This is a funny request because in a way, France was already the bastion of freedom. And the French army was the most respected in the world.
Sure, its political stability and effectiveness was a bit off but not much more than most other countries. And it was still a very respectable great power. Not as great as the bigger and richer Germany but then, neither was England and I don't hear anybody claiming England was useless.
The fact was that no single European power could hope to defeat Germany.
Nonetheless, France had more tanks than Germany and its army and air force was pretty much equal. Superior strategy defeated France. The vaunted blitzkrieg hit second-class reserve divisions and then shattered a French army outside its comfort zone. On those occasions the French army managed to fight according to its doctrine, it gave the Germans a bloody nose.
A case in point; both sides had roughly equal numbers of fighter planes. The French expected a long out campaign and limited their use so they would last the entire campaign. The Germans flew multiple sorties each day, multiplying their effectiveness.
So you really don't need to wank the French. Just allow them to fight as planned or put some first line divisions at Sedan.....
I concur. The first two conditions were fullfilled OTL. They just made to many poltical and military errors, so they still lost in the end.