French designers were quite schizophrenic. They designed the best looking destroyers/cruisers and the worst possible looking battleships (esp those in WWI).
No kidding?We provoked the war with Germany?So you surely don';t know anything about German border provocations in 1939?And you don't have a clue about what Hitler said to his generals?He said that he will give some pretext to invade and nobody judges the victor.And what about the Gliwice provocation on August 31st,hah?Certainly you know nothing about that,do you?What about foreign minister Stresseman declaring in 1922 I believe,that Poland 'by its own weakness and with
@PolskiNarodowiecND I have more than a casual clue about all Hitler and his Generals and Stalin, Molotov, Beck, Sladkowski, the idiocy of Beck's attempt s in France. The change of policy in Poland before Pilsudski's body was cold.
@PolskiNarodowiecND Streseman was RIGHT as history shows. By its own stupidity of Pilsudski, Beck Sladkowski, Rydz-Smilgy, Poland ceased to exist, and became a province of Russia in 1945. Why? In violation of the Minorities Treaty. "In 1925 the Polish government enacted a land reform program with the aim of expropriating landowners. ...,the first annual list of properties to be reformed included 10,800 hectares from 32 German landowners and 950 hectares from seven Poles."....
@PolskiNarodowiecND Streseman was RIGHT. Poland conducted the most ridiculous foreign policy. Danzig was 98% German. The PEOPLE of Danzig had the inate RIGHT to choose their political affiliations. It was supposed to be a FREE CITY. but it was really IMPRISONED BY POLAND (as in foreign affairs through Warsaw, Polish money, citizenship laws, etc. ) Poland refused these people their freedom and it COST POLAND ITS COUNTRY to become a Russian province.
@historatia the cooperation between Germany and Russia will cease to exist'?And yes:there were plans for a Polish pre-emptive war against Germany with the help of France in the early 1930s and I'm proud of the fact that we at least very much TRIED TO AVOID THE HORRORS OF WW II HAPPENING.Thirdly:Poland started a quiet,partial,alarm mobilisation on March 1939 after Germany seized Kłajpeda/Memmel from Lithuania that was near Poland.What's your accusation then?
@PolskiNarodowiecND Poland did NOTHING of the sort. Poland not only annexed the Lithuanian, Belorussian and Ukrainian settlement east Galizian lands, but continued with Pilsudski's "Prometheism" program to destabilize the Soviet Union after that, and with Becks dreams of MiedMorze to build a Polish Empire. Poland from 1919 to 1939 -- right up to the taking of Teschen was a ROGUE STATE.
@PolskiNarodowiecND Germany RECLAIMED the Memelland.. So? Poland started a COMPLETE mobilization and positioned its forces for ATTACK when Beck was still trying to negotiate a pre-emptive war effort with the French who then REFUSED (Gamelin memoirs, and French cabinet documents.!)
@PolskiNarodowiecND What Poles took from others (Like Wilno, Lwow, East Galicia, much of Belarus, Danzig and West Prussia, East Prussia, West Prussian, German Silesai, other countries have a RIGHT to take back. Insofar as Warsaw was Russian under Russian Domain for a very long time, I guess they haver a right that too. Well, fine, have it your way. (You will notice that Poland already has bad relations with Russia, Lithuania and the Ukraine. Are you giving Stettin and Breslau back to the Germans
That Poland doesn't have a right to feel threatened and protect itself from a totalitarian,militaristic,cheauvinistic power like the German Third Reich?Certainly you wouldn't be scared when one of your powerfull and revisionistic neighbours keeps annexing nearby lands,hah?
@PolskiNarodowiecND Poland STOPPED having the right to "exist" when it BROKE the terms of its establshment by going on the binges of horrific ethnic cleansing of Ruthenians, Ukrainians, and Germans, finally with Beck FORMALLY abrogating the Minority Treaty that it signed in 1919 at its foundation.
Secodnly:there was no state of Ukraine,Belarus nor Lithuania before the partitions of Poland.There was only Poland in Mińsk,Wilno/Vinious,Witebsk,Mohylew,Żytomierz,Winnica,Biała Cerkiew,Bracław,Kamieniec Podolski,Homel,Mitawa and other cities that you certainly treat as Ukrainian,Belorussian and Lithuanian.There were Polish voivodships back there!
@PolskiNarodowiecND You ara a foolish man to claim that Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine did not exist before the partitions of Poland. The ALL existed historically. Try learning history, and not Polish mythology. There were minority Poles in many places in a multi-ethnic Central Europe, but Poland's claims, and those you make were and are ridiculous.
Also there was a belief when Germany invaded,that there would be a victory parade in Berlin because Germany was weaker than Poland,Britain and France combined but -as we all know - Britain failed miserably to provide naval and air superiority over the Germans and France failed to do i t on land so Poland was left alone.And how dare you call Poland a rogue state you insolent bastard?!There was nothing that we did that could
@PolskiNarodowiecND Ah yes, of course. Be Polish ... blame the British and French ... anybody but the foolish leaders of a state that made ENEMIES of ALL ITS NEIGHBOURS from 1919 on.. Its everybody else's fault. Who were the stupid ones to believe what the British and French said? Only Poland would thing that after making enemies of its neighbours and REFUSING to accommodate, and needling German with the closure of rail crossings to East Prussia that Britain and France woul JUMP for Poland???
@historatia have been called stealing of other nations' lands;on the contrary:we regained only approximately 60% of pre-partition Poland.No country in Europe was so much threatened and smeared all the time like Poland.So what's with your slanders that Poland was guilty of anything in the inter-war period?Lloyd George was a Jewish agent working for Germany and an idiot without even the basic knowledge of Central European affairs.He was a hypocrite who wanted borders based on population
@PolskiNarodowiecND Your "pre-partition Poland did not include Pomerania, East nor West Prussia from the TREATY OF WEHLAU forward. Poland always 'grabbed for it and grabbed and grabbed' but that was NEVER Polish sovereignty. Go read the TRUE history, not your mythological fables. And now its about Lloyd George being an "idiot Jewish agent"? Really. Well I understand it in detail, and I say that the Polish version of Central European history (Norman Davies included) is largely MYTH.
@eikkkN Not really. It was more your wonderul military strategists who set the thing up to have the war take place on Belgian soil in order to avoid damage inside France. (source: Gamelin)
I do sometimes wonder what might have been if we Brit's had had the French Navy with us when the War at sea heated up in 1941, most likley we would have been able to send a more sizable Naval Force to the far east since we would have had a strong enough Combined force in home waters.
At least this Fleet never got into the Hands of the Bucket Heads, otherwise it could have been of considerable detrement to the Royal Navy's War at sea.
@TSR1989FF What might have been? Well, I suppose that if Churchill had listened to Hess when he came to call in May 1941then the British Empire would not have been FLUSHED down the toilet without a bubble only 4 to 6 years later! And the Russian communists would not have become a major world power and taken over Central Europe and for half a century, and probably the Jews would have Madagascar rather than Palestine as their homeland... "what might have been?" good question.
@historatia Well that's the first time i've been subject to both Pedanticism & Sarcasm both in the same comment, oh well i guess it makes a change if nothing else.
