World At War: France Falls 5 of 6

[germaniajim]

now France has the honor and privilege to be protected by the Reich and henceforth to be known as Frankreich.

[goosetits]

cheese eatin surrender monkies! ....(sorry i had to)

[P1B1U1H1]

Blaming French politicians for a failure to defeat the greatest innovation in warfare, the Blitzkrieg, is tendentious ignorance of military reality. Nothing the French might have done after the fall of Poland would have caused the defeat of the Germans. The failure to enforce Versailles might be said to have led to this, but none wish to do so. The failure to have attacked after the seizure of the Rheinland might have also been efficacious.

[stardaddyo9]

de galle was insufferable after the war. if you beleived the nonsense he was spewing ,you would think that the french soldiers aquitted themselves very well during the war.

[wanker4761]

Hey< norhetoric1 that's "waning", not, "waining". Anyway it's snowing here not waining.

[eduardalet]

The Chinese are still far behind the United States in many areas such as quality dog foodThe US though needs to bring back all its manufacturing from China and deport its illegal alien population. The illegal population is a drain on resources resulting in rampant crime all over. We need to have tougher educational standards and that is where the Korean and Chinese are ahead. When your educational system falls apart you have a national security problem.Also we need more engineers and scientists.

[norhetoric1]

All the Americans here boasting about their prowess forget they are as France and the UK were then, A waining power about to fall to a more determined and organized colossus.

China

[BlondCT]

Historically that pattern might have been true, but since 1945 the USA has nuclear weapons with which to defend its sovereignty which France did not have in 1940. Hopefully China and the US can cooperate on important issues as they did during WWII.

[TheNightBadger]

They are also a monstrously cruel dictatorship who care nothing for the lives of their own people. It will not only be China that ascends in the future, India will too. There is also much room for growth in both Canada and Australasia. We should be thankful for that.

[jayers2]

There is no such thing as an absolute when it comes to the future. You can't be certain what is going to happen to America. The French and British lost the majority of their former power because of many bad decisions. To many variables to list. China can just as easily collapse.

[RattlerBK]

I agree, although it seems weird that the proverbial 'hyperpower torch' is being passed to a place of ancient civilization, which is China. I'd rather it be Brasil personally, because they're pretty cool.

[RattlerBK]

Well, Canada should be first of course, then Brasil! ;)

[Kralhonj]

The Maginot Line is the clearest indication of how far behind the French military were at that time. The Brits weren't much better either. Even after seeing the Blitzkreig used against the Poles, the Anglo-French allies still had no clear ideas about how to combat a fast mechanised army. There was no real coordination between the French and the British who's armies were subsequently divided and cut to ribbons. The French surrendered and the Brits left most of their artillery on the beach......

[pix042]

If the useless French generals could have done one thing right it would have been to blow up that railway carriage so that the Boche could not use it for the armistice signing. They could not even manage that.

[astridbelge]

some people here are

praising the aggressor

and

disparaging the victims

I know english speaking people tend to dislike the french

my enemy's enemy is my friend???

[majorhepcat]

The British and the French have such a long history of warring with each other, I think there still exist deep prejudices between the two countries. I don't believe this is as true in America, despite what the loud idiots here might make you believe.

[JamesArranMcGregor]

its a very old conflict...don't know why we don't like the frenchies...just always been that way.

[astridbelge]

Isn't it sad and pathetic then?

to dislike someone without even knowing the reasons

[locheelad2]

Not really, their is the tunnel to England, Scotland has always been friendly, the Auld Alliance. Canada has nothing against France, Quebec is another matter.

[randy95023]

Losing is one thing, collaborating is quite another. The Vichy were traitors and Nazi sympathizers plain and simple. Vichy forces actually killed American and British troops in North Africa. Shameful...

[gutentag28]

We can't put the blame on just one country in Europe. They all new Germany was arming to the teeth. Many of them had been attacked by Germany before. They built defenses but had no intentions of taking on the Germans. All the people's of the world are to blame for not recognizing the threat!

[astridbelge]

I agree

most of the these comments confirm my belief in the baseness of human nature

what is tragedy for some

is comedy for others

shame

[bradykroeker999]

there was the a lack of courage among the polititions of france, not it soldiers. the only reason that they didn't fight was because they were only following the generals orders.

[Fridomfry]

Again, the Vichy government came to power only after the defeat: It was a result, not a cause. And it was not a "coup" or a putsch: The lame parliament of the 3rd Republic just realized it had led France into disaster, and handed over the power to Marshall Pétain, at a large majority. Please stop spreading legends.

[majorhepcat]

France's problem was poor leadership.

[RussChannel]

did it have anything to do with the fact that the pro-german fascist Vichy government staged a coup and took over france

and handed paris over to hitler?

[Fridomfry]

No, the Vichy government came to power only after the defeat: It was a result, not a cause. In the beginning, Vichy was not pro-german or fascist. Pétain had been a hero of WW1 and he certainly did not want to "hand Paris over to Hitler". But, once the battle was lost with heavy casualties, he wanted to stop the bloodshed, and make France a neutral country. What pushed him to collaborate with Germany was the British attack against the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir.

