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[Sheb]

Wait, did French suffer more of a baby bust than Germany?

[Culise]

Wait, did French suffer more of a baby bust than Germany?

Yes, significantly so.  In addition to losing 1.4m people out of a population of 39.6m (as contrasted with German, on both fronts, losing 1.7 - 2.0m out of a larger population of 64.9m; more in total, but a bit less proportionately by a "whole" half a percent; this is taking only military deaths under the assumption that these will be disproportionately inflicted on males of fertile age, whereas total civilian deaths are spread evenly across the population), French birth rates were simply much lower than Germany's even before the war, which did not improve in relative terms until...if I recall properly, after the Second World War, but that's just me trying to recall off the top of my head.  Replenishment was simply much lower in France, starting from a lower population base and with a greater proportion of losses to said population base. 

[mainiac]

This is, again, in keeping with the general trend of the French High Command's preparations for a war in the same style, and more importantly speed, as the First World War.

The popular conception is way off on this.  The French had far more motorized infantry then the Germans did and the French had fewer tank divisions but those tank divisions were qualitatively superior.  The problem wasn't that the French mobile forces didn't exist, they did, they were the 3rd and 7th armies.  When French mobile forces faced German forces at Hannut, they achieved exactly what they were supposed to. 

The problem is that Weygand pulled the mobile forces from Sedan to send them to Hannut.  Sedan was the place the Germans had planned their attack.  France did have a very slow OODA loop which slowed them down but no CiC can salvage a horrible operational plan.

Wait, did French suffer more of a baby bust than Germany?

Yes, they drafted more heavily at the start and German soldiers had sex during wartime more.

I was under the impression that he worded it that way in the sense of a 1939 offensive bringing about a surrender in early 1940.

Yeah, that's not going to happen.  France just cant get very far in September and by mid October, German troops returning from Poland outnumber French troops capable of engaging in offensive operations.

Maybe if Poland had lasted longer France could have seized the left bank of the Rhine.

[Arx]

Would this discussion not be better suited to AGG, being as it's theorising about a past war and not current politics?

[Kot]

I was under the impression that he worded it that way in the sense of a 1939 offensive bringing about a surrender in early 1940.

Yeah, that's not going to happen.  France just cant get very far in September and by mid October, German troops returning from Poland outnumber French troops capable of engaging in offensive operations.

I didin't mention how far in 1940 that would be. If British brought their forces and Italy did their thing again (switching sides), maybe other stuff...

Maybe if Poland had lasted longer France could have seized the left bank of the Rhine.

Maybe if west reacted more decisively to German agression, Soviet Union wouldn't join in (especially considering that they have ended another war (literally) day before and attacking Poland would mean fighting bigger alliance), which would lead Poland to last way longer. Before Soviets backstabbed, the Poland pretty much started to stop the German attack, and with Germany having to split it forces on two fronts and Poland getting help (fun fact, the planes Polish pilots flew on in France/Britain, weren't French/British, at least early on. Those, in fact, were Polish, because Poland bought them, they just never arrived in Poland) through south (Black Sea - Rumania - Poland) which was blocked by Soviets in real life, would mean that Germany would be in very damn big trouble.

Would this discussion not be better suited to AGG, being as it's theorising about a past war and not current politics?

WW2 is pretty much current politics for me. Betrayal in the West, never 4get.

[mainiac]

I didin't mention how far in 1940 that would be.

1940, like most years, only lasted for 12 months.

[Arx]

Would this discussion not be better suited to AGG, being as it's theorising about a past war and not current politics?

WW2 is pretty much current politics for me. Betrayal in the West, never 4get.

Well, alright.

Would this discussion not be better suited to AGG, being as it's theorising about a war that's not happening right now?

[Kot]

Would this discussion not be better suited to AGG, being as it's theorising about a past war and not current politics?

WW2 is pretty much current politics for me. Betrayal in the West, never 4get.

Well, alright.

Would this discussion not be better suited to AGG, being as it's theorising about a war that's not happening right now?

It's still happening for Japan and Russia, unless they signed that treaty finally, but even then it's still pretty recent thing.

[penguinofhonor]

I also find the armchair generaling pretty annoying and would like if it was relegated to its quarantine thread.

[Morrigi]

They didn't have the equipment, coordination, or political will to do it.

As for the equipment, they proably had best equipped and I'm not sure if not biggest army around.

They didn't have radios. The Germans did.

[mainiac]

They didn't have radios. The Germans did.

How about the AG thread?

[Helgoland]

German soldiers had sex during wartime more.

Wait, how do we know this? Was there some sort of Reichsbesamungsregister?

[mainiac]

German soldiers had sex during wartime more.

Wait, how do we know this? Was there some sort of Reichsbesamungsregister?

Sadly there was not and we just have to rely on census data for births.

[Descan]

There were a lot of German cuckolds :V

[Grim Portent]

Pretty sure the Nazis had a lot of 'Breed for the Fatherland!' type propaganda and incentives for people to have kids, so it's not surprising they'd have a higher than average fertility rate.

Also, it's well known that the sight of men in lederhosen light the fires of Ayran passion in the loins of any buxom barmaid.