WesWorld

The Republic of France maintains an Army of 6 Field Armies, 18 Corps, 8 Cavalry Divisions, and 72 Infantry Divisions, not including the Foreign Legion and local Colonial forces. One Army is maintained abroad, at full strength, in various French possessions. The remaining 5 Field Armies are maintained in France at peacetime strength.

The equipment (except tanks) for another 4 Field Armies is maintained, but these units are staffed only to maintain the reserve equipment.

The 1921 Rifle Division has a mobilized strength of 19,000 men, and a peacetime strength of 6,000, with 78 guns/howitzers, 36 mortars and 300 machine guns. It is organized as follows:
3 Rifle Regiments (6x 75mm guns, 12x 81mm mortars)
1 Tank Company (17 FT-17 tanks)
1 Artillery Regiment (36x 75mm field guns, 12x 105mm howitzers, and 12x 155mm howitzers)
1 Engineer Company
1 Signal Company
Headquarters and Rear Service units

The Rifle Corps has a mobilized strength of 80,000men, a peacetime strength of 36,000, and consists of the following:
4 Rifle Divisions
1 Tank Battalion (54 FT-17 tanks)
1 Heavy Howitzer Artillery Brigade (24x 105mm, 24x 155mm)
1 Heavy Mortar Bn (12x 270mm mortar)
1 Engineer Regiment
1 Signal Battalion
Headquarters and Rear Service Units

The Field Army has a mobilized strength of 230,000 to 240,000 men, a peacetime strength of 110,000 to 113,000, and consists of the following:
3 Rifle Corps
1-2 Cavalry Divisions
1 Tank Regiment (162 FT-17 Tanks)
1 Heavy Howitzer Artillery Brigade (24x 105mm, 24x 155mm)
1 Gun Artillery Regiment (36x 220mm guns)
1 Engineer Regiment
1 Signal Battalion
Headquarters and Rear Service Units

The Cavalry Division has a mobilized strength 10,000 men, a peacetime strength of 3,200, and consists of the following:
3 Cavalry Brigades of 2 Regiments each (4 Squadrons per regiment)
1 Cavalry Artillery Regiment (36x 75mm guns)
1 Engineer Squadron
1 Signal Squadron
Headquarters and Rear Service Units

A number of Cavalry Divisions are beginning experiments with armored cars, half-tracked trucks, vehicle-mounted artillery, and light tanks. Few definitive conclusions can presently be drawn from these efforts.

French Heavy Artillery and Tank Reserves The following weapons are held as a central reserve, to be assigned to Armies as required for their operations:

3 Independent Tank Regiments (162 FT-17 tanks)

8x 370mm railway howitzers in 2 Battalions
18x 279mm railway howitzers in 3 battalions
36 305mm railway guns in 6 battalions
120x 240mm howitzers in 10 Battalions
24x 370mm railway mortars in 6 battalions
60x 240mm mortars in 10 battalions.

The French Army in France is deployed as follows:

1st Army - HQ Belfort - 12 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Divisions - responsible for the Franco-German border.

2nd Army - 12 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Divisions - HQ Amiens - responsible for northern France and the Channel coast

3rd Army - HQ Paris - 12 Infantry and 2 Cavalry Divisions - Reserve

4th Army - HQ Toulouse - 12 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Divisions - responsible for the Franco-Iberian border, the Bay of Biscay, and the Mediterrainian coast to Beziers.

5th Army - HQ Grenoble - 12 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Divisions - responsible for the Franco-Italian border and the Mediterranian coast from Beziers to the Italian border. Includes 1 Infantry Division on Corsica.

The French Army overseas is deployed as follows:

6th Army - HQ Oran - Subordinate units widely distributed among the French territorial possessions

16th Corps - HQ Oran - 4 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Divisions in North Africa. 3 Regiments of the Foreign Legion and 2 Colonial Divisions suppliment this force.

17th Corps - HQ Damascus - 3 Infantry and 1 Cavalry Division in Syria and 1 Division in Djibuti and the French islands of the Indian Ocean. 2 Regiments of the Foreign Legion and 1 Colonial Division suppliment this force.

18th Corps - HQ Saigon - 3 Infantry Divisions in Indochina and 1 Infantry Division in New Caledonia. 1 Colonial Division and 2 Regiments of the Foreign Legion suppliment this force.