@historatia Terror is the only way to keep an Empire intact ( ie Stalin, Genghis Khan). The British working class got the vote in 1918 and after WW2 the British public & free press would not have allowed a British government to unleash the terror campaign required to keep India a subject state. The same with the rest of the empire. Besides India it cost more to control the Empire than could be earned from it. It was also impossible to defend especially with US & USSR hostility to colonialism
@binaway the british could never use terror in india ,do you think the indians would of allowed it, we couldnt run india without the indians, a population of 300 plus million in the 30s , 2 million indians fought for us in ww2 , we used force from time to time were needed but we wernt that type of empire , we fought mau maus ,kenya would of been awful with them in charge,we fought communist chinese in malaya and the likes ,but handed these countries back, we werent lke the french in indo china
Don't forget (if you have ever known it) that we were the only country attacked by B O T H powerfull neighbours and at O N E T I M E!Polandvs GermanyvsRussiavsSlovakia.Only 70% of our army was in their designated destination at September 1st,other troops were onlymobilising since August 31st THANKS TO
THANKS TO OUR GOOD FOR NOTHING CHICKEN-SHIT ALLIES who 'advised' us to postpone full mobilisation because it may 'provoke' the Germans.Our war plans included a paralell Allied attack on Germany from the other side and neutrality of Russia.As we (some do) know,both of these things never happened.Had we not listened to the Allies and mobilised when it suited US,not others,and had Russia kept neutral
@PolskiNarodowiecND Perhaps you should rethink your position to correspond to historical fact. (1) Poland, having invaded and stolen the lands of Belarus, western Ukraine and Lithuania in 1919 could not possibly expect Russian "neutrality". That's an idiotic notion. (2) Poland provoked Germany from 1919 to 1939, including its attempts to engage with France in pre-emptive war on Germany on three occasions. (3) Poland was mobilized in MARCH 1939, but for "attack", NOT defense.
The French built amazing ships during the second world war. In fact, even the Zara class heavy cruisers from Italy were specially build just to match their French counterparts. The Zara was so heavily armored that even the British navy feared them for their impressive fire power. That's why they sent the HMS War Spite and her sisters to destroy them. Shame that they didn't have radar. They would have seen them coming... And could have escaped to fight for another day.
@OBSysteme The French were supposedly the most powerful nation in Europe during the early days of the second world war, their military performance was little more than a shambles, and for a supposed major power there was no excuse for it. The Greeks, Norwegians even the Polish put up a more determined organised resistance. And the Free French forces were useful in the war, but thats hardly the support you expect from a nation like France "Useful"
Even the Polish?Because we dulled the German war machine on ourselves-Britain and France received September,October,November,December,January,February,March and April- 8 months ( E I G H T M O N T H S!!!!!) to prepare themselves and especially their tactics.We told the so-called 'powerfull Allies' what to expect from the fucking Germans but you,in your typical conceit,didn't want to listen>Why should you listen to 'some Polish'-you thought.Well...
@PolskiNarodowiecND This is UTTER Rubbish. Hitler did not want to engage in war with the French and English. Poland bought France and Britain NOTHING. Even to the trip of Hess to Britain, Hitler was trying to arrange a peace deal, but because of US support the Brits wouldn't deal. Poland was completely irrelevant aft October 1939. You spew nonsense of the highest order, based on utter ignorance. The Wehrmacht forces were more than completely replenished by early December,
@PolskiNarodowiecND And so Poland saved the West by so debilitating the Wehrmacht so badly that they couldn't throw the British off the continent and quickly subdue the French miliary which was LARGER than the German at that time? You tell FABLES, ignore Polish political stupidities from 1919 to 1939 and military incompetence and lash out at the rest of the world. At the Conference of Genoa POLAND WAS WARNED.
@PolskiNarodowiecND Your comparison is nonsense. The Germans moved with 63 Divsions on attack against Poland's 48 on Defense. Russia was not really in the war until it was over and only to re-cover the land that Poland has stolen from it in 1919, (really stupid as it was NOT majority Polish settled. It was Belarussian. Ukrainian and Lithuanian settled. Poland had instant dreams of "greatness".
Secondly:where did you get your information about 48 Polish divisions?There existed 30 divisions of infrantry at peacetime plus 9 extra divisions when war was imminent so that's 39.Plus 11 brigades of cavalry and some territorial defence brigades and battalions but that's it.And only about 2/3 of them were fully mobilised and at the front on September 1st.But they don't tell about that in 'documentaries',do they?
@PolskiNarodowiecND My military sources are impeccable. The Polish archieves captured in 1919 tell a different story than the mythology that you've been fed with.
@historatia in the world,didn't want Poland to REGAIN what had been taken away from her in the biggest crime of the XVIIIth century.It was hipocrisy.Why didn't anybody say to Russia:relinquish your claims to half of your country since Russians are in minority there???Or Germany in Upper Silesia and souther East Prussia?Or Schleswig and Holstein where the Danes dominated?Learn history and accept it that Poland had every right to regaing what had been heirs in the first place for centuries.
I don't care who lived there because it was ours and our neighbours just took it from us by force.Simple.!
What ever happened to historical legitimacy,hah?!This thing with the 'majority population' was started only in 1919 because Jews,Germans and other hostile elements
@PolskiNarodowiecND Simple indeed. IT WAS NEVER "YOURS" AS YOU CLAIM. The land belonged to those who settled it over many centuries and lived there until 1945. They had a RIGHT to it, to which even the upriver Polish kings (actually the French/Hungarian Anjouian kings of Poland agreed). You just present a ridiculous mythology. The Commonwealth was not "Polish" it was a "Commonwealth" and largely run by outside interests. NON-POLES wanted OUT and left. ...
@PolskiNarodowiecND The Pommeranians, Prussians, Lithuanians, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Silesian want OUT, and they LEFT. That was not really a "partitian by maurauding enemies. IT WAS THE WILL OF THOSE PEOPLE TO LEAVE. Only a Pole who believes in the mythology of the propaganda would thing otherwise! Those ethnic peoples had a RIGHT to leave and ally themselves and their lands with others. Isn't that what "democratic self-determination" is all about? Swallow it! Nobody wanted to be polonized!!
@PolskiNarodowiecND So your rule is "If a Polish King ever farted somwhere its Polish forever!" Well the the Russians can say that whereever Stalin farted is Russia forever, right?" and the Germans can say "Whereber Hitler farted is German forever". We'll refer to that as the POLISH FART THEORY of historical legitimacy, courtesy of PolskiNarodowiecND. That will be your footnote in the history books.
The land stolen by Poland,hah?It was stolen by Russia in the partitions of Poland (1772,1793 and 1795) so learn history.I get frustrated when I read and hear about how Poland'stole' some lands from either Germany or Russia when because those who put those lies forward don't want to accept the simple truth that history didn't start in 1918 or 1919 but there had been actions in the pre-past as well.Poland reached about 150 km from Moscow in 1772!
@PolskiNarodowiecND The partitions did NOT take "Polish settled" lands. GO read "By this partition (1772) the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory, with a population of four million people (1/3 of its population), OF WHICH A LARGE PORTION HAD NOT BEEN ETHNICALLY POLISH." Even the Google references under "Polish Partitions" record it correctly. The Pommeranians and Prussians were throwing of Polish attempts to Polonize AGAIN as they had with the Treaty of Wehlau!!!
