French Army Structure

Wikipedia Wikimedia commons ^ | 3/9/2025 | buwaya

[buwaya]

A bit of a deep dive into a European Army.

[grey_whiskers]

[ansel12]

I was fortunate enough to get to spend lengths of time with French Special Forces a couple of times in France and had a very good shot at attending French Commando school until some political issues arose, those guys sure liked fighting in Africa and were always trying to rotate back.

[spokeshave]

The French Foreign Legion are tough kookies..renounce their original nationality

The slow march:

[gnarledmaw]

Ohhh! That kind of structure.

Here I was getting all geared up for a discussion covering towers, pill boxes, and blockhouses.

Maybe next time.

[buwaya]

One ALWAYS starts with the Org Chart.

[buwaya]

Fascinating career!

[buwaya]

Voila le boudin...

[ansel12]

Not a career, just some good times.

[Psalm 73]

From crunching info from multiple sites, it looks like the European military strength breaks down like this (depending on how one weights different components):

France (by a lot)
Britain (just ahead of)
Italy
Germany (way back)
Poland
Sweden
Spain
Denmark

[buwaya]

I’d agree on the whole.

Poland is prepared to immediately put five divisions in the field, and better equipped to boot. But its not got a large Air Force.

Between the lot of them they are formidable.

[Tallguy]

I’d probably put Poland ahead of the Germans right now. They’re more motivated and rapidly equipping.

[BenLurkin]

[ansel12]

I think he emailed that fake quote to Abraham Lincoln.

[BenLurkin]

Well that ‘fake quote’ has been around a long time, FRiend. Well before the internet.

[ansel12]

The quote has, but it isn’t from Napoleon.

[grey_whiskers]

Yeah, once the US pulls out, they can form the

Pan

European

Defense

Organization

[SMARTY]

One of the best books I ever Read: “Legionnaire” by Simon Murray

[buwaya]

Have that.

[ABN 505]

I just reread Simon Murrays book about his days in the Legion [during the Algerian War]. Tough training and abuse by the noncoms. I am sure that has changed but not as much as the American military as they don’t have woman to worry about.