designs that could see the light of day in WW too.
I'm pretty sure the sound barrier will be smashed earlier than OTL, without the war interrupting development (and also the lack of wartime research actually hindering development) things will be quite different.

Thanks. I might need to add stuff to it later - but I think I got everything I needed. (Whew!)

[SIZE=3]French Army - Army de Terre[/SIZE]
OOC Notes:
Historically, the French regarded Germany as their expected future enemy. Post-WWI, the French had suffered grave casualties which required over a generation to replenish, and the French nation did not wish to engage in yet another costly war. Additionally, capable generals from the Great War, promoted rapidly into positions of authority, stayed on in their roles postwar, leading to a stagnation of ideas within the French Army, and a doctrine that largely evolved around defense: “not losing” as opposed to winning. Although a number of individuals correctly analyzed the difficulty, the combination of unrealistic expectations about German plans and France’s own capabilities led to a poisonous situation that resulted in France’s rapid defeat in May 1940.

However, in Wesworld, a number of factors appear to be at variance with historical events. First, and most obviously, France did not entrust its defence to the construction of the Maginot Line, instead using those resources to develop other facets of the armed forces (and civil structure). Included in that is a more sound combined-arms doctrine than France historically developed. Second, France’s willingness to abolish Great War reparations in the late 1920s suggests that, unlike historically, the French people and government did not intend to “ensure the Hun never rose again”. Third, the faster Entente victory (Armistice in 11/11/1917) in the Great War removed a full year of bloody engagements - and both the French and the Germans thus benefit. Fourth, France has a number of potential enemies aside from Germany: the creation of AEGIS places France in the middle of three individually-smaller but formidable powers in the form of Italy, Iberia, and the Netherlands. [1] Fifth, and finally, France has the possibility of facing much more developed military opposition in their outremer holdings (Africa and Asia).

It is therefore my opinion that, based on Wesworld history as is currently canon, the French Army has a number of key places where, by intent or accident, it diverges from the historical. I wrote the events of the Rif-Atlas War, started by my illustrious predecessor, as a way of subtly demonstrating these changes and serving as the rationale for a further point-of-divergence.

Over the future, I intend to develop the Armee de Terre in much the same vein as Charles de Gaulle proposed in his 1934 book Vers l’Armée de Métier (“The Army of the Future”), which proposed an professional army based on mobile armour and armoured infantry. [2] As de Gaulle argued, this sort of army favors the French demographics of the period; in Wesworld, though the French demographics are not quite as bad, the need for a more fluid defense and offense against potential enemies (be it in Metropolitan France or abroad) makes this plan more realistic. Additionally, as an ally of two of the world's leading modern armies (Atlantis and Russia), France has substantial reasons to seek more modern tactics.

Recruitment and Composition of the Army
[SIZE=1]Agent148 sent me this excellent write-up of how the French Army is recruited. At the present time, I have nothing I can add to it, and therefore post it here in its entirety.[/SIZE]

Quoted

The Armee de Terre is divided into two distinct formations, although both function in tactically the same way, they are recruited differently, and operate under somewhat different conditions.

The Metropolitian Army of France, is recruited by conscription exclusively, only it's officers are generally long-term volunteers/professionals. Every french male of 20 years of age, is liable for three years service with the colours, five if assigned to a specialist branch. The majority of recruits - generally men from an agricultural background, although just as often they could be shop assistancts, small craftsmen and factory workers, or clerks and teachers depended on their area of recruitment - traditionally are assigned to the infantry branch, with certain size and weight restrictions limiting those who could serve in the cavalry branch. Service in the artillery and engineers was reserved for those who had worked in technical fields, such as railways or in public works projects.

Following their active service, a conscript passed into the Reserve for a period of 11 years. Each infantry regiment and light infantry battalion, maintained a reserve unit into which these reservists were assigned, if mobilized for war purposes, these reserse units were to be used for garrison and line-of-communications duties or to help form reserve infantry divisions. On completion of service within the Reserves, each conscript then passed into the Territorials for a further 7 years service. Following this the conscript, was then directed into the Territorial Reserves for a final 7 years, making for a total of 28 years service. Both the Territorials and Territorial Reserves were intended purely as local defence units, and only mobilized in war time in moments of extreme emergency. Typically both units would be deployed on line-of-communications and labour duties for making and maintaining trench systems, roads and railway lines.

By law, no conscipt soldier in the Metropolitian Army may serve outside continental France, in peacetime.

