Order of battle for the Battle of France

Order of battle for the Battle of France

The Order of Battle for the Battle of France details the hierarchy of the major combatant forces in the Battle of France in May 1940.

Contents

Allies

The bulk of the forces of the Allies were French, although the United Kingdom (British Expeditionary Force), Netherlands, and Belgium had significant forces in the battle opposing Germany. Supreme Command was held by the French Commander-in-Chief General de'armee Maurice Gamelin, his deputy General de'armee Alphonse Joseph Georges was appointed Commander of the North Western Front.

French First Army Group

The 1st Army Group was tasked with guarding the northeast frontier of France, and with moving into Belgium and the Netherlands to oppose any German invasion of those nations. The First controlled four French armies as well as the Belgian Army and the British Expeditionary Force. General de'armee Gaston Bilotte was Commander-in-Chief until his death in a car crash on 23 May 1940, General de'armee Georges Maurice Jean Blanchard was appointed to succeed him.

  • Belgian Army - King Leopold III of Belgium took personal command, Lieutenant General Édouard van den Bergen was Chief of the General Staff.
    • Belgian I Corps
      • 1st Infantry Division
      • 4th Infantry Division
      • 7th Infantry Division
    • Belgian II Corps
      • 6th Infantry Division
      • 11th Infantry Division
      • 14th Infantry Division
    • Belgian III Corps
      • 1st Chasseurs Ardennais
      • 2nd Infantry Division
      • 3rd Infantry Division
    • Belgian IV Corps
      • 9th Infantry Division
      • 15th Infantry Division
      • 18th Infantry Division
    • Belgian V Corps
      • 12th Infantry Division
      • 13th Infantry Division
      • 17th Infantry Division
    • Belgian VI Corps
      • 5th Infantry Division
      • 10th Infantry Division
      • 16th Infantry Division
    • Belgian Cavalry Corps
      • 1st Cavalry Division
      • 2nd Cavalry Division

French Second Army Group

The French 2nd Army Group was responsible for manning the bulk of the Maginot Line from Montmedy to south of Strasbourg, and controlled three armies. General de Armee Andre-Gaston Pretelat was Commander-in-Chief of the army group throughout its existence.

  • French 3rd Army
    • Directly reporting:
      • 3rd Light Cavalry Division
      • 6th Infantry Division
      • 6th North African Infantry Division
      • 6th Colonial Infantry Division
      • 7th Infantry Division
      • 8th Infantry Division
    • French Colonial Corps
      • 2nd Infantry Division
      • British 51st (Highland) Infantry Division
      • 56th Infantry Division
    • French 6th Corps
      • 26th Infantry Division
      • 42nd Infantry Division
    • French 24th Corps
      • 51st Infantry Division
    • French 42nd Corps
      • 20th Infantry Division
      • 58th Infantry Division
  • French 4th Army
    • Directly reporting:
    • French 9th Corps
      • 11th Infantry Division
      • 47th Infantry Division
    • French 20th Corps
      • 52nd Infantry Division
      • 82nd African Infantry Division
  • French 5th Army
    • Directly reporting:
      • 44th Infantry Division
    • French 8th Corps
      • 24th Infantry Division
      • 31st Infantry Division
    • French 12th Corps
      • 16th Infantry Division
      • 35th Infantry Division
      • 70th Infantry Division
    • French 17th Corps
      • 62nd Infantry Division
      • 103rd Infantry Division
    • French 43rd Corps
      • 30th Infantry Division

French Third Army Group

The French 3rd Army Group was responsible for manning the southern end of the Maginot Line, along the River Rhine and controlled a single army. The army group's Commander-in-Chief was General de Armee Antoine-Marie-Benoit Besson.

  • French 8th Army
    • French 7th Corps
      • 13th Infantry Division
      • 27th Infantry Division
    • French 13th Corps
      • 19th Infantry Division
      • 54th Infantry Division
      • 104th Infantry Division
      • 105th Infantry Division
    • French 44th Corps
      • 67th Infantry Division
    • French 45th Corps

Dutch Army

The Netherlands had four corps, one motorized division and a defense division deployed to begin the battle. General Henri Winkelman was Supreme Commander of the Dutch Army.