It was great before 1772!No dreams - just the desire to return to past greatness to which Poland was absolutely entitled.Search for a map of poland in 1771 and you will know what I'm talking about.Double standards are at large when Poland wants to regain some lands but not when Germany or Russia scream that they were deprived of 'their' territories and nobody then says:'hey Germans/Russians:they belonged to Poland;you grabbed it from the Poles so give them back to Poland'.
@PolskiNarodowiecND Wow "return past greatness to which Poland was absolutely entitled". There starts the myth of "past greatness", the first part of the MYTH. Was that when Catherine the Great appointed her LOVER, Poniatowski t be King of the Commonwealth after he had a particulary good erection? Or was it the "liberum veto" because Poland was then NOT really a fully sovereign state!!! What "greatness". Go study.. and stop dreaming of what never was!!!
There's no point arguing with you.You're just a false cretin who accepts only what you want to accept.Poland had (and still has) every right to RECLAIM what was (and still is) Polish.You keep talking about national majority in certain areas and the right of that majority to create its own country or join a neighbouring one.BUT IT'S AN ARTIFICIALLY MADE RULE-MADE BY THOSE WHO WERE AT VERSAILLES AND NATIONS DIDN'T EVER EVEN HEAR ABOUT THAT STUPID RULE OF YOURS!
@PolskiNarodowiecND Call me a cretin all you like, but the WORDS of the Armistice AND the Poland Treaty (Trianon) clearly state that the Polish State was to be of those areas indisputably SETTLED by people of POLISH culture over generations. and the OTHER AREAS were to be subjected to plebiscite (vote), with the exception of the corridor which was granted. Lord Curzon as appointed to do the determinations. He DREW the LINE AND POLAND REFUSED TO ACCEPT IT.... It became a rogue state.
@chloe7829 Will a short "gar nichts" suffice? My comments arose as a response to an off-topic set of comments by Poles (do I dare call them Polophones as in Francophones and Anglophones?) who continue on YT to make claims on this as well as other vids that I find false and intellectually erroneous and objectionable.
You keep talking about nationalities when it suits you and about history - also when it suits you.So,you're a hypocrite!Poland was historically for centuries the biggest country in all Europe and has historical rights for the return of that status.End of story.
@PolskiNarodowiecND The area settled by "Polish people" was NEVER "the biggest", and those "other people" under Polish occupation most of the time had a RIGHT to self-determination to LEAVE the commonwealth WITH THEIR LANDS and ally with other people like the Prussians, Russians and Austrians.. THAT is the end of the story to explode your Polish Myths of being the rightful POLISH MASTER RACE of Central Europe.
@PolskiNarodowiecND Poland was NEVER the biggest country in Europe. (Russia has always held that place.) Whats more the "Commonwealth" was NOT a "POLISH" state but a "Commonwealth" and "Personal Union". When the Poles sought to make it all "Poland" the others rebelled and got out. It seems you know extremely little in that Polish chauvinistic brain of yours. End of Story? Do you think you're the Pope and have the great wisdom? Learn something first OK?
Have they ever shown the truth about Polish war effort in 1939?Compare general Polish situation and military might with our enemies and our 'western allies',fighting Britain+France+Belgium+Holland+Luxemburgvs just Germany+Italy!That was shamefull,not Polish Defensive War.Maybe if you do what I asked you to do and research some real facts about early WWII,you will see that it was a disgrace Britain fought in 1940 in France.Dropping leaflets and running away all the time west.
@PolskiNarodowiecND And in arrogant and foolishly misled Poland that had NO FRIENDS (read the 1922 warning by David Lloyd George about Poland's conduct) when the provoked war with Germany started Rydz-Smigley, Josef Beck and the Generals TOASTED the war with "Christmas in Berlin" (an oil paining of Rydz-Smigly at the Brandenberg Gate exists. Complain at others all you want, but from 1919 to 1939 Poland was a ROGUE STATE that on three occasions sought war on a then weak Germany. NO FRIENDS
@historatia but when the population was predominantly Polish,he withdrew on his own rules and deleted the already made settings of 1919 that southern East Prussia should go to Poland just like all of Upper Silesia.That were the rules that he himself made but did apply only when they favoured Germany and was always forgetting about them when they were favourable to Poland.Besides:why did we have to beg for what was historically Polish?That was beneath our dignity.
@PolskiNarodowiecND First, the lands EAST of the CURZON LINE were NOT historically Polish settled. The CURZON Line was the eastern edge. It was Belarus, Lithuanian and Ukrainian. Nor IN ITS ENTIRE HISTORY was DANZIG EVER much POLISH settled. Your "Polish dignity" is based on a FALSE history. Danzig in 1919 was 98% GERMAN, and even during the days of Royal Prussia it had its own currency, Parliament (German language, etc.) and Army. ...
@PolskiNarodowiecND ... Just because a Polish king once farted there does not make it "historically Polish". Polish kings always WANTED what was NOT theirs by agreement of the settled people there. Your "Polish Dignity" is based on a "Great Poland" that is mythology rather than factual history.
@TowerHamletsNeil according to the non-aggression treaty with Poland,we would have given the Germans a muc,much,much better beating.And look at our borders:thousands of kilometres of W I DE O P E N S P A C E S with almost no natural borders.Not to mention the mass treason of all Jewry against Poland,collaborating with Russia,Germans volksdeutschers,Belorussians and Ukrainians rebelling...Know something before you judge others.They don't show it in damn 'documentaries' nowadays,do they?!
@PolskiNarodowiecND You paint a marvellous picture. So why, with such "wide open spaces" would Poland under Beck, Sladkowski, Rydz-Smigly be so DUMB as to provoke the Germans by keeping Danzig's 98% German population IMPRISONED when Poland had ENEMIES on ALL sides, and questionable lukewarm friends (already critical of it) far away? Your only STRATEGIC thinker (Pilsudski) had died, and Poland goes on a renewed ethnic cleansing rampage and provokes with the rail closures to East Prussia? Dumb!
@TowerHamletsNeil Actually the Poles had the best of French armour which was superior to the German. They had enough defensive strength (48 Divisions against 63) that in the hands of competent politicians and generals they stood a good changes of surviving a German assault intact. The Poles -- positioned for attack and NOT defense -- tried the initially successful BREAKOUT attack in the Battle of Bzura (September 9-19). Stupid strategy, led to Polish defeat. Why did Rydz-Smigly order attack??
@Waldganger64 That was kind of the point of the narrator saying Richelieu was completed early and trying not to show the ship aft of the bridge. Something, something, truth is the first casualty.
French ships were very good, some of their destroyers could reach more than 40kts and even 45kts sometimes. Such a shame they didn't use it properly ...
French cruisers were the best looking of the treaty cruisers. This is in stark contrast with the unbelievably ugly first generation French dreadnoughts.
A shame the French got overrun so quickly and easily, they had quite alot of potential really, There fleet at the time was quite advanced and had some good ships.
