If you want to theorize... Let's assume the De Hell group and the loss of them was a crippling loss to the FRRM, since it forced thme to withdraw from active combat operations until further notice. What we don't know, however, is how big the whole FRRM is. I mean, we're talking nation-sized armed force: it wasn't all the FRRM that was deployed as De Hell group. Merovingia doesn't have to raise a new army from scratch. If I was to judge by real-world standards, a large transport ekranoplan, like A-90, can carry 150 personnel. We could go after a Boeing Pelican project (capable of lifitng ~3000 troops, should it ever be buildt...), but I don't believe it would ever be use for anything but ferrying troops between safe locations, while A-90 could be used to land troops on enemy shore (not a proper opposed landing, but no-one does proper opposed landings anymore these days). From that, I estimate the De Hell Group to be a couple hundred men strong. Maybe up to a thousand troops, max, making it, in modern military terms, about a reinforced battalion-sized, combined task force. Does losing a battalion / a thousand soldiers mean a country-sized military ceases to exist? Nope. A country is most likely to have a number of battalions in its army. Does it cripple the country's military? That's an another question. Please note that in RL terms, most of the combat losses are not men killed, but wounded or otherwise rendedred unbale to fight. Some of whom will be - in time - fit for duty again, though many will not. From what we know, De Hell group was annihilated, however: a complete, permanent loss. In Infinity it could be possibly mitigated with Cube recovery and Resurrecting the fallen troops in new LHosts - unfortuantely, there are no Cube-equipped troops in native MRRF units. So every death is True Death for them. Now ask yourself - what would happen should a modern country lose a thousand troops - like, permanently - in a single engagement? A battalion-sized combat group getting wiped out, to the lvery ast man? It is, most likely, to cause a major political shitstorm. The heads of political and military leadership are going to roll. Likely, someone is also going to look into the reasons behind that catastrophe, and trying to reform the armed force to avoid similar one in the future. Filling the ranks with new recruits - that's not that much of a problem, and there is no need to declare a forced mass draft to deal with it. Some clever propaganda, maybe taking the entry requirements down a notch, and you'll have enough recruits willing to step in. Training them, howeve,r is going to take time and money. Not to mention finding what went wrong, how to avoid it, what new shiny (and ocstly!) toys does the force need, etc etc..
If I am not mistaken, the fluff of the FRRM loss was that it was not a 100% loss of French forces but like 60% (which is still a ton of loss).
