112 Gripes about the French (Published in 1945)

[Feuer Frei!]

I found this quiet interesting:

http://www.e-rcps.com/gripes/

[mookiemookie]

That is a nice bit of history! Good find.

[Betonov]

Entertaining and yet educational, with a generous amount of solidarity. I like it

[Freiwillige]

I like this bold faced lie.

[FONT='Courier New',Courier,monospace]76. "The French have no courage. Why can't they defend themselves against the Germans ?"[/FONT]

[FONT='Courier New',Courier,monospace] Maybe it would be better to ask, "Why don't the Germans pick on someone their own size ?"[/FONT]

[FONT='Courier New',Courier,monospace] Modern warfare is not simply a matter of courage. A great lightweight can't lick a great heavyweight - even if he has courage to spare.[/FONT]

[FONT='Courier New',Courier,monospace] Hitler threw the manpower and industrial resources of over 80,000,000 Germans against 40,000,000 Frenchmen. The French did not have, and could not have had, the military and industrial power to beat Germany. (For instance, for the past hundred years France has not had enough coal, especially coking coal, to supply her peacetime needs. French iron ore normally flows to Germany's Ruhr valley for smelting, just as the ore of Minnesota goes to the coal and limestone area of Pittsburgh.)[/FONT]

[FONT='Courier New',Courier,monospace] France was beaten by Germany because Germany was enormously superior to France in manpower, equipment, resources, armament, and strategy. Germany had the incalculable advantage of having planned an offensive, Blitzkrieg war - while France, which wanted peace desperately, devoted its energies and training entirely to defensive measures. (That's why they built the Maginot Line.) The few advocates of modern mechanized armies (such as General de Gaulle) were like voices crying out in the wilderness. German propaganda, and "fifth column" activities financed from Berlin, helped to demoralize and confuse a nation that didn't want war in the first place.[/FONT]

[FONT='Courier New',Courier,monospace] The French lost 1,115,000 men and women, military and civilian, in dead, wounded and disabled. That is an enormous loss for a nation of 40 million. (The United States military casualties, up to V-J Day, were about 1,060,000 in dead and wounded.[/FONT]

[Herr-Berbunch]

112? Must've had ink/paper rationing still on

[Rockstar]

69. "The French aren't our kind of people. The Germans are."

The French were our allies during the American Revolution. They were our allies in 1917-1918. They were our allies in 1941-1945. What were the Germans?

Excellent point. Go to Yorktown in the spring when all the flags are up on the berms and gun emplacements see what flags fly there. Remember the Battle of the Capes a turning point in the war that prevented relief for Cornwallis.

However WWI was just a mess since I don't think anyone really knew what the heck they were fighting for. Just turned into a big chit storm when Austro-Hungarians were pressing for war with Slav states.

[krashkart]

Now this is quite an interesting find.