France could not defend Indochina against Japan with metropolitan resources alone, but a Japanese attack on France was expected to draw in both Britain and the United States. The two larger powers had strategic reasons not to let the other control the Far Eastern settlement by itself. American forces would move west across the Pacific from their own industrial and base network. French ships would more naturally accompany the Royal Navy through the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, using Singapore and French Indochina as successive support points. The contrast shows how bases and logistics determine coalition routes and why fast French capital ships and cruisers could matter despite the fleet's smaller size.
Chapter · 1:22:41-1:25:41
How a French fleet would reach a coalition war against Japan
Existing bases made a Mediterranean-Indian Ocean route with the Royal Navy more practical for France than joining the American advance across the Pacific.