The 1st Light Mechanized Division () was a

French Army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

formation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. It was the first of the

armoured division A division is a large military unit or formation, usually consisting of between 6,000 and 25,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades; in turn, several divisions typically make up a corps. Histo ...

s of the French Cavalry.

Formation

Preparations to create such a unit began in 1931. Slowly the 4th Cavalry Division was mechanised.

Name

In July 1935, the mechanised components, though still not fully equipped, were given a separate identity, while confusingly 4th Cavalry continued to exist, giving the false impression the armoured division was a completely new force. The name of the unit is most often translated as "Light Mechanized Division", but a better translation, both from a linguistic as military point of view, would be "Mechanized Light Division". In French the adjective ''mécanique'' qualifies ''légère'', not the other way around. In French military parlance, light troops were those that engaged in scouting and skirmishing, and the distinction traditionally applied to both cavalry and infantry arms. A mechanized light division was therefore one designed for this role but using modern motorized and armored equipment to perform it. Some motorised infantry divisions without tracked vehicles would also be called "light divisions".

Organisation

Another confusion often caused by the category indication is the mistake to assume that such units were "lightly" equipped: in fact most heavy equipment was concentrated into the motorised units which represented the most powerful in the French Army. The ''1re DLM'' used the

AMR 35 The Automitrailleuse de Reconnaissance Renault Modèle 35 Type ZT (AMR 35 or Renault ZT) was a French light tank developed during the Interbellum and used in the Second World War. It was not intended to reconnoitre and report as its name suggests ...

as a light skirmisher and the Somua S-35 and

Hotchkiss H35 The Hotchkiss H35 or was a French cavalry tank developed prior to World War II. Despite having been designed from 1933 as a rather slow but well-armoured light infantry support tank, the type was initially rejected by the French Infantry becaus ...

as main battle tanks, though the latter vehicle was not really suited for this role as its armament was too weak. The artillery and infantry components were fully motorised; part of the organic infantry was also mechanised, using

half-track A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels at the front for steering and continuous tracks at the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cro ...

s. In organisation a DLM closely resembled the contemporaneous German '' Panzerdivision'' of the ''

Panzerwaffe ''Panzerwaffe'', later also ''Panzertruppe'' (German for " Armoured Force", "Armoured Arm" or "Tank Force". ''Waffe'': ombat"arm") refers to a command within the Heer of the German Wehrmacht, responsible for the affairs of panzer (tank) an ...

'', though it would be more "tank-heavy", not so much the ''Leichte Kavalleriedivisionen'' of the German Cavalry, which units in the thirties were only partly mechanised.

World War II

Battle Of France

During the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

in May 1940 the

division Division or divider may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication *Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting ...

contained the following units: *1st Light Mechanized Armoured Brigade **4th Cuirassier Armoured Regiment **18th Dragoon Armoured Regiment *2nd Light Mechanized Infantry Brigade ** 4th Mechanized Dragoon Regiment ** 6th Cuirassier Cavalry Reconnaissance Regiment *74th Mechanized Artillery Regiment

References

Light Mechanized Division, 1st {{World-War-II-stub