The French fleet was quite advanced indeed in 1940, although it badly needed more sonars and AA artillery. They were developing radars for gun control, and an aircraft carrier was being built in Brest. Actually the sailors were apalled to see the Army overrun so quickly by the Germans, and didn't feel beaten themselves - the French navy had been victorious in most encounters against the Germans and Italians in 1939-1940.
@Fridomfry Would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the French Fleet had actually gone against the Italian or German Fleets in 1940.
Kaigun, the French fleet did fight against the Italian or German fleets in 1939-1940. It participated in the French-British offensive in Norway in March 1940, and took its share of anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic. Against the Fascist fleet, it bombarded the Genova harbour ; the French destroyers based at Bizerte raided the Adriatic, destroying enemy ships.
While the Army was beaten flat, the Navy didn't feel beaten at all - thus the temptation for Admiral Darlan to take power...
@Fridomfry I know that. I was thinking in more terms of fleets in battle. Battleship against battleship, destroyers against destroyers. Something maybe on the scale of the battle of Matapan.
@Kaigun06 After the surrender? Not intereseting at all. The crews' families would have paid the price for their rebelion. Remember what happened at Lidice.
Unfortunatly, France isn't an island and has no ocean to protect herself from the continent. Panzer blitz in the ardennes was like Pearl Harbour for America. A complete and utterly surprise.
@TowerHamletsNeil Not a shame , they had to fight German on NE, Spanish on SW and italian on SE,Moreover they have been some nazi in france which where against the 'socialist' government. consequently they failled... but there is nothin they can have done to win against those fascist military forces, even if they had one of the best main battle tank in 1940 and some good aircraft fighter such MS406 and D520.
And keep in mind that some AWESOME ship of the free french forces were sunk by UK/USA..
the french navy was undefeated in 1940. it was as efficient and feared than the british navy.
the germans were so impressed by the french navy that they had planned to capture it's fleet. but both mers-el-kebir embush (1940) and the toulon scuttling (1942) ruined hitler's dream of using the french ships.
Another unpatriotic American who does his best to give his country a bad name. France fought against the Nazis, while the US stood cautiously neutral until they were forced to go over the top. The French Navy made daring raids against the German and Italian fleets, at a time when the US were still doing good business with the enemies of democracy.
Oh i do. Not only that but money was funneled through neutral Switzerland to the Nazis from their US based backers. It could happen again, but maybe in a different form, perhaps with this "CO2 scare" being fed to us
Part of the fleet has been sabotaged by the french for not it fell to the Nazis in Toulon. Another part was cast by the British at Mers El Kebir, killing thousands of french. Finally, another part joins England, and even the USA (In the Pacific, and also the Richelieu in New York)
To Bad they didn't make the run to the USA or Great Britian with the entire fleet and return to fight the Germans & Italians. The French Navy would have been a great help early in the war.
It was a tradgedy for the Allied cause in general and the Royal Navy in particular that the French fleet didnt get a chance to play its part,the French could have held the Med and prevented the overstretch the Royal Navy suffered in the early war years .
do you know why the most part of our fleet was sunked ? because our admirals was fools and fags : they decided to give our ships to the ennemies, but the captains of Toulon's fleet disobey and sunk their own ships...
frenchs who have the leadership in france are ennemies, as usual in our pathetic history...
Being homosexual never was a drawback in the Navy. For instance, look at the English: All their sailors were well-known fags, and they were the most efficient seamen in modern history. They lost a lot of their prestige once they admitted heterosexuals on their ships...
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Most Americans sympathized with Hitler. Only the Jews in America wanted war with Germany. Jews sucked america in to this silly war.. It would have been better if Hitler won.
I don't much either. I think it was counter productive and stupid. That Von Brunn was a nut job. That guy would have been better off writing books and doing research. Infact , I think the whole thing was secret govt operation.
You are right,, You had a tank that could of ran the Nazies back to Germany if you had leaders that knew how to use it. Plus France wasted to much money on the Magino Line. Where mobile forces would have been about to get the job done... General Patton was laughed at because he knew the value of armor forces in the beginning,
Cool. First time I've seen any footage of the French Fleet in 1940. Didn't know there existed any footage of the French Battleships Richeliu and Jean Bart. Glad you put it up.
Bravo SkobinI! Excellent write-up as well. (Of the vessels, Surcouf is a personal favorite. But admitedly the Japanese surpassed the Surcouf with their two-seaplane carrying I-boats).
French designers were quite schizophrenic. They designed the best looking destroyers/cruisers and the worst possible looking battleships (esp those in WWI).
trent8002003 9 months ago
@historatia
No kidding?We provoked the war with Germany?So you surely don';t know anything about German border provocations in 1939?And you don't have a clue about what Hitler said to his generals?He said that he will give some pretext to invade and nobody judges the victor.And what about the Gliwice provocation on August 31st,hah?Certainly you know nothing about that,do you?What about foreign minister Stresseman declaring in 1922 I believe,that Poland 'by its own weakness and with
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND I have more than a casual clue about all Hitler and his Generals and Stalin, Molotov, Beck, Sladkowski, the idiocy of Beck's attempt s in France. The change of policy in Poland before Pilsudski's body was cold.
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Streseman was RIGHT as history shows. By its own stupidity of Pilsudski, Beck Sladkowski, Rydz-Smilgy, Poland ceased to exist, and became a province of Russia in 1945. Why? In violation of the Minorities Treaty. "In 1925 the Polish government enacted a land reform program with the aim of expropriating landowners. ...,the first annual list of properties to be reformed included 10,800 hectares from 32 German landowners and 950 hectares from seven Poles."....
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Streseman was RIGHT. Poland conducted the most ridiculous foreign policy. Danzig was 98% German. The PEOPLE of Danzig had the inate RIGHT to choose their political affiliations. It was supposed to be a FREE CITY. but it was really IMPRISONED BY POLAND (as in foreign affairs through Warsaw, Polish money, citizenship laws, etc. ) Poland refused these people their freedom and it COST POLAND ITS COUNTRY to become a Russian province.
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia the cooperation between Germany and Russia will cease to exist'?And yes:there were plans for a Polish pre-emptive war against Germany with the help of France in the early 1930s and I'm proud of the fact that we at least very much TRIED TO AVOID THE HORRORS OF WW II HAPPENING.Thirdly:Poland started a quiet,partial,alarm mobilisation on March 1939 after Germany seized Kłajpeda/Memmel from Lithuania that was near Poland.What's your accusation then?
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Poland did NOTHING of the sort. Poland not only annexed the Lithuanian, Belorussian and Ukrainian settlement east Galizian lands, but continued with Pilsudski's "Prometheism" program to destabilize the Soviet Union after that, and with Becks dreams of MiedMorze to build a Polish Empire. Poland from 1919 to 1939 -- right up to the taking of Teschen was a ROGUE STATE.
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Germany RECLAIMED the Memelland.. So? Poland started a COMPLETE mobilization and positioned its forces for ATTACK when Beck was still trying to negotiate a pre-emptive war effort with the French who then REFUSED (Gamelin memoirs, and French cabinet documents.!)
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
What was taken from us,we had (and still have) every right to regain.
