<P> The commander of France's army, Maurice Gamelin, like the rest of the French government, was expecting a repeat of World War I . The Schlieffen Plan, Gamelin believed, would be repeated with a reasonably close degree of accuracy . Even though important parts of the French army in the 1930s had been designed to wage offensive warfare, the French only had the stomach for a defensive war, as the French military staff believed its country was not, for the moment, equipped militarily or economically to launch a decisive offensive . It would be better to wait until 1941 when the combined allied economic superiority over Germany could be fully exploited . To confront the expected German plan--which rested on a move into the Low Countries, outflanking the fortified Maginot Line--Gamelin intended to send the best units of the French army along with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) north to halt the Germans in the area of the river Dyle, east of Brussels, until a decisive victory could be achieved with the support of the united British, Belgian, French and Dutch armies . The original German plan closely resembled Gamelin's expectations . </P> <P> The crash in Belgium of a light plane carrying two German officers with a copy of the then - current invasion plan forced Hitler to scrap the plan and search for an alternative . The final plan for Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) had been suggested by General Erich von Manstein, then serving as Chief of Staff to Gerd von Rundstedt, but had been initially rejected by the German General Staff . It proposed a deep penetration further south of the original route which would take advantage of the speed of the unified Panzer divisions to separate and encircle the opposing forces . It had the virtue of being unlikely (from a defensive point of view), as the Ardennes was heavily wooded and implausible as a route for a mechanized invasion . It also had the considerable virtue of not having been intercepted by the Allies (for no copies were being carried about), and of being dramatic, which seems to have appealed to Hitler . </P> <P> Manstein's aggressive plan was to break through the weak Allied centre with overwhelming force, trap the forces to the north in a pocket, and drive on to Paris . The plan would benefit from an Allied response close to how they would have responded in the original case; namely, that a large part of French and British strength would be drawn north to defend Belgium and Picardy . To help ensure this result, German Army Group B would still attack Belgium and the Netherlands in order to draw Allied forces eastward into the developing encirclement . The attack would also enable the Germans to secure bases for a later attack on Britain . </P> <P> The Allied general staff and key statesmen, after capturing the original invasion plans, were initially jubilant that they had potentially won a key victory in the war before the campaign was even fought . Contrarily, General Gamelin and Lord Gort, the commander of the BEF, were shaken into realizing that whatever the Germans came up with instead would not be what they had initially expected . More and more Gamelin became convinced that the Germans would try to attempt a breakthrough by concentrating their mechanized forces . They could hardly hope to break the Maginot Line on his right flank or to overcome the allied concentration of forces on the left flank . That only left the centre . But most of the centre was covered by the river Meuse . Tanks were useless in defeating fortified river positions . However at Namur the river made a sharp turn to the east, creating a gap between itself and the river Dyle . This Gembloux Gap, ideal for mechanized warfare, was a very dangerous weak spot . Gamelin decided to concentrate half of his armoured reserves there . Of course the Germans might try to overcome the Meuse position by using infantry . But that could only be achieved by massive artillery support, the build - up of which would give Gamelin ample warning . </P>

What was the role of france in ww2