Yep. The failure of French leadership, not of the French soldier, is what must be considered. To be especially sarcastic: had the building of Paris not been threatened I suspect that the French leadership would have happily fought to the last drop of the French soldier’s blood.
Over time I have come to realize that France in 1940 is one of those classic “it’s complicated” situations, rather than the shallow “cheese eating surrender monkey” image of popular lore (which I once accepted).
*The sentiment of the (woefully undersupported) troops was one of “I see they didn’t learn their lesson” and “if we gotta, we gotta”.
*The officer corps was more neo-monarchist than anything. They admired order and authority...not the existing government.
*The politicians were the “surrender monkeys”, really. And, “democracy” was both a foreign concept and one that had given the appearance of weakness in Europe.
*Communism was very strong in prewar France...and remember, before June 22, 1941 Germany was the Soviet Union’s ally. The Communists were a strong force behind France’s inability to rearm in a timely fashion...from political obstruction right down to actual sabotage at the factories.
Also consider (though the French would prefer you not)...among the merchant class and “bourgeoisie” (for lack of a better term) there was strong support for Naziism, at least as far as nationalism and the image of order and unity. For them Communism was the greater threat.