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND What Poles took from others (Like Wilno, Lwow, East Galicia, much of Belarus, Danzig and West Prussia, East Prussia, West Prussian, German Silesai, other countries have a RIGHT to take back. Insofar as Warsaw was Russian under Russian Domain for a very long time, I guess they haver a right that too. Well, fine, have it your way. (You will notice that Poland already has bad relations with Russia, Lithuania and the Ukraine. Are you giving Stettin and Breslau back to the Germans
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
That Poland doesn't have a right to feel threatened and protect itself from a totalitarian,militaristic,cheauvinistic power like the German Third Reich?Certainly you wouldn't be scared when one of your powerfull and revisionistic neighbours keeps annexing nearby lands,hah?
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Poland STOPPED having the right to "exist" when it BROKE the terms of its establshment by going on the binges of horrific ethnic cleansing of Ruthenians, Ukrainians, and Germans, finally with Beck FORMALLY abrogating the Minority Treaty that it signed in 1919 at its foundation.
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
Secodnly:there was no state of Ukraine,Belarus nor Lithuania before the partitions of Poland.There was only Poland in Mińsk,Wilno/Vinious,Witebsk,Mohylew,Żytomierz,Winnica,Biała Cerkiew,Bracław,Kamieniec Podolski,Homel,Mitawa and other cities that you certainly treat as Ukrainian,Belorussian and Lithuanian.There were Polish voivodships back there!
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND You ara a foolish man to claim that Lithuania, Belarus and the Ukraine did not exist before the partitions of Poland. The ALL existed historically. Try learning history, and not Polish mythology. There were minority Poles in many places in a multi-ethnic Central Europe, but Poland's claims, and those you make were and are ridiculous.
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
Also there was a belief when Germany invaded,that there would be a victory parade in Berlin because Germany was weaker than Poland,Britain and France combined but -as we all know - Britain failed miserably to provide naval and air superiority over the Germans and France failed to do i t on land so Poland was left alone.And how dare you call Poland a rogue state you insolent bastard?!There was nothing that we did that could
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Ah yes, of course. Be Polish ... blame the British and French ... anybody but the foolish leaders of a state that made ENEMIES of ALL ITS NEIGHBOURS from 1919 on.. Its everybody else's fault. Who were the stupid ones to believe what the British and French said? Only Poland would thing that after making enemies of its neighbours and REFUSING to accommodate, and needling German with the closure of rail crossings to East Prussia that Britain and France woul JUMP for Poland???
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia have been called stealing of other nations' lands;on the contrary:we regained only approximately 60% of pre-partition Poland.No country in Europe was so much threatened and smeared all the time like Poland.So what's with your slanders that Poland was guilty of anything in the inter-war period?Lloyd George was a Jewish agent working for Germany and an idiot without even the basic knowledge of Central European affairs.He was a hypocrite who wanted borders based on population
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Your "pre-partition Poland did not include Pomerania, East nor West Prussia from the TREATY OF WEHLAU forward. Poland always 'grabbed for it and grabbed and grabbed' but that was NEVER Polish sovereignty. Go read the TRUE history, not your mythological fables. And now its about Lloyd George being an "idiot Jewish agent"? Really. Well I understand it in detail, and I say that the Polish version of Central European history (Norman Davies included) is largely MYTH.
historatia 10 months ago
I don't understand how my country (the french forces) was defeated in 1940, maybe due to the fuckin' politicians
eikkkN 1 year ago
@eikkkN Not really. It was more your wonderul military strategists who set the thing up to have the war take place on Belgian soil in order to avoid damage inside France. (source: Gamelin)
historatia 10 months ago
I do sometimes wonder what might have been if we Brit's had had the French Navy with us when the War at sea heated up in 1941, most likley we would have been able to send a more sizable Naval Force to the far east since we would have had a strong enough Combined force in home waters.
At least this Fleet never got into the Hands of the Bucket Heads, otherwise it could have been of considerable detrement to the Royal Navy's War at sea.
TSR1989FF 1 year ago
@TSR1989FF What might have been? Well, I suppose that if Churchill had listened to Hess when he came to call in May 1941then the British Empire would not have been FLUSHED down the toilet without a bubble only 4 to 6 years later! And the Russian communists would not have become a major world power and taken over Central Europe and for half a century, and probably the Jews would have Madagascar rather than Palestine as their homeland... "what might have been?" good question.
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia Well that's the first time i've been subject to both Pedanticism & Sarcasm both in the same comment, oh well i guess it makes a change if nothing else.
TSR1989FF 10 months ago
@historatia Terror is the only way to keep an Empire intact ( ie Stalin, Genghis Khan). The British working class got the vote in 1918 and after WW2 the British public & free press would not have allowed a British government to unleash the terror campaign required to keep India a subject state. The same with the rest of the empire. Besides India it cost more to control the Empire than could be earned from it. It was also impossible to defend especially with US & USSR hostility to colonialism
binaway 3 months ago
@binaway the british could never use terror in india ,do you think the indians would of allowed it, we couldnt run india without the indians, a population of 300 plus million in the 30s , 2 million indians fought for us in ww2 , we used force from time to time were needed but we wernt that type of empire , we fought mau maus ,kenya would of been awful with them in charge,we fought communist chinese in malaya and the likes ,but handed these countries back, we werent lke the french in indo china
TheMightOfTheEnglish 2 months ago
@TowerHamletsNeil
Don't forget (if you have ever known it) that we were the only country attacked by B O T H powerfull neighbours and at O N E T I M E!Polandvs GermanyvsRussiavsSlovakia.Only 70% of our army was in their designated destination at September 1st,other troops were onlymobilising since August 31st THANKS TO
PolskiNarodowiecND 1 year ago
@TowerHamletsNeil
THANKS TO OUR GOOD FOR NOTHING CHICKEN-SHIT ALLIES who 'advised' us to postpone full mobilisation because it may 'provoke' the Germans.Our war plans included a paralell Allied attack on Germany from the other side and neutrality of Russia.As we (some do) know,both of these things never happened.Had we not listened to the Allies and mobilised when it suited US,not others,and had Russia kept neutral
PolskiNarodowiecND 1 year ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Perhaps you should rethink your position to correspond to historical fact. (1) Poland, having invaded and stolen the lands of Belarus, western Ukraine and Lithuania in 1919 could not possibly expect Russian "neutrality". That's an idiotic notion. (2) Poland provoked Germany from 1919 to 1939, including its attempts to engage with France in pre-emptive war on Germany on three occasions. (3) Poland was mobilized in MARCH 1939, but for "attack", NOT defense.
historatia 10 months ago
Comment removed
PolskiNarodowiecND 1 year ago
Ha ha RF stands for "retreat fast"
Tiberiotertio 1 year ago
I like having sexy time with my dogs
MonsieurVinc 1 year ago
The French built amazing ships during the second world war. In fact, even the Zara class heavy cruisers from Italy were specially build just to match their French counterparts. The Zara was so heavily armored that even the British navy feared them for their impressive fire power. That's why they sent the HMS War Spite and her sisters to destroy them. Shame that they didn't have radar. They would have seen them coming... And could have escaped to fight for another day.
