Wound the French and create confusion (8)
I believe the answer is:
lacerate
'wound' is the definition.
(I know that lacerate is a type of wound)
'the french and create confusion' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la' ('the' in French).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'confusion' indicates an anagram.
'create' anagrammed gives 'cerate'.
'la'+'cerate'='LACERATE'
(Other definitions for lacerate that I've seen before include "Deeply cut (flesh, skin)" , "Cut, leaving jagged edges" , "Tear, rip (flesh or skin)" , "Slash" , "Tear, wound, hurt" .)