ISBN 0-85420-326-5
vi + 168 pages

Introduction; Abbreviations/Glossary; Numbering of French Military Units; Comparative Table of Ranks; tables

Appendices: Artillery Service Establishments; The Travailleurs Militaires

   Since 2002 Lee Sharp has been gradually producing a remarkable series of OB/TOE books covering the French Army in 1939-1940. The first two volumes mostly examined divisions and higher headquarters, providing organizational data for each type of unit (with text, organigrams, and tables) as well as information about the actual deployment of each individual formation. For example, Sharp explained not only exactly which regiments, battalions, and companies comprised the 55th Infantry Division, he also listed names and dates served for principal officers, provided a summary of alterations to the division's TOE, gave a record of higher HQs to which the division was assigned (with dates), and added further notes such as, in this instance, "The division was dissolved 31.05.40 after its poor performance in the Sedan sector of the front. Most of the division became part of the 59th DLI."
   Sharp followed the same approach in the first part of his third volume (published in 2003), but in the second part of that volume he moved into slightly different territory. Instead of examining named and numbered formations at the division level and above, the book began dealing with generic components that formed the building blocks of larger formations: infantry, foreign legion, and tank brigades, regiments, battalions, and companies of almost limitless variety, including, for example, infantry units such as Metropolitan Infantry Regiment type "North-East," Metropolitan Infantry Regiment type "Overseas," Half-Brigade and Battalions of Chasseurs, Zouave Infantry Regiment, North African Tirailleur Regiments, Mountain Infantry Regiment, Half-Brigade and Battalions of Alpine Chasseurs, Motorised Infantry Regiment, and Mechanised Infantry Battalion. For each of those many kinds of units, Sharp provided text and tables with ample footnotes, but no organigrams.
   Volume four, with a copyright date of 2004 but not actually published until March 2005, continues the approach used in the second part of the third volume, but shifts its focus to the French artillery arm (although that's impossible to ascertain from the title alone, because no book in the series indicates what part of the French forces it covers).
   Throughout the entire book, Sharp catalogs and describes the organization of dozens of types of artillery formations. For each variation of artillery unit a table summarizes the ID of each unit formed of that type, the type of gun with which it was equipped, and the date the unit was mobilized. After that, for each type of unit the book includes one or more TOE tables listing in detail numbers and kinds of weapons, equipment, and personnel.
   Here's a list of just a few of the many, many variations of artillery units covered:

• Railway Line Operating Battery
  
• Staff and Headquarters Battery of the Railway Heavy Artillery Regiment
  
• 340mm Railway Artillery Battery
  
• 400mm Railway Artillery Battery
  
• Artillery Survey Battery
  
• 75mm Porte Battery, type four, farm tractors
  
• 75mm Battery, towed by lorries
  
• Ammunition and Supply Column of the Groupe de 220L17 tractor
  
• Caterpillar Platoon
  
• Battery de 155L77-14 Hippomobile
  
• Static Artillery Battery
  
• Groupe de 65 Montagne type Overseas
  
• Groupe de 75mm Mountain Artillery
  
• Batterie a Cheval de 75
  
• Batterie de Fumigenes
  
• Batterie de Chasseurs de Chars, 47mm Automoteurs
  
• Skilled worker company of the Parc d'Artillerie de Corps d'Armee

   Sharp begins with two pages about the overall structure of the "Artillery of the General Reserve," which was the administrative headquarters responsible for artillery not organic to any corps or division. This HQ was divided into five Subdivisions of artillery—railway and related units, motorized units, horse-drawn and static units, artillery parks, and anti-aircraft units—and tables show the organization of the staff of each Subdivision. From that point the author begins working his way through the types of artillery units administered by each of the first four Subdivisions. (Due to shortages of AA guns, there were no independent units in existence for the 5th Subdivision to administer.)
   For the 1st Subdivision, the five French railway regiments (370th through 374th) are listed in a table (with mobilization dates, etc), followed by a table for each individual regiment listing its Groups, dates mobilized, gun calibers, and guns per battery. Thirteen additional pages contain more tables with the precise numbers of officers, NCOs, and enlisted men (broken down according to duties) as well as locomotives, railcars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, etc for each of more than twenty kinds of railroad arty units and HQs.
   Here's a sample page showing a couple of typical tables along with accompanying footnotes:

   While Sharp provides tons of detailed TOE data for railroad artillery units in these tables, the nature of this volume means there's no information about where those units were deployed, to what higher HQs they were attached, how they fared during the 1940 campaign, or what happened to them afterwards; that's mostly true for all the units covered in the book.
   In any event, Sharp continues the same approach for the 2nd Subdivision of the Artillery of the General Reserve, motorized units. First he enumerates the various kinds of motorized artillery formations (including truck-drawn, tractor-drawn, carried on heavy trucks, anti-tank batteries, and so on) and gives a table for each with units created, unit IDs, dates of mobilization, etc. For each type of unit he then provides TOE data in tabular fashion with officers, NCOs, enlisted men, guns, tractors, trucks, cars, trailers, motorcycles, bicycles, etc.
   After he goes through the same process for the 3rd Subdivision (horse-drawn artillery) and 4th Subdivision (artillery parks), Sharp begins dissecting artillery units organic to corps, fortified sectors, and divisions in the same fashion: first a table for each type of formation showing all the units formed of that type, then TOE tables for each of the many types of formations. As usual, Sharp shows unit assignments, such as 3rd Light Artillery Regiment being organic to the 32nd Infantry Division. Impressively, one lengthy table matches each ouvrage of the Maginot Line with its artillery garrison, such as the 156th Static Artillery Regiment at Hochwald, Schoenenbourg, and Hoffen, with the same table further showing exactly what kinds of weapons were sited in each casemate and turret.
   The author also deals with material such as independent artillery units stationed in Africa, the Levant, and Corsica; chemical and smoke battalions; divisional antitank batteries; self-propelled antitank batteries; and labor companies mobilized within military districts for service at artillery depots. Antiaircraft and coastal artillery units are missing in action, with the former scheduled for volume five (along with cavalry units), but we have no information on the latter (which might also be destined for a future volume).
   Although the series is about "organization, order of battle, and operational history," this volume deals exclusively with the first of those three topics. We're big fans of the French Army series, and this volume is no exception, but we're slightly disappointed to see so little information concerning employment of these units. For example, we're curious about the railway artillery formations, and we're hoping to learn more their operational histories in a future volume. In any event, in volume four Sharp does his usual excellent job, making available much material impossible to find elsewhere in English. We continue to admire and respect all the effort that goes into this series, and we look forward to seeing what the author puts together next. Meanwhile, this volume is definitely recommended to anyone with an interest in the French armed forces or OB/TOE information in general.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from The Military Press.
   Thanks to Military Press for providing this review copy.