Tyco200 1 year ago
@OBSysteme The French were supposedly the most powerful nation in Europe during the early days of the second world war, their military performance was little more than a shambles, and for a supposed major power there was no excuse for it. The Greeks, Norwegians even the Polish put up a more determined organised resistance. And the Free French forces were useful in the war, but thats hardly the support you expect from a nation like France "Useful"
TowerHamletsNeil 1 year ago
@TowerHamletsNeil
Even the Polish?Because we dulled the German war machine on ourselves-Britain and France received September,October,November,December,January,February,March and April- 8 months ( E I G H T M O N T H S!!!!!) to prepare themselves and especially their tactics.We told the so-called 'powerfull Allies' what to expect from the fucking Germans but you,in your typical conceit,didn't want to listen>Why should you listen to 'some Polish'-you thought.Well...
PolskiNarodowiecND 1 year ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND This is UTTER Rubbish. Hitler did not want to engage in war with the French and English. Poland bought France and Britain NOTHING. Even to the trip of Hess to Britain, Hitler was trying to arrange a peace deal, but because of US support the Brits wouldn't deal. Poland was completely irrelevant aft October 1939. You spew nonsense of the highest order, based on utter ignorance. The Wehrmacht forces were more than completely replenished by early December,
historatia 10 months ago
@TowerHamletsNeil
Opposing forces:
Poland:1,2 mln-Germany+Russia+Slovakia:2,5 mln,
Poland:4300 artillery pieces-Germany+Russia=14959,
Poland:400 planes-Germany+Russia:about 5000 planes,
Poland:880 tanks-Germany+Russia:7436.
German losses in arms:993 tanks and armoured cars,
11.000 mechanises land vehicles (very important),
564 planes,
370 artillery pieces.Not to mention the horrendous loss of resources,ammunition and wearing down of German soldiers.It wasn't like in fake war movies.
PolskiNarodowiecND 1 year ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND And so Poland saved the West by so debilitating the Wehrmacht so badly that they couldn't throw the British off the continent and quickly subdue the French miliary which was LARGER than the German at that time? You tell FABLES, ignore Polish political stupidities from 1919 to 1939 and military incompetence and lash out at the rest of the world. At the Conference of Genoa POLAND WAS WARNED.
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Your comparison is nonsense. The Germans moved with 63 Divsions on attack against Poland's 48 on Defense. Russia was not really in the war until it was over and only to re-cover the land that Poland has stolen from it in 1919, (really stupid as it was NOT majority Polish settled. It was Belarussian. Ukrainian and Lithuanian settled. Poland had instant dreams of "greatness".
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
Secondly:where did you get your information about 48 Polish divisions?There existed 30 divisions of infrantry at peacetime plus 9 extra divisions when war was imminent so that's 39.Plus 11 brigades of cavalry and some territorial defence brigades and battalions but that's it.And only about 2/3 of them were fully mobilised and at the front on September 1st.But they don't tell about that in 'documentaries',do they?
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND My military sources are impeccable. The Polish archieves captured in 1919 tell a different story than the mythology that you've been fed with.
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia in the world,didn't want Poland to REGAIN what had been taken away from her in the biggest crime of the XVIIIth century.It was hipocrisy.Why didn't anybody say to Russia:relinquish your claims to half of your country since Russians are in minority there???Or Germany in Upper Silesia and souther East Prussia?Or Schleswig and Holstein where the Danes dominated?Learn history and accept it that Poland had every right to regaing what had been heirs in the first place for centuries.
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@historatia
I don't care who lived there because it was ours and our neighbours just took it from us by force.Simple.!
What ever happened to historical legitimacy,hah?!This thing with the 'majority population' was started only in 1919 because Jews,Germans and other hostile elements
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Simple indeed. IT WAS NEVER "YOURS" AS YOU CLAIM. The land belonged to those who settled it over many centuries and lived there until 1945. They had a RIGHT to it, to which even the upriver Polish kings (actually the French/Hungarian Anjouian kings of Poland agreed). You just present a ridiculous mythology. The Commonwealth was not "Polish" it was a "Commonwealth" and largely run by outside interests. NON-POLES wanted OUT and left. ...
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND The Pommeranians, Prussians, Lithuanians, Belorussians, Ukrainians, Silesian want OUT, and they LEFT. That was not really a "partitian by maurauding enemies. IT WAS THE WILL OF THOSE PEOPLE TO LEAVE. Only a Pole who believes in the mythology of the propaganda would thing otherwise! Those ethnic peoples had a RIGHT to leave and ally themselves and their lands with others. Isn't that what "democratic self-determination" is all about? Swallow it! Nobody wanted to be polonized!!
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND So your rule is "If a Polish King ever farted somwhere its Polish forever!" Well the the Russians can say that whereever Stalin farted is Russia forever, right?" and the Germans can say "Whereber Hitler farted is German forever". We'll refer to that as the POLISH FART THEORY of historical legitimacy, courtesy of PolskiNarodowiecND. That will be your footnote in the history books.
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
The land stolen by Poland,hah?It was stolen by Russia in the partitions of Poland (1772,1793 and 1795) so learn history.I get frustrated when I read and hear about how Poland'stole' some lands from either Germany or Russia when because those who put those lies forward don't want to accept the simple truth that history didn't start in 1918 or 1919 but there had been actions in the pre-past as well.Poland reached about 150 km from Moscow in 1772!
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND The partitions did NOT take "Polish settled" lands. GO read "By this partition (1772) the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost about 30% of its territory, with a population of four million people (1/3 of its population), OF WHICH A LARGE PORTION HAD NOT BEEN ETHNICALLY POLISH." Even the Google references under "Polish Partitions" record it correctly. The Pommeranians and Prussians were throwing of Polish attempts to Polonize AGAIN as they had with the Treaty of Wehlau!!!
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
It was great before 1772!No dreams - just the desire to return to past greatness to which Poland was absolutely entitled.Search for a map of poland in 1771 and you will know what I'm talking about.Double standards are at large when Poland wants to regain some lands but not when Germany or Russia scream that they were deprived of 'their' territories and nobody then says:'hey Germans/Russians:they belonged to Poland;you grabbed it from the Poles so give them back to Poland'.
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Wow "return past greatness to which Poland was absolutely entitled". There starts the myth of "past greatness", the first part of the MYTH. Was that when Catherine the Great appointed her LOVER, Poniatowski t be King of the Commonwealth after he had a particulary good erection? Or was it the "liberum veto" because Poland was then NOT really a fully sovereign state!!! What "greatness". Go study.. and stop dreaming of what never was!!!
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia
There's no point arguing with you.You're just a false cretin who accepts only what you want to accept.Poland had (and still has) every right to RECLAIM what was (and still is) Polish.You keep talking about national majority in certain areas and the right of that majority to create its own country or join a neighbouring one.BUT IT'S AN ARTIFICIALLY MADE RULE-MADE BY THOSE WHO WERE AT VERSAILLES AND NATIONS DIDN'T EVER EVEN HEAR ABOUT THAT STUPID RULE OF YOURS!
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Call me a cretin all you like, but the WORDS of the Armistice AND the Poland Treaty (Trianon) clearly state that the Polish State was to be of those areas indisputably SETTLED by people of POLISH culture over generations. and the OTHER AREAS were to be subjected to plebiscite (vote), with the exception of the corridor which was granted. Lord Curzon as appointed to do the determinations. He DREW the LINE AND POLAND REFUSED TO ACCEPT IT.... It became a rogue state.
