Q of the Week - Worst tactics?

[Hurley]

Hummm  well I guess I 'll give it a go?

Using main battle tanks inside a city?

[Patrick R]

Just to be Contentious I don't agree that the Maginot Line was a failure.

The French built the line perfectly, making it so strong that the Germans couldn't attack it, thus securing most of France's Eatern frontier.  the germans were therefore forced to attack through Belgium where they were supposed to be held up long enopugh for the French, British and Belgium field armies to overwhelm them.

It wasn't the fault of the Maginot Line that the Belgium forts fell so quickly and the British and French forces weren't able to stand up under the German Blitzkrieg tactics.

- The French had a long history of building fortresses on their border
- If anything the lesson of WWI was that solidly dug in troops could withstand serious assaults.  Tanks were still unable to perform the tricks they did in 1940 when the plans were laid down.
- Germany had more than twice the population of France and the political situation hinted that France might be caught without allies.  The Maginot line was a force multiplier, allowing the French to hold the Germans at bay and defend their precious industrial north.
- The Maginot line was built right up to the Belgian forts, including Eben-Emael, the strongest position in Europe.
- Even after building the Maginot line, the French army invested heavily on tanks and aircraft.

Now the French made a lot of mistakes, but the arguments that the Maginot line were a folly don't hold water, The Germans (and Allies) were checked countless times by well laid out static defenses (Tobruk, Alamein, Stalingrad, Kursk, Cassino ...)

The real problem was that when the Germans invaded, they counted in hours, the French still counted in days and did not contain a mobile breakout as soon as it occurred and lost their main force as a result.