If you want to mock the French, then at least do it right

# CONTEXT ([from Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-French_Supreme_War_Council#During_the_Battle_of_France))

>On 16 May, Churchill flew to Paris […] and found the French in a state verging on paralysis. General Maurice Gamelin explained that the Germans had broken through on a 50 km front and had already advanced 60 km inward from Sedan. When Churchill asked about the strategic reserve, Gamelin replied that there was none. Churchill then inquired when and where Gamelin proposed to attack the flanks of the bulge. Gamelin replied with a hopeless shrug and the famous words: “Inferiority of numbers, inferiority of equipment, inferiority of method.”

“So where was the fucking strategic reserve?”, you mask ask. Well to understand that you must first understand French war planning leading up to WW2.

The French knew that, in case of war, the Germans would have to attack through Belgium to bypass the Maginot line (that was the whole point, duh). So, general Maurice Gamelin came up with the [Dyle plan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_war_planning_1920%E2%80%931940). As the name suggests, the best divisions of the French army would use prepared positions on the Dyle river line in Belgium and stop the German offensive dead in its tracks

So, what went wrong? Well, in 1936, Belgium, after seeing that France did not oppose the remilitarization of the Rhineland, had the genius idea of declaring itself neutral, so French divisions would now have to rush into Belgium to reach the river before the Germans could cross it.

Then in early 1940, German war plans for the invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands were leaked during the comically stupid [Mechelen incident](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechelen_incident). Astonishingly, even though the Belgians themselves recovered the war plans, they still stubbornly refused to give up neutrality.

For Gamelin, this was splendid news. Germany was doing a repeat of the Schlieffen Plan, only this time, attacking over a broader front in the Netherlands. To account for this, Gamelin altered his original Dyle plan with the [Breda variant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_war_planning_1920%E2%80%931940#Breda_variant). Basically, he would take the 7^(th) Army, which was supposed to serve as a powerful strategic reserve, and redeploy north to link up with the Dutch army at Breda. **What could go wrong?**

Meanwhile, Hitler was busy throwing his original invasions plans in the trash and then was convinced by Manstein’s batshit insane plan of sending all panzer divisions through the Ardennes Forest. The invasion of the Netherlands would now only serve to lure the French army further north and encircle it.

And the only reason this stupid reckless plan even worked was because all the stars were aligned… by fucking Maurice Gamelin. That idiot even ignored his own reconnaissance pilots when they told him German tank columns were slowly advancing through the Ardennes in a massive traffic jam. And of course, when the Germans finally emerged near Sedan, they brushed aside the few second-rate divisions in their path and behind them found… nothing.

Thanks a lot, Gamelin! And he even has the nerve to blame the rank and file soldiers instead of his own stupidity.

**We truly live in the cursed timeline.**

The Breda Variant is such a wild gamble to take. I understand Gamelin’s logic that if this was supposed to be a repeat of WW1 they needed as much territory as they could possibly get before the frontlines became static, but to go all the way to having zero strategic reserves is either a stroke of reckless genius or just stupidity.