As with all armies of the period, the vast majority of the combat manpower of the French Army was concentrated in its divisions d' infantrie (DI). There were 82 of these at full initial mobilization: 20 active (including 7 motorized and 3 mountain), 17 "A" reserve (2 mountain), 19 "B" reserve (including 3 reserve mountain), 19 North African and 7 Colonial. The French infantry division was similar to most of the divisions of most of Europe's armies in 1939. It had 3 infantry regiments of around 3,000 men; two artillery regiments, one light (75mm) and one medium (105mm howitzers and 155mm), a recon group which was equipped with armored cars in the motorized divisions, signal company, two train companies and other support units.

The active divisions were almost completely up to TOE and had more artillery than their German equivalents. The motorized divisions (DIM) were equipped and organized as other active divisions and, apart from their superior mobility, were the same. An active division had about 1/3 regular officers, 2/3 regular NCOs and 55% of its enlisted men were active duty troops. The "A" reserve divisions were composed of reservists up to the age of 32 with 23% regular officers, 17% regular NCOs and 2% active enlisted. Their artillery regiments were complete but they were not well supplied with modern infantry weapons. Mountain divisions were 40% regular and 60% "A" reserve and had a different and larger TOE than other formations.

The "B" reserve divisions were rather poor formations. They were the last in line for new equipment, and most of them had only one artillery regiment with 36-75's and 12- 155's. They contained the older age reservists, up to 51 years, and had no more than three regular officers per regiment. The 1940 campaign revealed that they were not up to the shock of modern combat. All the above units were referred to as Metropolitan.

The Armee d'Afrique included 8 active, 2 mountain, 4 "A" reserve and 5 security divisions. North African divisions contained a significant proportion of metropolitan Frenchmen, many technical units were metropolitan, but the majority of their personnel came from the Arab populations. Arab infantry units were referred to as Regiments de Tirailleurs, followed by their country of origin, either Algeriens, Tunisiens or Morocains.

Infantry regiments raised from the substantial European population were called Zouaves. Zouave regiments often had a significant number of metropolitan personnel in them as well. The North African divisions had a lower TOE than Metropolitan divisions, only one artillery regiment and a lower heavy weapons and AT allocation. Metropolitan units were added to those North African divisions sent to France to bring them up to European standard.

Among the units of the Armee d' Afrique was the famous Foreign Legion, Legion Etrangere. But in 1939 much of the Legion was considered politically unreliable for various reasons and was not used in the 1940 campaign. Only the new Legion regiments were allowed in France while the "old" Legion watched over the Empire.

La Coloniale had 3 active divisions and 4 which were more or less "A" reserve. Colonial divisions theoretically had the same TOE as Metropolitan units, but they were often short of automatic weapons and vehicles. All Colonial divisions were made up completely of Colonial troops. The majority of Colonial infantry in France was West African, referred to as Senegalais regardless of where they were actually from. Colonial divisions were usually made up of one European and two "Senegalese" infantry regiments, however, one (the 3rd Division) was European. There were also Vietnamese machine-gun and Malagasy artillery regiments in France.

In addition to its field units, the French Army had about 50 fortress regiments, 42 of them in the line along the eastern border. Most of these were organized in division-sized Regions Fortifies with a regional designation, i.e., the Thionville R.F.

The French Army in 1939

Introduction and Doctrine
Infantry
Cavalry and Armor
Artillery and Anti-Aircraft
Fortifications and Bibliography