Posted on 03/03/2005 2:25:44 PM PST by Jinjelsnaps
Thanks for posting. There's something about color photos that makes the scenes seem real. Black and white is too artsy, too dreamy. The color makes you feel like you're there.
Losing so many young men is what changed them. The memory of that carnage altered their outlook on war. Some villages lost all the young men in them. That's why they were called the "lost" generation long before that term was applied to their slacker descendents.
True.
those men in those photos kicked the German's asses. They were outnumbered but they fought and won.
Okay, let's not go to the other extreme. Both sides were tough and "kicked ass." But the Germans simultaneously fought the British and French on the West, and Russia on the East, so I don't know if the Germans outnumbered anyone.
Yes, and that usually happens when the war is taking place in your own back yard. I'm sorry that my joke has offended so many... Frankly, I find it interesting that some have taken my joke as a serious statement. It had to have been known that when the article stated that the French Army was the only one using color photography that someone was going to make a joke of some sort.
I take absolutely nothing away from the French line soldiers that fought in WWI... I will go that one better and say had they better leadership and equipment (as was mentioned in an earlier post, with which I agreed), they might not have had to have the assistance of other nations.
Wow!
Thanks for posting...
As much as the French deserve scorn for their behavior in WWII, in WWI they were remarkably heroic. They were able to hold off the German Armed Forces until the USA tipped the scales against them. The French soldiers in these photos could not know of their compatriots' cowardice later in the century, and deserve the respect of us all for what they did in service of civilization.
me, too
Me three.
those are amazing!
Great Historic Photos ping
And a Frenchman analyzed the causes, in 1940. It was no mystery.
Marc Bloch, "Strange Defeat".
http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring99/strangedefeat.htm
M. Bloch was shot by the Gestapo in 1944 while working for the resistance.
Even Petain, he of Vichy, said it was due to a moral collapse.
An awesome view into the past, thanks.
How unusual to see in living color.
Apparently, you love bashing others besides commies.
The French did indeed fight heroically (Verdun, etc.) but in 1917 half of the entire French Army mutineed and refused to accept orders.
This was miraculously covered up by French and British intelligence; they never knew.
Err, the Germans never knew of the French mutiny, that is.
Thanks, Calpernia!
That photo could just as well be US in 100 years.
Ping to interesting old colour photos.
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