[RussChannel]

wrong! you're reading typical american history text book version

the truth is that many in the french government collaborated with hitler and left paris to fall without a fight

petain was a lame duck

and was even tried after the war

[Fridomfry]

I've never read an American book on the battle of France: I've enough French, British and German books about 1940. The French government of 1939-1940 did not "collaborate with Hitler" - on the contrary, it declared war against Germany. Pétain came to power only after the disaster : Until then, he was not in the French cabinet.

You are confusing France with the USSR, which was indeed an ally of Hitler from 1939 to 1941.

But I guess it's useless to discuss with a confused mind.

[calicheSCOT]

Quite right Fridomfry, people don't usually realize the full extent of collusion between Stalin and Hitler even right up to operation Barbarossa. The Soviet's and Nazi's were Allies until 1941 in all but name.

[Fridomfry]

Actually, Germany would never have been able to wage and win the Blitzkrieg against our western democracies, if he had not been backed & supported by the Soviet Union in the East, and thus by the communist movement everywhere in the world. The Luftwaffe and Panzer divisions relied massively on metals and oil supplies from the USSR. The Russians themselves, later, paid this with thier own blood.

[calicheSCOT]

Indeed, and let us not forget the role the USSR played in training those Luftwaffe and Panzer divisions during the 30's. Not only that, but some believe Stalin would have played an active part in dividing up the British Empire, like he did in Poland, had the Nazi's ever successfully defeated the UK. Not sure what Hitler would have thought of the idea however.

[RussChannel]

no, i am not refering to the Aug 1939 non-aggression pact set up by ribbentropp and molotov

i am talking about the french right-wing which collaborated with Hitler

read an Irish history  book you ignorant fuck, theirs' is the only non-biased histories of ww2

[majorhepcat]

I believe the Vichy govt. came into power AFTER the Germans invaded. The General Command of France was poor. With some first class generals France probably would have held the Germans in check.

[JamesArranMcGregor]

yes after the fall. I have a bit of trivia to share (I might have learnt it during this program actually) There is old footage of Germans marching under the Arc de Triumph. Apparently in order to impress parisians...the German general in command...made his troops march in a loop so they would remarch through the area again making it look as though there were twice as many Germans in Paris than actually were.

[askjiir]

Must be very surreal for those french to all of a sudden listen to Nazi controlled Radio. They look very flabbergasted if you ask me, i dont think they expected it end like this!

[Fridomfry]

Well, just as Norway had been flabbergasted to be suddenly occupied by the Germans 2 months before. As for the radio, there were several stations. Radio Paris had been sabotaged by French engineers, so that the Nazi could not use it for a while. Other stations (Lyon) were controlled by the Vichy government. Many French could listen to BBC programs in French, before censorship and jamming were organised.

[BitterHappiness]

You should bear in mind the great sacrifices the French endured during WWI. They lost millions in that war to save their nation from the German invasion, and now suddenly not even 22 years later, the Germans had invaded and won in a matter of weeks. The wave of emotion that the French felt when realizing that their great sacrifice was all for nothing must have been overwhelming for many, especially those who devoted much to and lost much in that war. It must have been very surreal to them.

[Spatacus360]

Johnny,

German troops were still deep inside France at the time of the Armistice......I would not characterize it as a French victory.

[JOHNNYFRENCH80]

Please look at a WWI map at the date November 11th, 1918 before writing : you'll see the german army had been almost completely expulsed from the french territory... not to mention the positions of the eastern allied (under french command) army in central Europe.

[Spatacus360]

Close....It was under Napolean the II and it was 1864 against the Austrians!

[JOHNNYFRENCH80]

What about 1918 ? Still a french defeat ? A victory only possible because the French had many allies, yes... But the reverse is true for UK and US !

[damoosebelly]

i, too, have wearied of the France-bashing going on here. i believe part of the failure to better understand the seemingly cowardly or ineffective actions of the French during WWII in the context of their overwhelming burdens in WWI and the extreme losses they suffered in those battles. unfortunately, sometimes people think we live in an isolated moment and infer things based on that observation, often to the exclusion of history and context.

[lakerfan198126]

Yeah I don't get all of the French bashing either. I am an American and I realize that France has been our greatest and best historical ally. We wouldn't have won our independence from Britain if it weren't for their help. Together we fought in WWI and all Americans are proud to have been able to help liberate France from Nazi control. After the liberation, once again we were fighting together against Germany, side by side. They are helping us in Afghanistan right now, fighting terrorism.

[antred11]

Only people with no essential education about the world wars would accuse the French of cowardice. Strategic blunders and indecision in the Allied command (and simple bad luck also played a role) were the cause for France's downfall, not any lack of courage among the French soldiers.

[encarnadenoche]

@damoosebelly

your comment is so well written, I doubt if everybody is going to comprehend it.

[Lachausis]

@damoosebelly the french had a huge scar left from Verdun

[davelyng]

The muslums will take over France and the United States hopfully will do nothing about it. Go ask China for some help this time.

[Spatacus360]

Okay folks, here is a question for you! When did the French win their last war?

Think hard!

[kidragon08]

if i'm right, that was with napoleon! hahahaha