The second force within the Armee de Terre is the Colonial Army, which has answered to various departments over time. Originally considered part of the Ministry of the Marine & Colonies, when it was first formed, the Colonial Army has bounced administratively between the Ministry of he Marine, the later independent Ministry of Colonies, and the Ministry of War. It wasn't until 1900 that the Colonial Army was formally transferred to the control of the General Staff of the Army. Even then the Colonial Army maintained what amounted to an effective independent administrative structure.

The soldiers of the Colonial Army are recruited from two primary sources, volunteers from metropolitian France, French colonial conscripts and the indigenous peoples of the French Colonial Possessions. Colonial Army units are catagories, into several traditional types depending on where they were recruited and who they were recruited from. Regiments and battalions of infantry raised in North Africa, were for instance entitled tirailleurs if raised from the indigenous peoples. If they were raised from french volunteers or french colonist conscripts, they were termed zouaves. North Africa also produced two types of light cavalry for service within the Colonial Army, chasseurs d'Afrique and spahis. The former being recruited from Frenchmen, the later from native elements. Units recruited in other French colonial possessions followed the same format. A third type of formations was that of mixed combat regiments or battalions drawn from both french and native volunteers and colonial conscripts, and these units were generally dubbed Colonial in addition to their branch of service or area title.

2) the French Ministry of War, is during 1937 considered raising the conscript service period from 3 years, to 5 years, for infantry, and from 5 years to 7 years for those serving in technical branches such as the engineers and artillery. The last time the army considered such a move to increase it's reserves of trained soldiery, the Chamber of Deputies nearly rioted, at the turn of the century. The fight to block an increase of 1 year to the previous 2 years conscript service for infantry, and 3 years for technical branches caused the socialist deputies to revolt! The extension was passed only by a narrow margin in both the Chamber and the Senate.

The Rif-Atlas War and Novel Developments
Following the Rif-Atlas War, the French Army analyzed their performance and identified a number of points they wished to improve on:
- Motorized / Armoured Infantry: more vehicles, and less expensive and effective vehicles, are required.
- Tanks and lightly-armoured vehicles: the universal application of radios to the gear of scout and armoured vehicles, permitting better reporting of enemy movements and swifter response to developing situations.
- Paratroopers: Further development of suitable cargo aircraft and tactics; the expansion of training and capabilities.

Small Arms
France is generally well-situated for small arms as a result of the FAR Standardized Small Arms Program. The infantry is slowing converting over to the new MAS-36 semiautomatic rifle (in 6.5x51) and equipping with the modern FM-37 general-purpose machine gun in the same round. Although side arms are not standard issue for most solders, officers are equipping with the Fabrique Nationale GP35 Hi-Power pistol.

French mortars are well-enough known and close enough to historical that I don’t feel it’s necessary to go into them here.

Tanks
By 1937, the Armee de Terre has a plethora of tank designs in service, ranging from the ancient FT-17 tank to the light AMR-series and Hotchkiss H35 light tanks to the monstrous 69-ton FCM 2C-bis. Part of this is due to the lack of a centralized institution responsible for overseeing tank development, with each branch of the service submitting vague requirements and leaving it to the manufacturing committees to answer them. In December 1937, the French Army changed this situation with the creation of the Direction des Études et Fabrications d'Armement or DEFA, which was charged with, among other things, all future tank design. DEFA incorporated the Army’s earlier Les Armements et les Tactiques le Spéciales Corps, which had formed in February 1936 to serve as a testing and demonstration unit both for vehicles and tactics. ATSC retained most of its independence but reported to DEFA, which was responsible for offering strategic guidance and making final recommendations to the Army. DEFA’s tank design committee spent much of 1938 analyzing the performance of armoured vehicles in field exercises as well as the Rif-Atlas War. In late 1937, however, DEFA did approve the adoption of the internationally-developed Transall TT-37 as an interim response to tank developments elsewhere in Europe; the rapid proliferation of heavily-armed and protected Asian tanks even in remote backwaters such as Persia caused some concern, leading to significantly larger acquisitions of TT-37s than otherwise planned. The TT37 was the first French tank to receive an informal type name, becoming the Char 2E “Lefebvre”.

