France
Canon de 47 antichar SA mie 1937
The 47mm SA 39 TAZ was a more involved development of the mie 1937 47-mm (1.85-in) anti-tank gun, which had a conventional wheeled carriage. The mie 1939 used a complex all-round-traverse carriage, although some were produced with normal wheeled carriages. The best of the French anti-tank guns was the Canon de 46 antichar SA mie 1937, a design that originated…
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How Good Was Napoleon?
Surrender of Madrid (Gros), 1808. Napoleon enters Spain’s capital during the Peninsular War By Jonathon Riley | Published in History Today Volume: 57 Issue: 7 2007 Serving general and military historian Jonathon Riley uses his personal knowledge of command to assess Napoleon’s qualities as a strategist, operational commander and battlefield tactician.…
Swiss Guards of Louis XVI were massacred at the Tuileries on 10 August 1792.
Swiss regiments had historically fought as mercenaries in the armies of other nations, including that of France, long before the French Revolution. During the Revolution, the Swiss Guards of Louis XVI were massacred at the Tuileries on 10 August 1792. Eventually the Swiss took the side of the Revolution, forming…
Napoleonic French Navy I
In 1789 the French Navy was at the peak of its strength for the eighteenth century, but with only 60 ships it was not even close to the 120 it had had during the reign of Louis XIV. During the American War of Independence (1775-1783) it enjoyed a number of…
Napoleonic French Navy II
Battle of Grand Port. On 22-24 August 1810, a British squadron of 4 frigates entered the bay of Grand Port to eliminate a French fleet of 2 frigates, 1 corvette and a captured East Indiaman. Historically, this is the only clear naval victory the French could claim during the Napoleonic…
‘Confident and Full of Hope’
French troops fought encircled until all their ammunition was used and led several counter-attacks, the commander of 253.ID, general Kühne, was even captured. The Germans let the defenders parade in the streets after the battle granted them the honors of war to salute their fierce resistance. During the height of…
French Military Intervention in African Affairs
During the first three decades of African independence, France was involved in some three dozen military interventions in sixteen African countries, including Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Gabon, Madagascar, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, and Zaire. In most cases, France acted to…