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France
Tactical Notes : Equipment &
Defense Notes : Troops & Units : Keys Despite their sophisticated pre-war research into
camouflage uniforms and advanced tactical doctrines, the French Army began the
war in 1914 with obsolete equipment, uniforms and training. Their doctrine of
the offensive prevented the creation of a heavy artillery arm, and interfered
with any attempt to train men in the intricacies of field works. These
purposeful omissions, which were made for purely emotional reasons, were to
cost France dearly in lives lost.
Tactical
Notes:
As with other nations, French line infantry began the war
operating in close order. They are known to have been operating in open order
by the start of the Somme Offensive in June, 1916, something they had probably
been doing since at least late the year before. Even though they abandoned
close order formations sooner than other allied armies, they never really
picked up on the use of assault troops as aggressively as the Germans, although
they seem to have employed picked men to lead off their assaults. As in the
German Army, some hide-bound French officers continued attempting to use close
order formations after others had stopped using them. The army certainly
employed captured technologies with more gusto than the British, with both
flamethrowers and gas warfare agents being prime examples.
Equipment & Defense Notes:
The standard field
gun for French units was the Model 1897 75mm, which is shell size
5 for game play. All trench mortar quantities mentioned in the
troop and unit lists are approximations. Below are the defense values used to
establish troop defenses (if any) to be used during the setup phase of the
game. These defensive levels are meant only as rough averages. Players creating
their own scenarios may want to adjust them for different situations. For
example, an "old" battlefield may have very heavy wire entanglements and many
pillboxes. A "new" battlefield located in an area not previous fought over
would have very little or no wire entanglements and no bunkers. See the
Game Setup page or Advanced Game Setup for more information.
- Defense Setup:
- 1914 | Trench ½40
- 1915 | Trench ½40 | Wire ½40 | Pillbox ¼
- 1916 | Trench ½70 | Wire ½40 | Pillbox ½ | Bunker ¼
- 1917 | Trench ½70 | Wire ½40 | Pillbox 1 | Bunker ½
- 1918 | Trench ½70 | Wire ½70 | Pillbox 1 | Bunker ½
French wartime usage of defensive positions went through
several stages. During 1915 and 1916, nearly all French commanders kept the
bulk of their armed strength in the front trenches. This was done in the belief
that an enemy breakthrough needed to be stopped at the front and that troops
needed to be kept available for immediate counter-attack (this thinking was a
natural extension of the doctrine of the offensive). Unfortunately, this system
guaranteed the maximum number of casualties to barrage fire, as packed trenches
suffered greatly from hours or days of German heavy artillery fire. Only a
small number of officers supported the concept of non-linear or "elastic"
defense in depth using staggered sets of bunkers and other hard points. But it
was not until 1917 that the high command began allowing such a deployment. The
transition resulted in average defense depths of several miles instead of the
few hundred yards which had previously existed in some low-intensity zones
before this time (high intensity zones would have greater depth to their
defenses, even if that depth was defended primarily from its front
edge).
Troops and Units:
The orders
of battle shown below offer a list of average unit values in order to give 1916
players an idea of how historical formations should be represented for game
play. Real life units varied in type, strength and quality, depending on their
location and readiness level. Overall, there were a huge variety of units
created during the war, from forestry battalions to assault companies. This
prevents us from trying to list them all, and players are encouraged to use
these lists as guidelines for creating other units they would like to use on
the battlefield.
- Trench Raiders
- Units:1 | Bases:1 | Morale:Reckless | Training:Great | Machine Guns:1 Light | Note:Probably used only for night time hit and run attacks to take
prisoners, gather intelligence, etc..
- Nettoyers (pronounced: net-wah-yeh)
1916+
- Units:3 | Bases:1 | Morale:Brave | Training:Great | Special:One
base may have flamethrowers. | Note:Called "trench cleaners," these units were used behind
advancing troops to clear pockets of resistance. Not used as assault
troops.