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia What does all of this have to do with the French Navy, of which this is a website?
chloe7829 5 months ago
@chloe7829 Will a short "gar nichts" suffice? My comments arose as a response to an off-topic set of comments by Poles (do I dare call them Polophones as in Francophones and Anglophones?) who continue on YT to make claims on this as well as other vids that I find false and intellectually erroneous and objectionable.
historatia 5 months ago
@historatia
You keep talking about nationalities when it suits you and about history - also when it suits you.So,you're a hypocrite!Poland was historically for centuries the biggest country in all Europe and has historical rights for the return of that status.End of story.
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND The area settled by "Polish people" was NEVER "the biggest", and those "other people" under Polish occupation most of the time had a RIGHT to self-determination to LEAVE the commonwealth WITH THEIR LANDS and ally with other people like the Prussians, Russians and Austrians.. THAT is the end of the story to explode your Polish Myths of being the rightful POLISH MASTER RACE of Central Europe.
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND Poland was NEVER the biggest country in Europe. (Russia has always held that place.) Whats more the "Commonwealth" was NOT a "POLISH" state but a "Commonwealth" and "Personal Union". When the Poles sought to make it all "Poland" the others rebelled and got out. It seems you know extremely little in that Polish chauvinistic brain of yours. End of Story? Do you think you're the Pope and have the great wisdom? Learn something first OK?
historatia 10 months ago
@TowerHamletsNeil
Have they ever shown the truth about Polish war effort in 1939?Compare general Polish situation and military might with our enemies and our 'western allies',fighting Britain+France+Belgium+Holland+Luxemburgvs just Germany+Italy!That was shamefull,not Polish Defensive War.Maybe if you do what I asked you to do and research some real facts about early WWII,you will see that it was a disgrace Britain fought in 1940 in France.Dropping leaflets and running away all the time west.
PolskiNarodowiecND 1 year ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND And in arrogant and foolishly misled Poland that had NO FRIENDS (read the 1922 warning by David Lloyd George about Poland's conduct) when the provoked war with Germany started Rydz-Smigley, Josef Beck and the Generals TOASTED the war with "Christmas in Berlin" (an oil paining of Rydz-Smigly at the Brandenberg Gate exists. Complain at others all you want, but from 1919 to 1939 Poland was a ROGUE STATE that on three occasions sought war on a then weak Germany. NO FRIENDS
historatia 10 months ago
@historatia but when the population was predominantly Polish,he withdrew on his own rules and deleted the already made settings of 1919 that southern East Prussia should go to Poland just like all of Upper Silesia.That were the rules that he himself made but did apply only when they favoured Germany and was always forgetting about them when they were favourable to Poland.Besides:why did we have to beg for what was historically Polish?That was beneath our dignity.
PolskiNarodowiecND 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND First, the lands EAST of the CURZON LINE were NOT historically Polish settled. The CURZON Line was the eastern edge. It was Belarus, Lithuanian and Ukrainian. Nor IN ITS ENTIRE HISTORY was DANZIG EVER much POLISH settled. Your "Polish dignity" is based on a FALSE history. Danzig in 1919 was 98% GERMAN, and even during the days of Royal Prussia it had its own currency, Parliament (German language, etc.) and Army. ...
historatia 10 months ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND ... Just because a Polish king once farted there does not make it "historically Polish". Polish kings always WANTED what was NOT theirs by agreement of the settled people there. Your "Polish Dignity" is based on a "Great Poland" that is mythology rather than factual history.
historatia 10 months ago
@TowerHamletsNeil according to the non-aggression treaty with Poland,we would have given the Germans a muc,much,much better beating.And look at our borders:thousands of kilometres of W I DE O P E N S P A C E S with almost no natural borders.Not to mention the mass treason of all Jewry against Poland,collaborating with Russia,Germans volksdeutschers,Belorussians and Ukrainians rebelling...Know something before you judge others.They don't show it in damn 'documentaries' nowadays,do they?!
PolskiNarodowiecND 1 year ago
@PolskiNarodowiecND You paint a marvellous picture. So why, with such "wide open spaces" would Poland under Beck, Sladkowski, Rydz-Smigly be so DUMB as to provoke the Germans by keeping Danzig's 98% German population IMPRISONED when Poland had ENEMIES on ALL sides, and questionable lukewarm friends (already critical of it) far away? Your only STRATEGIC thinker (Pilsudski) had died, and Poland goes on a renewed ethnic cleansing rampage and provokes with the rail closures to East Prussia? Dumb!
historatia 10 months ago
@TowerHamletsNeil Actually the Poles had the best of French armour which was superior to the German. They had enough defensive strength (48 Divisions against 63) that in the hands of competent politicians and generals they stood a good changes of surviving a German assault intact. The Poles -- positioned for attack and NOT defense -- tried the initially successful BREAKOUT attack in the Battle of Bzura (September 9-19). Stupid strategy, led to Polish defeat. Why did Rydz-Smigly order attack??
historatia 10 months ago
Too bad the British destroyed the Dunkerque and other good French navy ships at Mers el Kebir. :(
Dulcimerist 1 year ago
Superbe cuirassé, le tir des 380 est impressionnant .
lucky9229 1 year ago
Awesome footage of Richelieu Battleship firing.
Waldganger64 1 year ago
@Waldganger64 Too bad its not Richelieu. If you look again you can see the stand alone funnel of a Dunkerque.
navyreviewer 1 year ago
@navyreviewer Indeed, my mistake. It really looked like a heavy battleship, not a cruiser.
Waldganger64 1 year ago
@Waldganger64 That was kind of the point of the narrator saying Richelieu was completed early and trying not to show the ship aft of the bridge. Something, something, truth is the first casualty.
navyreviewer 1 year ago
How ironic
RandlesBear 1 year ago
French ships were very good, some of their destroyers could reach more than 40kts and even 45kts sometimes. Such a shame they didn't use it properly ...
aerolive91 2 years ago
French cruisers were the best looking of the treaty cruisers. This is in stark contrast with the unbelievably ugly first generation French dreadnoughts.
trent8002003 2 years ago
Read about fregate Aconit and FNFL (Free French Navy) who escort convoys during battle of the Atlantic...
faerials 2 years ago
A shame the French got overrun so quickly and easily, they had quite alot of potential really, There fleet at the time was quite advanced and had some good ships.
TowerHamletsNeil 2 years ago 9
The French fleet was quite advanced indeed in 1940, although it badly needed more sonars and AA artillery. They were developing radars for gun control, and an aircraft carrier was being built in Brest. Actually the sailors were apalled to see the Army overrun so quickly by the Germans, and didn't feel beaten themselves - the French navy had been victorious in most encounters against the Germans and Italians in 1939-1940.
Fridomfry 2 years ago 9
@Fridomfry Would have been interesting to see what would have happened if the French Fleet had actually gone against the Italian or German Fleets in 1940.
Kaigun06 1 year ago
Kaigun, the French fleet did fight against the Italian or German fleets in 1939-1940. It participated in the French-British offensive in Norway in March 1940, and took its share of anti-submarine warfare in the Atlantic. Against the Fascist fleet, it bombarded the Genova harbour ; the French destroyers based at Bizerte raided the Adriatic, destroying enemy ships.