  • Dutch I Corps
    • Dutch 1st Infantry Division
    • Dutch 3rd Infantry Division
  • Dutch II Corps
    • Dutch 2nd Infantry Division
    • Dutch 4th Infantry Division
  • Dutch III Corps
    • Dutch 5th Infantry Division
    • Dutch 6th Infantry Division
  • Dutch IV Corps
    • Dutch 7th Infantry Division
    • Dutch 8th Infantry Division
  • Dutch Light Division
  • Peel Division
  • A, B, G Brigades

French army facing Italy

  • Army of the Alps (l'Armée des Alpes)

Commanded by General René Olry

    • 3 infantry divisions of type B
    • Fortification sectors: Dauphiné, Savoie, Alpes Maritimes
    • Defence sectors: Rhône, Nice

Originally the French 6th Army, the Army of the Alps was responsible for manning the southeast frontier with Italy. Overall, French forces in the region numbered about 35 000 soldiers.

French reserves

The French began the battle with three reserve corps positioned behind the army groups. The VII and XXIII Corps were stationed behind the 2nd and 3rd Army Groups.

British Expeditionary Force

Main article: British Expeditionary Force order of battle (1940)

Axis

The commander-in-chief of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) was Field Marshal ("Generalfeldmarschall") Walter von Brauchitsch. Initially the Axis forces consisted of the forces of the German army. They were joined in the conflict by the Italian army on June 10.

OKH Reserve

  • I Corps
  • XVII Corps
  • XXXVI Corps
  • XXXVIII Corps
  • XXXIX Corps
  • XLII Corps
  • XLIII Corps

Army Group A

Commanded by General (Generaloberst)[note 1] Gerd von Rundstedt (Chief of Staff - Major-General ("Generalleutnant")[note 2]Georg von Sodenstern)

German Army Group B

Commanded by General[note 1] Fedor von Bock

    • IV Corps - General of Infantry[note 4] Viktor von Schwedler
      • 15th Infantry Division - Brigadier-general Ernst-Eberhard Hell
      • 205th Infantry Division - Major-General Ernst Richter
    • XI Corps- Major-General Joachim von Kortzfleisch
      • 7th Infantry Division - Brigadier-general Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz
      • 211th Infantry Division - Brigadier-general Kurt Renner
      • 253rd Infantry Division - Major-General Fritz Kuhne
      • 31st Infantry Division - Major-General Rudolf Kämpfe
    • IX Corps - General of Infantry[note 4] Hermann Geyer
  • German Eighteenth Army — Georg von Küchler
    • Reserves
    • SS "Verfügungstruppe" Division
    • 7th Airborne Division
    • 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division
    • 9th Panzer Division
    • 207th Infantry Division
    • X Corps
      • SS "Adolf Hitler" Reinforced Regiment
      • 227th Infantry Division
      • 1st Cavalry Division
    • XXVI Corps
      • 256th Infantry Division
      • 254th Infantry Division
      • SS "Der Führer" Division

German Army Group C

Commanded by Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb.

Italian Army Group "West"

Commanded by Prince General Umberto di Savoia

  • 1st Army - General Pietro Pintor
    • 2nd Corps - General Francesco Bettini
    • 3rd Corps - General Mario Arisio
    • 15th Corps - General Gastone Gambara
  • 4th Army - General Alfredo Guzzoni
    • 1st Corps - General Carlo Vecchiarelli
    • 4th Corps - General Camillo Mercalli
    • Alpine Corps - General Luigi Negri

Overall, the Italian forces numbered about 312 000 troops. However, they had inadequate artillery and transport and they were not equipped for cold Alpine environment.

  1. ^ a b c d e In the German army the rank of Colonel general ("Generaloberst") was equivalent to the rank of full general
  2. ^ The German rank of "Generalleutnant" was the equivalent of major-general.
  3. ^ The German rank of "Generalmajor" was the equivalent of brigadier-general.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o The German ranks of General of Infantry ("General der infanterie"), General of the Artillery ("General der artillerie"), General of Armour ("General der Panzertruppe") etc. were equivalent to lieutenant-general.

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