Futile Gallantry.

[Jock73]

Just wondering how French rifle sections were armed. Warlords French boxed set has;

Command: 1 Officer with pistol, 1 Sergeant with rifle, 1 Corporal with rifle grenade launcher and 2 soldiers with carbines

12 man section: Sergeant with rifle, Corporal with rifle, 2-man LMG team, 7 riflemen and 1 soldiers with rifle grenade launchers

81mm mortar and 3 crew

So with the set above and a couple French infantry section boxes, would that give me a historically correct early war French platoon?

What was the most common French tank and do Warlord plan to release a model for it at some point?

Would these models be usable as Vichy French?

How popular are the French with players?

Thanks

[worrywort]

Hello,

A french section had a command squad and three rifle squads.

In the rifle squad you have the sergent, the corporal, the FM 24/29 (not the hotchkiss) and its loader (with a pistol), the tromblon VB, three men with mousquetons and the other with bertier rifle.

To support them, you have commonly the Hotchkiss HMG and 81mm Mortar or 60mm Mortar.

With basic infantry you will find the R35 (renault) or H35 or H39 (Hotchkiss). You can find the mighty B1 bis, the small FT 17 or the FCM 36.

The 25mm antit ank gun too.

Somua, Panhard, AMR are commonly in cavalry (DLM) like P16 Kegresse.

The D1 and D2 are in the DCR.

There was some other tanks and other trucks in the french army.

You can see them in Futile Gallantry supplement for DHFSC.

I play early war french army and I'm waiting for my P16 Kegresse !

[Piers]

It all depends if you wish to field French Infantry, Dragons de Portes or Chassuers Portes.

Infantry Platoons were made up as follows;

1 x Infantry Platoon Command Squad (command)
4 men with rifles

3 x Infantry Squad (Shock Element)
6 men with rifles and VB Launcher

3 x LMG Teams (Fire Element)
6 men with rifles and an FM 24/29 LMG

Thus each section would comprise a 'Shock' and a 'Fire' element.

Dragons de Portes had 10 man sections with two FM-24/29 LMGs and went around in Laffly S20TL trucks. The Chassuers Portes were the same but got issued the Lorraine 38L carrier.

The VB Grenadiers were generally husbanded from the sections and placed into a group under the Platoon HQ to provide a general fire support function.

Infantry tank support, in Infantry Divisions, usually camefrom FT-17s, FCMs and Renault D-1s but that is by no means standard. The AMR-35 also performed a recce role in infantry formations.


The French have alot of interesting formations, if you want more I have a good PDF study on French forces detailing all the different units and their TOEs down to section level.

[worrywort]

I'm agree with Piers but, remember the loader of the FM 24/29 had a pistol not a rifle...

[Piers]

He did indeed, though many did 'acquire' rifles very quickly...

[Jock73]

It all depends if you wish to field French Infantry, Dragons de Portes or Chassuers Portes.

I'm looking to field a basic French infantry platoon.

Infantry Platoons were made up as follows;

1 x Infantry Platoon Command Squad (command)
4 men with rifles

3 x Infantry Squad (Shock Element)
6 men with rifles and VB Launcher

3 x LMG Teams (Fire Element)
6 men with rifles and an FM 24/29 LMG

Thus each section would comprise a 'Shock' and a 'Fire' element.

The VB Grenadiers were generally husbanded from the sections and placed into a group under the Platoon HQ to provide a general fire support function.

Thanks. That's what I read, But wanted to make sure.

Infantry tank support, in Infantry Divisions, usually came from FT-17s, FCMs and Renault D-1s but that is by no means standard. The AMR-35 also performed a recce role in infantry formations.

The French have alot of interesting formations, if you want more I have a good PDF study on French forces detailing all the different units and their TOEs down to section level.

I really like the look of those tanks. Hope Warlord do at least one of them. The FT-17 is just so cute.

Best leave the PDF for a bit. I'm just getting started on the overall history of WW2 and some of it's more important battles.