German booty in French campaign 1940

[Kelvin]

I see some sources mentions German captured 11,500 x 81mm mortars with 44,200,302 round mortar bombs from French Army, is it any related document for list of French arms captured by German after the 1940 war ? like the number of items and its ammuntion like I quoted above ? Like 60mm mortar, 25mm and 47mm AT gun, 75mm guns, 105 and 155 mm howitzers, Rifles, Hotchkiss Me1914 and FM-24 LMG, thank

[Knouterer]

Sounds on the high side. The French army had ordered 5,300 81 mm Model 1927/31 mortars, which were (almost) all delivered by May 1940 it seems. There were also 2,100 old 81 mm Stokes mortars left over from WWI (S. Ferrard, France 1940. L'Armement Terrestre). So the number captured, after deducting losses and mortars retained by the French Armistice army, was probably no more than 2,000, if that (disregarding the Stokes, the ammunition for which was unreliable). 44 million rounds also sounds implausibly high.

[Kelvin]

I check French still had 1,036 x 37mm TR16 Antitank guns in French Army in 1940. Also 4500 x 25mm Antitank guns, 8000 x 81mm mortar, 4940 x 60mm mortar.

[Paul_Atreides]

By 1 Aug. 1940 854,882 rifles, 36,044 pistols, 39,389 machine-guns, 2,240 anti-tank guns, 740 mortars, 5,275 artillery pieces, 568m. rounds of infantry ammunition, 4,793 trucks, as well as 462 light, 169 medium, and 49 heavy tanks and 467 other armoured vehicles, had been taken over in Dutch, Belgian, and (by then only partially recorded) French booty. Further items of equipment, foodstuffs, and animal feed filled over 14,300 railway wagons. from the Netherlands alone 13,000 horses were transported to Germany as booty, and a further 21,000 horses, 6,000 staff cars, 8,000 trucks, and 1,000 buses paid for.

Germany and the Second World War. Vol. V/I. P. 266.

[Kelvin]

Hi, Paul, I also see that book data before, but I doubt that, Hitler captured over 2.5 Million POW but only took 854,882 Rifles ? too Little for that.

[Gorque]

Hi Kelvin:

Would all the French POW's have been issued rifles? I don't know the answer, but I am guessing that quite a number of them would have been in a support role.