Development of the D4 Char Coloniale pressed forward in mid-1937, and a number of units of this type saw service in the Rif-Atlas War in General Billotte’s Batalillon de Chars de Combat de coloniale. This tank, armed with a 57mm gun and powered by a diesel engine, was an improvement on many of the older French tanks and provided a great deal of technical information for future French tank design. However, by 1939, no further orders of the D4 were placed; the Armee de Terre was concerned at the rapid distribution of very well-armed and armoured modern tanks even to countries such as Persia and Latvia. By February 1939, the Deuxième Bureau [3] determined the use of a high-velocity 90mm AA gun on the newest Indian tanks, and anticipated that other powers would shortly thereafter move to larger high-velocity guns. Renault, having already worked on the D4 Char Coloniale, had seen the developing trend and reported working on a new "D5" tank.

Another concern for DEFA was the selection of a better suspension system. Most French tanks of the 1930s used either leaf-and-spring, vertical coil, or horizontal helical suspension; only the TT-37 used Christie suspension, although that system was standard on most Atlantean and Russian tanks. The French tankers, when presented with opportunities to test allied tanks, universally approved of the superior suspension systems, as well as a number of other advances. In 1939, an engineer for Transall, François Auteuil, developed a new torsion-bar suspension system design. The new Auteuil Suspension was selected for future French tanks, and largely replaced older suspension designs.

By December 1939, DEFA, in collaboration with the Delacroix Committee (responsible for reviewing the events of the Rif-Atlas War and reports from other period conflicts) recommended that future French tank development be organized in only two overall categories. The first was a lightweight “destroyer” tank suitable for scouting, covering the flanks of an advancing infantry or armoured force, and engaging in the pursuit of defeated enemy forces. The second category, more radical, called for a “Char de croiser de bataille” or “battlecruiser tank” capable of serving both as an infantry tank and a cruiser tank. This would be supplemented, when necessary, by heavy breakthrough tanks, although the Delacroix Committee recommended this duty be given to assault guns such as the SAu-35 (OTL SAu-40).

Infantry Carriers
The founding of DEFA was less immediately obvious in the development of infantry carriers. During the Rif-Atlas War, numerous infantry commanders requested more Voiture blindée de chasseurs portée 38L vehicles for carrying infantry in a protected vehicle. Infantry units assigned with these carriers demonstrated more effective performance than infantry units moving solely on foot, or even in trucks. However, the Armee de Terre was concerned about the high cost of the fully-tracked Lorraine 37L, and requested that interested companies propose a less-expensive alternative design for infantry carriers. One of the other faults identified with the VBCP-38L was the need for a trailer to carry most of the troops, which further increased cost over comparable half-tracks.

Of the resulting responses, including an improved Citroen-Kregesse halftrack, the Armee de Terre showed the greatest interest in Transall’s all-wheeled “Transporter blindée Type-42”. The eight-wheeled TB42 offered a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour and carried twelve soldiers and two crewmen, with. While a number of other designs provided similar performance, Transall’s entry set itself above the crowd by it’s amphibious capability, with two propellers on the aft end of the vehicle. This capability was advertised “for rapid river crossings”, but additionally gained the interest of the Fusiliers Marins, the infantry arm of the French Navy. In February and March of 1941, a convoy of TB42 infantry carriers was assigned to undertake “The Black Cruise”, being transported by ship to Abidjan in Ghana, and then driving overland to Algiers. Although the journey was difficult and the vehicles suffered a number of breakdowns, all six of the TB42s successfully arrived in Algiers for transport back to France, where the vehicles were then driven from the Cote d’Azur to Dunkerque on the English Channel.

Artillery
One of the French Army’s highest priorities in the late 1930s - and one of the most contentious areas - was in the updating of field artillery. The famous “French 75” (Matériel de 75mm Mle 1897) had a long and illustrious service life, endearing itself to the minds of both the French public and the generals themselves. Unfortunately, this legacy also made the gun somewhat difficult to replace, as many officers, even junior ones, thought that “what was good enough for 1915 is good enough for 1935”. Others, more far-seeing, disagreed, and pushed for the development of a new field gun, which eventually occurred with the acquisition of the Canon de 105 court mle 1935B.

However, the sheer number of French 75s in service offered a number of opportunities for other uses. Large numbers of the best-maintained French 75s were mounted on new split-tail carriages permitting a wider angle of traverse and lower stance. Once equipped with muzzle-brakes, these guns were widely adopted as antitank guns, a job made easier through the introduction of Swiss engineer Henry Mohaupt’s special antitank shells in early 1940. [4] A number of these improvised AT guns were also installed on the chassis of the Lorraine 37L tracked carrier for better battlefield maneuverability. The Lorraine 37L was additionally used as the base vehicle for a self-propelled gun modification of the French 75. [5]

Although large numbers of Mle 1897s were converted into antitank guns at a significantly reduced cost per unit, a more permanent solution still was sought, with conversions of both 75mm and 90mm antiaircraft guns, suitably placed on a more appropriate carriage, being considered. As of 1940, however, no firm decision was made. The French Army additionally investigated the design of a 155mm field howitzer, and regularly evaluated equipment from Russia and Atlantis.

