I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary... it isn't much of a delusional stretch to believe that english-speaking allies had nothing to do with rescuing them from the Nazis.

Too much antifreeze in the wine.

Just a bunch of cheese-eating surrender-monkeys, right Unsung_Hero?

Personally, I am suspicious of this kind of writing, sweeping generalizations claiming to understand the inner-feelings of some other nationality.

The English making the French out to be assholes?


Well, I never!

See? It's easy! PILE ON!

France surrenders???

Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary.

History fail.

And yes, I'm talking about stuff that happened after Waterloo.

Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary..

Eternal?

This is the idiotic part. France was probably the most feared power in Europe for the longest amount of time.

I, personally, can't forgive many of the french for Vichy France, and for turning more Jews in than the Italians did.

Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary... it isn't much of a delusional stretch to believe that english-speaking allies had nothing to do with rescuing them from the Nazis.

Too much antifreeze in the wine.

French Legion scoff at your ignorance

France: We'll be laughing when devolve into a Muslim state.

^you

I thought the French Foreign Legion was made up exclusively of non-French people.

....and yes,they are tough.
They eat US Navy Seals for breakfast.

Idiot, is that why they named 2 major streets in Paris after FDR and Winston Churchill because they hate us liberating them?

De Gaulle was a total asshole. Let's not put his idiotic mouth blabbering on the rest of the nation, please.

Sgygus: Just a bunch of cheese-eating surrender-monkeys, right Unsung_Hero?

Personally, I am suspicious of this kind of writing, sweeping generalizations claiming to understand the inner-feelings of some other nationality.

This. That story about Johnson and de Gaulle is great, but who knows if it really happened? A lot of what we take to be historically "factual" is often just bunk.

craigdamage: I thought the French Foreign Legion was made up exclusively of non-French people.

....and yes,they are tough.
They eat US Navy Seals for breakfast.

Exactly, because they are not French.

/the FFL actually does have a few french citizens in it.

das: France surrenders???

I give up.

GoSurfing: France: We'll be laughing when devolve into a Muslim state.

Yeah, since they're well on their way themselves.


Why were there so many trees in Paris during WWII?

So the Nazis could march in the shade.

of all De Gaulle!

Obdicut: Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary..

Eternal?

This is the idiotic part. France was probably the most feared power in Europe for the longest amount of time.

I, personally, can't forgive many of the french for Vichy France, and for turning more Jews in than the Italians did.

Maybe, if you consider six weeks to be a long amount of time.

The quote in the submitted headline, by the way, was NOT made by a Frenchman. Worth noting.

-TF

Thanks for forgetting Canada again.

You know who else wanted Americans removed from his country's soil?

Obdicut: Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary..

Eternal?

This is the idiotic part. France was probably the most feared power in Europe for the longest amount of time.

I, personally, can't forgive many of the french for Vichy France, and for turning more Jews in than the Italians did.

Yes, eternal.

Yeah France really hate the US for liberating them.

I guess that's why the named so many things after FDR!

Stupid article

Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary...

They did. They all died in the trenches in WW1.

What about all those pictures I've seen of grateful French citizens waving American flags and stuff as our troops drove by? I suspect that the average Jacques was pretty well aware of who their liberators were, and was probably damn grateful to boot.

Obdicut: Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary..

Eternal?

This is the idiotic part. France was probably the most feared power in Europe for the longest amount of time.

I, personally, can't forgive many of the french for Vichy France, and for turning more Jews in than the Italians did.

Mostly while under the rule of... an Italian.

Rozinante: Thanks for forgetting Canada again.

and Poland

My dad was stationed in France when de Gaulle kicked out the Americans. The American response? Strip every single thing of value from our installations, including every inch of wiring and every foot of plumbing.

\/ Up yours, de Gaulle.

De Gaulle of some people!

Awesome T-Shirt: craigdamage: I thought the French Foreign Legion was made up exclusively of non-French people.

....and yes,they are tough.
They eat US Navy Seals for breakfast.

Exactly, because they are not French.

/the FFL actually does have a few french citizens in it.

Germany has made up more of their ranks than the next 4 top countries combined.

Random fact.

France needs to quit their yammering and concentrate on their strength: cultural contributions, things like wine and oral sex.

The French are pathetic. Aside from Napolean. He wasn't even French though, so that's saying something. Who let's the Nazi's just TAKE their country? Who doesn't put up a fight to the death over it? France just let them Waltz in, put up a puppet government, and make it so we had to do some crazy farking beach landing to stop the Nazi's. Great Brittian could have surrendered, they got the shiat bombed out of them, but they didn't surrender. Russia could have surrendered, but they didn't.

France is always showing up late to the party, and joining whatever side is winning. In the American Revolution, it took them forever to show up, and when they did the War was almost over. Yeah, they helped end it, but way to wait tell the last farking second France!

Wolfmanjames: Unsung_Hero: I suppose if the French can believe they have brave soldiers despite an eternal string of proofs to the contrary...

They did. They all died in the trenches in WW1.

