Editing Suez Crisis (section)

=== French ===
French troops were experienced and well-trained but suffered from cutbacks imposed by post-war politics of economic austerity.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17">{{Harvnb|Varble|2003|p=17}}</ref> In 1956, the [[French Armed Forces]] was heavily involved in the Algerian war, which made operations against Egypt a major distraction.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> French paratroopers of the elite ''[[2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment|Regiment de Parachutistes Coloniaux]]'' (RPC) were extremely experienced, battle-hardened, and very tough soldiers, who had greatly distinguished themselves in the fighting in Indochina and in Algeria.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> The men of the RPC followed a "shoot first, ask questions later" policy towards civilians, first adopted in Vietnam, which was to lead to the killing of a number of Egyptian civilians.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> The rest of the French troops were described by the American military historian Derek Varble as "competent, but not outstanding".<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/>

The main French (and Israeli) tank, the [[AMX-13]], was designed for mobile, flanking operations, which led to a tank that was lightly armoured but agile.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> General [[André Beaufre]], who served as Stockwell's subordinate, favoured a swift campaign of movement in which the main objective was to encircle the enemy.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> Throughout the operation, Beaufre proved himself to be more aggressive than his British counterparts, always urging that some bold step be taken at once.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/> The [[French Navy]] had a powerful carrier force which was excellent for projecting power inland, but, like its British counterpart, suffered from a lack of landing craft.<ref name="Varble, Derek, p. 17"/>