While the Army was beaten flat, the Navy didn't feel beaten at all - thus the temptation for Admiral Darlan to take power...
Fridomfry 1 year ago
@Fridomfry I know that. I was thinking in more terms of fleets in battle. Battleship against battleship, destroyers against destroyers. Something maybe on the scale of the battle of Matapan.
Kaigun06 1 year ago
@Kaigun06 After the surrender? Not intereseting at all. The crews' families would have paid the price for their rebelion. Remember what happened at Lidice.
navyreviewer 1 year ago
@Fridomfry Their was a Carrier Bearn.
Aircanadafreak99 1 year ago
Unfortunatly, France isn't an island and has no ocean to protect herself from the continent. Panzer blitz in the ardennes was like Pearl Harbour for America. A complete and utterly surprise.
Nice vid BTW
Waldganger64 1 year ago
@TowerHamletsNeil Not a shame , they had to fight German on NE, Spanish on SW and italian on SE,Moreover they have been some nazi in france which where against the 'socialist' government. consequently they failled... but there is nothin they can have done to win against those fascist military forces, even if they had one of the best main battle tank in 1940 and some good aircraft fighter such MS406 and D520.
And keep in mind that some AWESOME ship of the free french forces were sunk by UK/USA..
bingofioul 1 year ago
Richelieu was one of the best battleships in WW2!!I didn´t know that there exists a video about it!
LeChar1989 2 years ago
And General De Gaulle was even sadder coz he wrote even before Guderian books and articles about the power of mecanized and armored units.
GuessIIIwho 2 years ago
The French just don't have any sent of humor..
kel12176 2 years ago
the french navy was undefeated in 1940. it was as efficient and feared than the british navy.
the germans were so impressed by the french navy that they had planned to capture it's fleet. but both mers-el-kebir embush (1940) and the toulon scuttling (1942) ruined hitler's dream of using the french ships.
Perversus666 2 years ago
The French still have the fastest ships ,, in reverse. Plus they are the only ships that retreat on auto... They also use yellow as a paint scheme.
kel12176 2 years ago
I'm not a fan of France but this is garbage and pretty ridiculous. How insulting?
jdewitt77 2 years ago 2
True we don't need to insult the French they do it on their own well enough.
kel12176 2 years ago
Another unpatriotic American who does his best to give his country a bad name. France fought against the Nazis, while the US stood cautiously neutral until they were forced to go over the top. The French Navy made daring raids against the German and Italian fleets, at a time when the US were still doing good business with the enemies of democracy.
Fridomfry 2 years ago 3
so true..
remember prescott bush who selt steel to hitler before US come into war
Gamikaze59 2 years ago
Oh i do. Not only that but money was funneled through neutral Switzerland to the Nazis from their US based backers. It could happen again, but maybe in a different form, perhaps with this "CO2 scare" being fed to us
mattmatt115 2 years ago
You can see a few parts of the Richelieu battleship in the Musee de la Marine in Paris, place du Trocadero (a great museum, worth the visit).
Fridomfry 2 years ago
Part of the fleet has been sabotaged by the french for not it fell to the Nazis in Toulon. Another part was cast by the British at Mers El Kebir, killing thousands of french. Finally, another part joins England, and even the USA (In the Pacific, and also the Richelieu in New York)
DuguesclinBZH 2 years ago
To Bad they didn't make the run to the USA or Great Britian with the entire fleet and return to fight the Germans & Italians. The French Navy would have been a great help early in the war.
tplanefun 3 years ago
It was a tradgedy for the Allied cause in general and the Royal Navy in particular that the French fleet didnt get a chance to play its part,the French could have held the Med and prevented the overstretch the Royal Navy suffered in the early war years .
iroscoe 2 years ago
do you know why the most part of our fleet was sunked ? because our admirals was fools and fags : they decided to give our ships to the ennemies, but the captains of Toulon's fleet disobey and sunk their own ships...
frenchs who have the leadership in france are ennemies, as usual in our pathetic history...
Gamikaze59 2 years ago
"our admirals was fools and fags"
Being homosexual never was a drawback in the Navy. For instance, look at the English: All their sailors were well-known fags, and they were the most efficient seamen in modern history. They lost a lot of their prestige once they admitted heterosexuals on their ships...
Fridomfry 2 years ago 2
in french theses adjectives don't have the same impact, so if I 've hurt someone, please accept my escuses.
I like your humor, we do the same jokes with females at military... but they 're often better than men
Gamikaze59 2 years ago
the first video of the Richelieu I ve seen!Nice!
LeChar1989 3 years ago
What side were they on in world war 2 ,,, the Nazi????
kel12176 3 years ago
Did you watch the video??!?!?!? or are you death they said about a trillion times they were on the ALiies and fighting aginst the NAzi's.
Smogger911 3 years ago
kel, just remember that France declared war against Hitler's Germany in Sept. 1939. Never been "allied with the nazis"!
Fridomfry 2 years ago
At least France entered the war in 1939, the first day of the german invasion of Poland.
They don't come the last year or the last six month of the conflict like Americans usually do...
MaxRWF 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Most Americans sympathized with Hitler. Only the Jews in America wanted war with Germany. Jews sucked america in to this silly war.. It would have been better if Hitler won.
FinalWar1444 2 years ago
What do you think of James Von Brunn opening up at the Holocaust museum?
I know little of it.
majorporpoise 2 years ago
I don't much either. I think it was counter productive and stupid. That Von Brunn was a nut job. That guy would have been better off writing books and doing research. Infact , I think the whole thing was secret govt operation.
FinalWar1444 2 years ago
Von Brunn actually DID write books.
He wrote 2, as far as I know. Both anti-semitic books.
You mean to make the anti-Government people look bad, as a Government operation?
majorporpoise 2 years ago
you dont understand briton ? we was invades by nazis in 1939, and a part of our fleets join USA and UK
Gamikaze59 2 years ago
You are right,, You had a tank that could of ran the Nazies back to Germany if you had leaders that knew how to use it. Plus France wasted to much money on the Magino Line. Where mobile forces would have been about to get the job done... General Patton was laughed at because he knew the value of armor forces in the beginning,
kel12176 2 years ago
always the same problem..
frenchs leaders was, and are pigs now too.
since a millenia we have the worse at the lead of our poor poor country...
Gamikaze59 2 years ago
my mothers uncle was there!!! he was one of the troops in dunkerque stranded!
Childrenwithguns5000 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Hitler spared the British and French at Dunkirk, because they were fellow Aryans. You should be thankful the Fuhrer was so generous.
FinalWar1444 2 years ago
french and british evacuated under fire
that's not sparing.
westhog 2 years ago
5 stars !
Koenig0726 3 years ago
Cool. First time I've seen any footage of the French Fleet in 1940. Didn't know there existed any footage of the French Battleships Richeliu and Jean Bart. Glad you put it up.
Kaigun06 3 years ago
Bravo SkobinI! Excellent write-up as well. (Of the vessels, Surcouf is a personal favorite. But admitedly the Japanese surpassed the Surcouf with their two-seaplane carrying I-boats).
olivenstein 3 years ago