Notes
- Note [1]: For various OOC reasons, I do not believe this is a likely conflict at the present time, and since 1935, France and Iberia have sought a sort of peaceful detente. This has been largely mimicked be detente between France’s ally Atlantis and Iberia. Additionally, the Belgians stand between the Netherlands and France, so this scenario would be a three-front war only if someone invaded Belgium first (which wouldn’t be me).
- Note [2]: This is a historical book which substantially affected - by their own admission - blitzkrieg proponents like Guderian.
- Note [3]: The Deuxième Bureau is France’s foreign intelligence organization, charged with determining the capabilities of enemy (or potential enemy) equipment, units, and plans. The Deuxième Bureau, from the 1910s to 1940, was acknowledged as one of the world’s best cryptanalysis organizations; for instance, in 1914 they broke the German diplomatic codes and decyphered the German declaration of war on France before the German ambassador’s office in Paris did.
- Note [4]: Historical introduction of HEAT shells. Mohaupt worked closely with the French and British in OTL, and the French historically shared the HEAT principal to the US in 1940 (the US promptly recruited him). In WWTL, he was recruited in 1937 by Yugoslavia.
- Note [5]: These developments of the “French 75” are based on the developments the French made in the pre-1939 days, and which the Germans made in 1941 to turn captured French guns into emergency AT guns. The French conversions were called Canon de 75 mm mle 1897 modifié 1933. The self-propelled gun is based off of historical German conversions - although they used 155mm and 105mm guns, whereas I just used a 75mm gun. (Maybe later.)

[SIZE=3]"All the News That's Fit to Print."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=1]Note: this covers a mixed-bag of various news items from 1937 to 1940ish.[/SIZE]

Exposition Internationale, 1937
From May to November of 1937, Paris hosted the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (the International Exposition dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life) [1]. The expo drew large delegations, particularly from allied Russia and neighboring Germany. The Russian pavilion included a highly-artistic sculptured pavilion which included exhibits on both the public and private economic sectors in Russia. The German pavilion, designed with “restraint” in contrast to the Russian pavilion, displayed exhibits showing the use of technology to improve lifestyle while not overwhelming humanity. [2] Canadian sculptor Joseph-Émile Brunet displayed a number of paintings in the Canadian pavilion, and displayed a 28-foot tall sculpture of a bison. [1] The French, in contrast, celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the Arc de Triomphe, and inaugurated the Palais des Musées d'art moderne [3], as well as an aquarium and planetarium.

Defense
In 1938, the government approved a plan to develop a national air-defense network based on radar stations. New radar stations will be jointly developed by Thomson CSF and it's Atlantean subsidiary Thomson Mechanike Ergastiri Electronike (aka "Atlantean Thomson"), although SAGEM will also play a key role.

Government
In 1938, the coalition government of André Léon Blum resigned and was replaced by the ministry of Édouard Daladier. Le Brun remains President of France.

Indochina
Groundbreaking on the new Atelier Industriel de l'Aéronautique d'Indochine (Industrial Aviation Workshops of Indochina) plant in the city of Bien Hoa occurred in February 1940. The AIAI will be managed by Loire-Nieuport. The proposed plant, jointly financed by the colonial administration and the French military, will be completed in three stages. The first and second stages, to be completed by the end of 1940, will permit the maintenance and modification of Armee de l’Aire airplanes in the Indochina region, and then the production of the LN-180 training biplane (the license-built Belgian Stampe SV.4).

Economic Assistance to Lithuania
Acting on earlier offers of economic assistance to the war-torn Lithuanian state, the Paris-based Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas, in partnership with Air France and Aeroflot, advanced a proposal to the Lithuanian government to create Lietuvos Avialinijos (Lithuanian Air Lines) in 1937. According to the proposal, starting capital will be provided in a 60-20-20 ratio: the Banque de Paris et des Pays Bas will provide 60% of starting capital as a low-interest loan to the Lithuanian government; 20% will be provided by Air France; and 20% will be provided by either the Lithuanian government or Lithuanian-based investors. Aeroflot will assist as a non-financially-contributing partner. The startup capital will cover the acquisition of aircraft as well as rebuilding the Vilnius Airport. The airline will be headquartered in Vilnius. Four brand-new Bloch MB.220 airliners will be provided by Air France, painted in a special dark green scheme with gold pinstriping; though they will be lettered for Lietuvos Avialinijos they will be owned by Air France until such a time as Lietuvos Avialinijos has sufficient funds necessary to purchase them. Technical personnel will be provided to train Lithuanian pilots and ground crews in operating and maintaining the aircraft.

