French History of Warfare

AlbinoBlacksheep ^

[nickcarraway]

Isn't Corsican different then French?

[The Grammarian]

The short answer: Yes.

The long answer: Corsica is a province within France (though it was not always so). Its natives, the Corsicans, are a distinct ethnic group with their own language (Corse), quite apart from the French.

[ukman]

Are your referring to the Foreign Legion? If so, you're a bit off the mark: 90% of the officers are French, and about a third of the other ranks are too. Visit the FFL website, it's quite interesting.
The Spanish "Foreign" Legion, I hear, is entirely Spanish.

[Michael121]

UKMAN :

First off without the US ou would be speaking German. It was our ships that kept feeding you with supplies.

Not that the brave pilots of the RAF did not keep the fight from being an Invasion. Without air support Hitler would not invade.

But then you decided you had had enough of the Great Winston Churchill and FIRED him when it was all over.

You became a Democratic Country in name only. You are more socialistic and becoming like France every day.

You had you pretty boy Monty, which won in the Desert with the help of blow up rubber tanks. Which fooled the Germans.

Yet when it came time to win in Normandy we were always waiting on Monty. Falaise Gap comes to mind. It would have been closed had Monty MOVED FASTER.

Operation Market Garden was a FAILURE. The British tankers were under orders not to destroy property unnecessarily. And the 101st Airborne who made ALL there objectives, were watching the Brit tankers sitting on the road having their spot of tea when the British 6th Airborne was getting chewed to pieces with no armor support. After which they were no longer an effective fighting force.

American tankers would not have stopped until they reached their men. As proven in Bastogne. Pattons tanks moved fast never stopped to take a break to reach the city.

Our Forces NEVER lost a battle in Viet Nam. The war was lost on politics.

We produced over 50,000 Sherman tanks plus planes, trucks etc.... to win the war in Europe.

And what we should have done is what the left is saying now. Leave Europe to its own because it was the Japs who attacked Pearl not Germans. As was said in WWI and WWII it is just the Euopeans fighting again. Let them fight their own war we will not get involved.

For you Brits sake thanks Tojo and the Imperial Navy. Without the US and the manpower and supplies Britain would have made a deal with Hitler because the common enemy to you both was Stalin. Winston hated the commies.

[ZULU]

Corsicans are really Italians, just as Alsatians are really Germans.

[TXBSAFH]

The deck of the USS Constittution has never been trod by the foot of an enemy of this country, except after they surrendered that is. And she has witnessed many of those.

[TXBSAFH]

This bashing is not in jest but in hatred. Hatred of the worthless, lazy, back stabbing frogs.

[billnaz]

Yes, I know there are some Frenchmen in the Foreign Legion. I wrote with tongue in cheek.

[ukman]

>First off without the US ou would be speaking German. It was our ships that kept feeding you with supplies.<

I speak German anyway, but thanks.

>But then you decided you had had enough of the Great Winston Churchill and FIRED him when it was all over.<

I wasn't around at the time, but I think Gran and Granddad voted Conservative. As far as I know, it was the troops who voted Labour. Didn't the US vote G.H.Bush out of power after the first Gulf War?

>You became a Democratic Country in name only. You are more socialistic and becoming like France every day.<

The name of the country is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Doesn't sound either democratic or socialist...
Becoming like France, moi?

>You had you pretty boy Monty, which won in the Desert with the help of blow up rubber tanks. Which fooled the Germans.<

Monty a pretty boy? Whatever turns you on. :-). Apart from that, I think you're getting something mixed up here. It was Patton who commanded the rubber tank army prior to D-Day.

>Yet when it came time to win in Normandy we were always waiting on Monty. Falaise Gap comes to mind. It would have been closed had Monty MOVED FASTER.

Operation Market Garden was a FAILURE. The British tankers were under orders not to destroy property unnecessarily. And the 101st Airborne who made ALL there objectives, were watching the Brit tankers sitting on the road having their spot of tea when the British 6th Airborne was getting chewed to pieces with no armor support. After which they were no longer an effective fighting force.

American tankers would not have stopped until they reached their men. As proven in Bastogne. Pattons tanks moved fast never stopped to take a break to reach the city.<

I know Monty was slow and methodical. And everybody in Britain knows that Market Garden was one of our many heroic failures. So what is your point?

>Our Forces NEVER lost a battle in Viet Nam. The war was lost on politics.<

As the Vietnamese guy said, the military part is irrelevant. Wars are often lost politically, after all, war is just the continuation of politics by other means, said Clausewitz. But never mind.

>And what we should have done is what the left is saying now. Leave Europe to its own because it was the Japs who attacked Pearl not Germans. As was said in WWI and WWII it is just the Euopeans fighting again. Let them fight their own war we will not get involved.

For you Brits sake thanks Tojo and the Imperial Navy. Without the US and the manpower and supplies Britain would have made a deal with Hitler because the common enemy to you both was Stalin. Winston hated the commies.<

That's all in the realm of "What if...?". I do however doubt Churchill would ever have made a deal with Hitler.

Anyway, like I said, you're taking my post too seriously.

[BIGLOOK]

While Dien Bien Phu was a disaster for the French, the French command managed to sink to greater depths by abandoning their Groupements de Commandos Mixtes Aeroportes, GCMAs, in the mountains and jungles beyond Lao Kay.

Radio calls from the GCMAs went unheeded by French main forces headed for repatriation.

Zut!

[ukman]

>This bashing is not in jest but in hatred. Hatred of the worthless, lazy, back stabbing frogs.<

Oh dear. Well, I don't hate the French (nor anybody else for that matter), they're the way they are, just as we are. As it happens, I didn't enjoy my time there much, though the people were very nice. It's just that our cultures are so different, nearly incompatible. I loved the food and wine, but their beer was dreadful, and they didn't really appreciate my sense of humour. To each his own.

[Michael121]

First off, the Rubber Tank Army was because the Germans thought if Patton was not moving then the invasion was not going to happen. In the desert it was the ruse that won. It WAS a military victory but too much credit was given to Monty, and he showed his true nature in his other commands in Normandy by being too timid never going without too much support. More arty was fired in support of Market-Garden to really no effect. Pres. Bush was not voted out because of the Gulf War he as voted out becasue it was about a tax increase. He allowed it too happen. it was not because We wanted more government but less. You Brits opted for more government in your lives like health care. It used to be the Brits would stand up for themselves now you expect someone else to do it for you.

[ukman]

You obviously don't think much of us British. We have our faults, I agree, and I'm no great Monty fan either. On the other hand, he liked to be cautious - and his political masters liked him to be cautious - because he and they and everybody else in the UK feared any repetition of the Somme.
Market Garden was about the only operation where he WASN'T cautious. Ah well, it was worth a try.
If you Americans want less government and taxes, I'm surprised you seem to put up with such high taxes and intrusive government. We British have always had higher expectations from the state; after all, we like to see out taxes put to reasonable use.
However, this is a traditional European mindset, and the US has its own mindset.

[ukman]

OK! I thought it was just ignorance. I like to keep the record straight. The son of a friend of mine joined the Legion as a para,, much to his mother's distress. I think he was in the British paras before (or was it the Marines?). No matter.

[muir_redwoods]

"FOR SALE: French military rifle, never fired, dropped once."