- Assault Detachment (Divisional level)
1917+
- Units:1 | Bases:3 | Morale:Brave | Training:Great | Machine Guns:1 medium | Trench Mortars:1 light
- Cavalry Squadron
- Units:1 | Bases:12 | Morale:Steady | Training:Average
- Engineer Company
- Units:1 | Bases:6 | Morale:Steady | Training:Average Special:May
conduct engineering tasks. After late 1916, one base may have
flamethrowers.
- Infantry Battalion 1914
- Units:5 | Bases:9 | Morale:Steady | Training:Average | Machine Guns:1 medium
- Infantry Battalion 1915
- Units:5 | Bases:9 | Morale:Steady | Training:Average | Machine Guns:2 medium, 1 light
- Chasseurs Alpins Battalion 1915
- Units:7 | Bases:9 | Morale:Brave | Training:Great | Machine Guns:2 medium | Note:Not
subject to the early war limitation on open order
deployment.
- Zouave/African Battalion 1914-16
- Units:5 | Bases:9 | Morale:Brave or
Reckless | Training:Average | Machine Guns:1 or 2 medium
- Infantry Battalion 1916
- Units:5 | Bases:9 | Morale:Steady | Training:Average | Machine Guns:2 or 3 medium, 4 light
- Infantry Battalion 1917
- Units:6 | Bases:6 | Morale:Shaky | Training:Average | Machine Guns:3 medium, 3 light | Trench Mortars:1 light
- Infantry Battalion 1918
- Units:6 | Bases:6 | Morale:Shaky | Training:Average | Machine Guns:3 or 4 medium, 6 light | Trench
Mortars:1 light
- Infantry Regiment 1914-16
- Battalions:3 infantry
- Infantry Regiment 1917-18
- Battalions:3 infantry | Special:2 or 3 nettoyer units, for use behind other formations, 1 or 2
divisional assault detachments.
- Infantry Brigade 1914
- Regiments:2 infantry
- Infantry Division 1914
- Brigades:2 infantry | Other:1
cavalry squadron, 1 engineer company
- Infantry Division 1917
- Regiments:3 infantry
- Defense Setup Key:
Each line on the Defense Setup list covers the
setup values for a certain year of the war. These values are approximates only,
and players with special insights are encouraged to adjust these values
according to their own preferences, or for specific scenario elements. Below
are definitions of each basic feature type.
- 1916
The year of the war with applies to the following
defense allotments
Trench ½70 The
player receives game board trenchlines equal one-half die roll (½D6)
multiplied by seventy inches. Other multiples will be forty inches and
one-hundred inches. For example, the hypothetical player who rolled a 5 on this
die roll would be allowed to set up a maximum of 210 inches worth of fire
trenches, slit trenches and foxholes on the game board.
Wire
½40 Same die rolling method as for trenchlines,
but applies to acquisition of barbed wire entanglements. Note that for ease of
play, the length of each barbed wire segment should equal the width of an
infantry base.
Pillbox ½ Values
shown without a second number immediately following will use that final value
to establish the number of those items allowed for that player. For example:
The hypothetical player who rolled a 3 on this die roll would be allowed to set
up two pillboxes on the game board.
Bunker ¼
Same system as for pillboxes, but applies to
acquisition of bunkers instead:
- A ½ die roll means
that a 1 or 2 = One, 3 or 4 = Two, 5 or 6 = Three. A ¼ die roll means
that a: 1 through 4 = One, and a 5 or 6 = Two.
- Troop and Unit Key:
- Formation Type - Year
- Units:number of subunits in the formation ¹ |
Bases:number of bases per subunit |
Morale:approximate formation morale
| Training:approximate training level of the
units | Machine Guns:average number
of machine guns which the formation may possess |
Mortars:average number of trench mortars which the
formation may possess | Towed Cannon:average number of towed cannon which the formation may
possess. | Special:special weapons
or conditions, such as flamethrowers, etc.
¹ — Note
that higher level formations will be composed of companies, battalions or
regiments instead of bases and units.
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