French Army: 2300AD

L' Armée Impériale de France, 2303

Introduction

The French Army is one of the largest and certainly among the most capable of humanities' fighting forces. It is one of the most diverse in its composition, drawing soldiers from Europe, Africa and the colonies, as well as enlisting foreigners in its famous Légion Étrangère. Today it is the bulwark of human resistance to the alien Kafers and has provided the lion's share of the forces involved in the Liberation. After a noticeable dip the French Army is once again regaining its fine fighting reputation.

Narrative

The fighting was of exceptional ferocity mon général, my Adjutant informed me that it matched the intensity of any of his battles against the Manchu and the Boche. The Capus were far from the bumbling buffoons we had been led to expect by intelligence reports from Aurore. They were very well armed, equipped and supplied. Tactical handling was of a standard one would expect from a good human force and improved throughout the battle whilst ours declined. Capu élan in combat was very much a match for our own.

Whilst screening Groupe Mobile Rol my escadron faced a Capu armoured spearhead force of over fifty CAC-1 AFVs. This was only one of at least three such vanguards identified during the campaign, and proceeded a much larger force of a mixture of well over 100 CVBI accompanied by more CAC-1. Such concentration of force proved almost irresistible and static field defences were soon overrun. Mobile defence soon degenerated into a scrambled attempt to save as much of the escadron as we could. A Capu force in full flight is a fearsome thing, their pursuit was exemplary and stopped only by the intervention of air power. We assumed that the Kafer forces were massed to aid command, but that it had the virtue of concentrating force against us.

Fighting on the streets of Fromme was unmatched in its brutality with the Capus willing to level all the buildings in their way. They proved unwilling to operate at night and most of 209e DI's successful counter-attacks were launched in the hours of darkness. However these '24 hour' operations quickly degraded 209e DI's capabilities due to physical exhaustion. The Capus soon launched an encirclement of Fromme, and that fight quickly reduced the last of our mobile forces. The city was cut off condemning those that remained within it. I understand few of the defending Division or remaining civilians survived the battle. Général de Corps d'Armée Boisvert had little option but to withdraw to the mountains, and only good fortune and the Fleet saved some of us.

As for your question about our allies. The Azanians fought best of all, but they were isolated for the early part of the campaign protecting their own colony. Had we fought together we may have held out longer, but that would have meant them abandoning their own citizens. As for the Americans, individually they were sound and fought well but their force lacked mobility and some of their equipment was obsolete. Their commanders are very doctrinaire and lack experience of real operations. I trust they will learn quickly. I must admit my ignorance and surprise, I had no idea any Texans were on Kimanjano.

Extract from a Letter dated 12/02/02 from Commandant E Hébert (1/2e RCC) to her father Général d' Armée Claude Hébert, newly appointed to command the Armée de Libération

 

History - Overview

Order of Battle

General

Troupes d'Intervention Spatial - Force d' Action Rapide

Armée de la Manœuvre - Armée de Libération - Armée d'Aurore

Armée Territoriale de l' Hexegone - Armée Territoriale de l' Afrique Occidentale

Armée Territoriale de l' Afrique Centrale - Armée Territoriale de Tirane - Armée Coloniale

Special Forces

Establishments

Armée Métropolitaine - Armée Métropolitaine de la Nouvelle Provence - Troupes de Marine - Légion Étrangère

Troupes Coloniale - Milice Coloniale

Unit Organisation

2e Régiment Étranger de Cavalerie - Régiments Étranger de Parachutistes

Equipment

BH-25 Combat Walker - Armoured Fighting Vehicles - AC-12 Hovertank