French soldiers in WW2 were brave, but utterly outclassed by the Germans, who had far better equipment, tactics and especially leadership. There was no point going on except to have the Germans utterly destroy France. They screwed up, and badly, and their generals were utterly incapable of mounting a coherent defense. Where the French should be condemned is the Vichy Government.

The Brits didn't fare well either.

The US had serious issues in Tunisia, but they learned quickly.

gee, the francophiles have their panties in a bunch again. There's a shocker.

Rozinante: Thanks for forgetting Canada again.

Of the rest, 37 were Norwegians, and one was Belgian. The rest were from the English speaking world - two New Zealanders, 13 Australians, 359 Canadians, 1,641 Britons and, most decisively of all, 2,500 Americans.

Hey France,

We saved your butts in World War II.
/Or we would have, if we had been born then.
//So when is our bailout check coming?

Sincerely,
The Baby Boomers

The biggest knee slapper from WW2 was how the Brits scuttled the Vichy Fleet because the Navy was going to surrender control to Germany rather than rebel and flee to join the Allied Fleet. The French Admiralty was aghast and wanted to rally their remaining forces for an assault on Britain.

Or so the story goes.

luckyeddie: Rozinante: Thanks for forgetting Canada again.

and Poland

You're probably kidding, but the Poles probably did more to liberate France than the French.

TFossor: The quote in the submitted headline, by the way, was NOT made by a Frenchman. Worth noting.

-TF

I think the correct quote was as follows:

"I don't wanna talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time."

I thought it was a good article. Remarkable in some of its content and is one of the few Fark articles that could have some insight.

It probably only got green lit because it's France+war+surrender?

The fact though, that the allies role is played down for 40 years in France, and France has issues....could be something Sarkozy could improve on. Hope so...

Hey France- Thanks for the whole democracy thing and the statue!


/buncha jerks

Having studied and worked in France, I can say honestly that I have never had a bad experience when I told French people that I am American. Au contraire.

I've seen many older people (older in the sense that they grew up during WWII) tear up and thank me and all Americans for having been so good as to save them during WWII. My grandfather was a glider pilot in that war, and mentioning this to French people created an insane outpouring of gratitude.

McMillan can bite it. I've read quite a few of his books and he usually portrays the French as isolationist assholes. Granted, their history from the Franco-Prussian war forward was not the most glorious and brave, but I think that all-encompassing stereotypes need to be avoided.

French people are nice, and not all Americans are cowboys. Hell, I'm from Kentucky and I've never even been in the saddle.

And shame on the BBC for running this. I expect better.

Corvus
I guess that's why the named so many things after FDR!

What the hell is that? Storage lockers?

I'm getting a kick out of this because my father who was Patton's liason to the french underground was partially picked because he had the same name as the first Frenchman killed on D-day. He also was asked by DeGualle (sp?) to be on his staff. A few years ago for the anniversary of D-day my father got a call from the French Ambassador to the US stating that he never got the medal he was awarded - the highest military medal awarded by France. My father replied "I refused the medal - it was to be awarded to me by Degualle (sp?). He was the biggest *sshole I ever met. I found out the morning it was to be awarded to me and volunteered for the first mission available that would have out of the area within an hour".
Needless to say, the French Ambassardor was appalled.

Sgygus: Personally, I am suspicious of this kind of writing, sweeping generalizations claiming to understand the inner-feelings of some other nationality.

The rationales for anti-American feelings in France provided in the article are silly. Linking it to the 19th century imperialism is utterly ridiculous. That's like trying to explain expansionist tendencies of Russia by citing the Napoleonic war. It's hard to see the relevancy.

There are several reasons that France wasn't as appreciative of American aid in WWII as Americans think they should be. The main one is that the USA joined the war only after it was attacked - instead of defending Europe against the expansion of Germany, the USA joined the war only after its interests were seriously threatened. Thus the aid provided by Americans in the liberation of France was not seen as help, but as cooperation resulting from mutual interest. Some even blamed the Americans for the occupation of France - they ask us to imagine how many lives may have been saved if the US joined the war immediately after Germany attacked Poland. These criticisms are not without justice, as there is increasingly more evidence showing that the USA not only did not care for the interests of Western Europe, but actually saw the positive sides of a German empire, which would increase the status of the USA politically and economically.

I was on Juno Beach in November, and there is a giant cross with an inscription that goes something like "Here is the spot the French army landed to retake France, June 7 1944." Until very recently, there was nothing to signify who else landed there.

Corvus: Idiot, is that why they named 2 major streets in Paris after FDR and Winston Churchill because they hate us liberating them?

Really? TWO streets?
Excuse me while my eyes well with tears.

Rozinante: luckyeddie: Rozinante: Thanks for forgetting Canada again.

and Poland

You're probably kidding, but the Poles probably did more to liberate France than the French.

I am. It was a thoughtless use of an old Dubya cliche, but it's Saturday, this is Fark and I'm drinking.

netcentric: The fact though, that the allies role is played down for 40 years in France, and France has issues....could be something Sarkozy could improve on. Hope so...

But that's a lie. Have you ever been to Paris? Tons of crap is named after FDR. One of the main streets in named after FDR. Same for Churchill.



More french probably are aware of the liberation by the US than Americans.