FRENCH WAR STRATEGY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 190, 8 May 1937, Page 8 (Supplement)

FRENCH WAR STRATEGY

Change Foreshadowed There are indications of considerable changes taking place in French strategy as a result of German rearmament, according to Major-General A. C. Ttmperioy, the Military Corresimndent of the London •■Daily Telegraph.” When the German Army was wea, rheie was no doubt that ’the French Army aillierml to its determination that, if another war was to be fought, it should not l,e fought on French soil. The object of constructing the Maginot line w:i.-. primarily to guard against the danger of a surprise attack by mechamcal forces before mobilisation was complete, but it would also enable large forces to be released for offensive operations elsewhere. Immediately after the war, the French had concluded that though tanks were a powerful assistance to the infantry in attack, they could not fulfil their mission unless‘they themselves were protected against artillery fire. This wa s embodied in French Army regulations i n 1921. The results or flip British development of light h'M ''''‘lbible of high speed, and of the belief that rapidity of movement gave the necessary protection, had turned the more progressive minds in lianee toward the same conclusions, lhey believed that such a force could break through the gaps in the German defences and attack them in flank and in roar.

Dator, as German rearmament began to grow am] anti-tank guns were multiplied, the pendulum began to swing back to the old conception. After the development of the three German armoured divisions, it came to be realised that the gaps in their own defences might be exploited in Hirn, and that the “boot would be on the other leg. ’ The regulations issued this year lay down that the defensive would be dominated by the necessity of forcing tanks to attack an organised position, the flanks of which must rest on tank obstacles. In the offensive, tank action is only to take place if covered by powerful artillery or against a position which is already disorganised. The idea of distant raids hy mechanised forces is definitely ruled out.