The F.O.E.S. (Frenchmen Of Extraordinary Stature) are a company-sized special warfare unit equipped with the PTRS 14mm rifle. They are organized as follows:

Squad:
1 Squad Leader
2 Heavy Riflemen
1 Machine Gunner
1 Machine Gun Loader
4 Riflemen

Platoon:
1 Platoon Leader
1 NCO
1 Medic
4 Squads

Company
1 Commander
1 NCO
2 Messengers
4 Platoons

Their number totals 160, and they are armed with 32 PTRS, 16 Machineguns, 108 Rifles, and other weaponry required for their missions. They derive their name from the large and powerful men who are armed with the PTRS heavy rifle. At present they are employed in Indochina on a special security assignment.

"The bigger they come, the harder they fall (and easier to see!!)"

...Siamese officers will yell, "fire!" Their men will take that literally.

Quoted

Siamese officers will yell, "fire!" Their men will take that literally

hence the asbestos ghillie suits.

I suspect French air and Artillary assets will be equally formidable force multipliers.

*raises eyebrow* 80 divisions?! I seriously hope those aren't all standing.

The population of France in 1928 was 41 million and in 1914 France had 910,000 military personell, both Army and Navy. Durring WW1 they managed to mobilize 4,017,000.

Given the fact that French rifle divisions can range between 6,000 and 19,000 its certainly not a stretch to see 80 divisions set up. At full strength thats around 1,520,000.

At the low point in the "Empty Years" from 1933 - 1937, the French Army could mobilize 80 divisions. By 1939 it was up to 110, and there were about 120 in 1940. The French Army had 2.4 million men in the field in May 1940.

As to their present state, 6th Army is maintained at full strength, while one Corps of 1st-5th Armies are at full strength. All other infantry units are at mobilization strength.

In 1st-5th Armies, tank and non-divisional artillery units are at full strength, as is the Paris Cavalry Division.

Italy feels slightly outnumbered at 300,000 man total strength...

Liberal sprinkling of automatic weapons and mortars might make up for it slightly, and the mountains.

Heh. Germany KNOWS it's outnumbered with 450,000 and borders with France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Italy, but at the moment there's little prospect of a continental war so the Reichstag is ignoring the chance to panic.

Heh, IIRC France had the largest land army at the outbreak of war in Western europe.

Quoted

Originally posted by Red Admiral
Italy feels slightly outnumbered at 300,000 man total strength...

Liberal sprinkling of automatic weapons and mortars might make up for it slightly, and the mountains.

That depends on if your attacking or defending.

That's, um, a lot. The old saw, "Just because you could, doesn't mean you should," comes to mind here. I can understand that many in a war-time stance, WesWorld Brazil (for example) has a maximum strength of 72 divisions, assuming a full mobilization, but has just 24 divisions peacetime strength. However, I have a hard time believing anybody could maintain 80 divisions during peacetime, that just seems incredible.

Keep in mind that a lot of those divisions were conscript leg infantry, so cheap to equip and keep in uniform. Most all of the rifles, support weapons, and ammunition were produced during the WWI timeframe, so there's no cost there other than maintenance, and most of the parts you'd be using were also produced in the WWI period so they're nearly free.

2 of the Field Armies are maintained at full strength. The other Armies have a single Corps at full strength, with the rest at peacetime strength.

Conscription is thought to be beneficial for several reasons. It exposes men of different regions and social classes to one another, increasing knowlege and appreciation for what it is to be a Frenchman, and giving all experience of effectively communicating and working together, strengthening social solidarity. And of course, the large pool of trained reservists is not to be overlooked.

AdmKutznetsov: I think you're getting your terms mixed up here. "Full strength" means the TO&E is entirely filled out, which is frankly impossible even with conscription for too many reasons to count. For a highly motivated and small volunteer army like the American army, 2-5% understrength is the norm in peacetime. For a very large conscript army, I'd imagine 7-10% understrength would be the norm.

However, when I say standing, I mean it's an active division and not a reserve. Reserve divisions are considered "stood down" until they're activated.

Hrolf: Upkeep costs aren't inconsequential. A division like the one you're talking about (which in fact won't be all light infantry, all divisions require specialist support) would cost about $500 million in the here and now to fund (I'm probably being generous), which translates to about $33 million in 1934 dollars. That's the equivalent of 2-3 brand new Class B cruisers every year. Alternately, that's the upkeep costs for 24 Class B cruisers. Just goes to show you how not-cheap a division is.

Keep in mind that conscript leg infantry divisions of the early-mid 1930s have few specialists, they'll be officers, doctors, vets (for the horses), and a percentage of the artillery, but that's about it. There are very few vehicles (a couple of staff cars, probably), salaries are low (you're not competing with the outside world for bodies), benefits are low, training would likely be cheaper, and no electronics. All that adds up to relatively lower cost than a straight extrapolation from the cost of a modern professional army would suggest. Costs would be closer to the equivalent of a modern conscript division, but the support costs are lower.