As part of the rebuilding efforts, Bloch and Arsenal de l'Aéronautique both made bids to assist in modernizing ANBO, Lithuania’s only indigenous aircraft manufacturer, for the modern era. The Bloch offer covers the construction of a new manufacturing facility, a maintenance facility, and access to license-build Bloch designs. The maintenance group will also be provided with experience to service the MB.220 airliners offered for Lietuvos Avialinijos. Arsenal’s offer is smaller, offering to assist in an overhaul of the current ANBO shop, as well as providing the license to the Arsenal VG-series fighter aircraft.

1938 World Cup
France hosted the 1938 World Cup, with the final match held in Paris between Iberia and Hungary. The Hungarians won the cup, beating Iberia 2 to 1.

Algeria
In mid-1938, the Bureau de Recherches de Pétroles received a contract to develop a new natural gas field in eastern Algeria. This field, with a number of small test-wells already drilled, is believed to contain substantial helium reserves, which the French military wishes to extract to use in airship gas. [4]

Merchant Marine
In 1939, Louis de Chappedelaine (Daladier's Minister of Merchant Marine) presented a plan to "invigorate" the French merchant fleet.

Antarctic Research
A Royal Condor owned by the Antarctic Research Consortium made the history books with the first intercontinental aircraft flight to Antarctica on December 12th, 1938. Under the hands of French pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Chilean copilot Andres Gryf, and Atlantean navigator Agamemnon Dace, the Royal Condor lifted off from Puntas Arenas shortly before the local dawn, with a light cargo and no passengers. The plane then turned south and flew across the Drake Passage toward Atlantis's Janus Station. After a flight of five and a half hours, the Royal Condor touched down for a smooth landing on the blue-ice runway at Janus.

Due to the cold, the pilots kept the engines running as they unloaded the plane and refueled from drums brought ashore from the Arctica. With cargo unloaded, the crew took aboard an ill expedition member, flared the engines, and flew back north to Puntas Arenas, with Gryf taking the controls to prevent Saint-Exupéry from becoming fatigued. Nevertheless Saint-Exupéry was back at the controls when the Condor returned to Puntas Arenas and a crowd of celebratory onlookers.

ARC's return to Antarctica in the summer of 1939-40 began with the construction of more supply camps for the Polar base.

Miscellaneous
- Roger Martin du Gard wins the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature.
- A far-spanning aurora is seen across Europe, visible as far south as Gibraltar, on the 25th of January, 1938.
- The film Le Quai des brumes (Port of Shadows) opens on May 18th, 1938, starring Jean Gabin, Michèle Morgan and Michel Simon. It won the Prix Louis-Delluc, France’s highest cinematic prize. An earlier film, La grande illusion, is later deemed one of the 100 best movies of history. [1]

Deaths:
- Gaston Doumergue, former Prime Minister and President of France, on the 18th of June, 1937.
- Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the International Olympic Committee, on the 2nd of September, 1937.
- Maurice Ravel, French classical composer, on the 28th of December, 1937.

Notes:
- Note [1]: Historical fact or event.
- Note [2]: Historically, the German pavilion was designed in contrast to the Soviet Union’s pavilion to represent a “bulwark against Communism”, and decorated with the eagle and swastika. Obviously, some changes are made in Wesworld.
- Note [3]: Now known as the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; in OTL the building is called the Palais de Tokyo.
- Note [4]: Algeria historically has 21% of earth’s helium reserves. Although the US is the main historical supplier, the larger numbers of large airships remaining make this a beneficial development, as France will likely become the #2 supplier.

Very informative summary. I am glad that the exposition did not see a replay of the historical German/Russian one-up-manship.

Quoted

Originally posted by BruceDuncan
Very informative summary. I am glad that the exposition did not see a replay of the historical German/Russian one-up-manship.

Thanks. Though Nazi-vs.-Communist rivalries make for interesting reading on Wikipedia...

Quoted

Very informative summary. I am glad that the exposition did not see a replay of the historical German/Russian one-up-manship.

that never works out too well.