Actually slight tweaking on the Maginot Line misconception. By the late 1930s the French knew the Germans would go into Belgium (or really before its what they did in 1914 afterall). The whole British-French war plan for 1940 was once the Germans invaded was to rush their best combat units into Belgium to fight the Germans there. The Maginot line was the shield and the Anglo-French armies were the sword, so by forcing the Germans to avoid the shield they would force the Germans to fight where they wanted. One also has to understand that in WWI the Germans occupied the industrial heartland of France in 1914 (since its close to the German and Belgian borders) so France had to fight that war without some 60-70% of its industrial capability. So the French plan called for keeping this area free from fighting and German occupation so fighting the war in Belgium seemed quite attractive. What really shocked the French and British leadership was not the German move into Belgium but the last minute modification (often called the 'Manstein Plan') of the plan to put the main German effort into the Ardennes forest to the south of the original plan but still north of the Maginot line (we can talk about the crash landed German observation plane on 10 Jan. with the German war plans, which lead to Hitler's last minute changing of the plan but that almost deserves its own post). So when the German Army Group A crashed through the Ardennes it met with second and even third line French troops while the best of the Anglo-French forces (7th Army, 1 Army and the BEF) essentially ran into Belgium and were in the wrong place. Essentially the Germans hit the French and British in perfect place for the so-called Blitzkreig to work.
I think the Fall of France is one of the areas with the most misconceptions that drive many Anglo-American views of France to this day (ie the French are cowards and don’t have a military etc.) and also in France as well since it feeds into Gaullist conceptions of history (ie. 3rd Republic was rotten etc.).
I can go into more detail but I have to rush to lunch... More on popular misconceptions when I get back...
I think the Fall of France is one of the areas with the most misconceptions that drive many Anglo-American views of France to this day (ie the French are cowards and don’t have a military etc.) and also in France as well since it feeds into Gaullist conceptions of history (ie. 3rd Republic was rotten etc.).
I can go into more detail but I have to rush to lunch... More on popular misconceptions when I get back...