The 1st Light Mechanized Division was a French Army

French Army

The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...

 formation during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. It was the first of the armoured divisions of the French Cavalry. Preparations to create such a unit began in 1931. Slowly the 4th Cavalry Division was mechanised. In 1936 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 with "Light Mechanized Division", but a better translation, both from a military point of view, would be "Mechanized Light Division". In French the adjective mécanique qualifies légère, not the other way around; and thus: "light" here is a synonym of "mobile". While any "mechanised" division was "light", not every "light" division was "mechanised": motorised infantry divisions without tracked vehicles would also be called "Light Divisions".

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 thus, the most powerful in the French Army. The 1re DLM used the AMR 35

AMR 35

The Automitrailleuse de Reconnaissance Renault Modèle 35 Type ZT was a French light tank developed during the Interbellum and used in the Second World War...

 as a light skirmisher and the Somua S-35

Somua S-35

The SOMUA S35 was a French Cavalry tank of the Second World War. Built from 1936 until 1940 to equip the armoured divisions of the Cavalry, it was for its time a relatively agile medium-weight tank, superior in armour and armament to both its French and foreign competitors, such as the contemporary...

 and Hotchkiss H35

Hotchkiss H35

The Hotchkiss H35 or Char léger modèle 1935 H was a French light 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 because it proved difficult to steer...

 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 tracks. In organisation a DLM more closely resembled the contemporaneous German Panzerdivision

Panzer Division

A panzer division was an armored division in the army and air force branches of the Wehrmacht as well as the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany during World War II....

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

During the Battle of France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

 in May 1940 the division

Division (military)

A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...

contained the following units:

• 1 Mechanized Light Brigade
• 2 Mechanized Light Brigade
• 74 Artillery Regiment

It was an active division which existed during peacetime.