French weren't cowards (REALLY BIG LAUGH ALERT)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | February 6, 2003 | Pan Demetrakakes

[Chi-townChief]

Now that France has emerged as a leading critic of U.S. policy toward Iraq, a lot of pundits and editorial cartoonists are having a field day lampooning France's ''cowardice'' and proclivity to ''surrender.'' The supposed evidence for this slur is France's defeat in World War II.

Why is that, exactly? No one would dream of sneering at Poland, Greece, Yugoslavia, Norway or any of the other nations overcome by Germany in the war. So what makes France fair game?

France's critics need to be aware of some historical facts. At the beginning of World War II, Germany possessed the world's most powerful army, led by some of the world's most brilliant commanders. When Germany launched its great assault on France in 1940, it had no worries in the East, having defeated Poland and concluded a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Moreover, France was strategically handicapped by Holland's and Belgium's foolish insistence on neutrality--which Hitler blithely violated the moment it suited him.

By the time the Anglo-American forces reached France in 1944, Germany had been weakened by three years of savage warfare against Russia. Even so, the Allies barely managed to contain a German counteroffensive (the Battle of the Bulge). How much tougher do you think the German army was at the war's outset?

Those who carp about France's ''ingratitude'' never seem to remember that the United States could not have become a nation without France's help. At the very least, they should thank their lucky stars they didn't have to face the Wehrmacht in 1940.

Pan Demetrakakes,

St. Charles

letters@suntimes.com

[Romulus]

I know a lot of Frenchmen died during WW2, most of them were Jews, Gays, cripples, and other undesireables, a few of them were soldiers since they had surrendered so quickly.

You have any documentation, or are you just yelping along with your pack of cretins? Why don't you check with Hodar and learn some real history, instead of what "everybody knows"?

[weegee]

At the time, Europe believed in appeasement. This is why the conquest of Poland by Germany was tolerated. And yes, history is repeating itself.

VISUALIZE WORLD APPEASEMENT

"Peace in our lifetime"

[weegee]

Let me guess. The red and blue stripes are held on with velcro so it can easily be turned into a white flag.

[tophat9000]

France's critics need to be aware of some historical facts. At the beginning of World War II, Germany possessed the world's most powerful army,

The fool needs to check his historical facts.

At the beginning of World War II, France not Germany possessed the world's most powerful army,

The French on paper has the strongest Army in the world at the time …. The French did nothing when the Germanys reoccupied the Rhineland in violation of treaty with France

The new Germany Army was nothing at the time

The French (and England) did nothing when the Germanys occupied the Czechoslovakia Sudetenland and then occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia

The French (and England) did finally declare war when the Germanys invaded Poland but the French Army sat on the German border and did nothing (a time they called the phony war)

And all this time above the French military was the most powerful in Europe but they did nothing and the Germans military built up

The German High Command did not think they would be able to equal the French Army till 1944 .. They though Hitler was insane to attack France in 1940 but Hitler felt the French had no backbone and would fold

The historic fact is the French on paper has the strongest Army in the world at the time …and lost there country in weeks because they would not stand up to a petty dictator till it was to late

.... history repeats itself.

[ozzymandus]

This idiot doesn't know that the French had more men and way more (and better) tanks than the Germans in 1940.

[OneLoyalAmerican]

Greetings facedown, FReepers, et al:

Warez the brae-nibbling primate, waving the French mono-color ensign; the photo we love so well?

[smug]

Hitler felt the French had no backbone and would fold

like a cheap suit Just like the one they're wearing today.

[smug]

I think we should also liberate the people of nyc. from the U.N. . Maybe we would all be better off if they moved to Paris.

[Grand Old Partisan]

So? The large and well-equiped Czechoslovak army surrendered without firing a shot, and you fault the French for surrendering after fighting only six weeks?

[Roscoe]

Well, at least France has a stronger miltary than Greenpeace.

[Lizard_King]

A revolution that was based largely on the American revolution, as I recall. You know, liberty and all that stuff.

You recall incorrectly. That the US War of Independence was the spiritual and intellectual forebear of France's blood-drenched leftist festival is a myth that has been propagated well, along with the whitewashing of the behavior of the various French factions that ruled after the Revolution. If you are sincerely interested in the topic, I highly recommend Erich von Kuehnelt-Leddihn's masterful "Leftism Revisited", a work which examines the intellectual roots of Leftism and their modern expressions (from Hitler to Pol Pot), and does away quite handily with such harmful legends.

[metesky]

The French didn't help us for any other reason than to tweak John Bull. It took years of badgering on the part of Franklin, Adams and Jefferson before the French, who were constantly demanding massive bribes from the nearly broke fledgling country, finally consented to aid the Revolution.

Individuals such as Lafayette and his corps of volunteers had to slip out of France to get here and fight. Lafayette adored Washington and the idea behind our Revolution, but refused to take part in the French Revolution (He was, after all, the Marquis De'Lafayette) and almost lost his own head to the mob.

[metesky]

And that weary old joke, "rifle for sale, never fired, dropped once" was origially told about the Italian army.

[metesky]

This is why the conquest of Poland by Germany was tolerated.

????

Both Great Britain and France lived up to their treaty obligations and declared war on Germany when the Hun invaded Poland.

[metesky]

the phony war = sitzkreig

[MadIvan]

At the very least, they should thank their lucky stars they didn't have to face the Wehrmacht in 1940.

We faced the Luftwaffe in 1940. And we faced the Afrika Corps, run by one of Germany's most brilliant generals. However, we fought, and won. France had gotten into a rut, thinking that surrender was better than any war and paid the price. What is infuriating is the numbers of Frenchmen who still adhere to that philosophy.

Regards, Ivan

[Romulus]

(He was, after all, the Marquis De'Lafayette) and almost lost his own head to the mob.

Despite being an aristo, Lafayette was politically untouchable. Having backed American independence, Lafayette found himself a Certified Friend of Liberty, a status that served him well when the jacobin mobs started baying for blood.

Nice to see that, for once, a good deed did go unpunished.

[LibertarianInExile]

So do Malta, Monaco and the Vatican City. LOL. :)