The Char B1 Bis was a powerful French tank that participated in the 1940 campaign in France. Despite its heavy armour and heavy armament of a 75mm hull-mounted gun and a 47mm turret-mounted gun, the Char B1 Bis did not play a major role due to its dispersal to the many different units. The early German found the Char B1 Bis to be a difficult opponent when encountered in battle.
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They called in the Stukas. And the standard Wehrmacht anti-tank weapon was a 37 mm gun, known as the 'door-knocker' to their crews. It couldn't penetrate the Allied tanks' armor.
You are right. The Ju-87s were highly effective.
Likewise, they had to improvise with 150 mm field guns and also the 88 mm AA gun.
And the problem with many of the French tanks were that the commanders were overworked. They had to function as the commander, gunner and loader at the same time!
Just wondering if you have read "Knights of the Black Cross"?
The key to the Panzerwaffe's early successes is due to their effective leadership and communications network. Not so much the qualities of the PzKws, which had to be supplemented by Czech-made ones. Heh. :)
Yes, I'm familiar with that Bryan Perrett volume though I have not read it.
There are many many sources of information.
Yes, you are right. Quite a few factors. On both German and Allied sides of course. Allied weakness mustn't be overlooked too.
Right off the head, here goes:
On a strategic level:
1. German industry supplemented by the advanced Czech industry. PzKw 35t and PzKw38t tanks.
2. The Manstein Plan
3. Allied plan to advance and reinforce Belgium and Holland
4. The reliance on the Maginot Line
5. Defeatism and general morale of the French.
6. French industrial weakness and general unpreparedness
7. German willingness to take risks
On an operational level
1. Allied dispersal of tanks
2. Allied organisation
3. German Combined arms. Airpower, armour and infantry.
4. British and French outdated doctrines. Preparation for WW1 operations.
On a tactical level
1. Radios in everything
2. 5-men tanks. 3-men in turret. Effective command.
3. German operational practice in Poland 1939, Austria/Czechoslovakia 1938, etc.
4. Tactical flexibility
On the whole, the German tanks had weaker armour, armament and smaller numbers.
Yes, I have read von Manstein, Guderian, Etterlin, von Mellethin, Liddell Hart and quite a few others. And I'm aware of modern research too.
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