spectateur Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 [quote user="John Martin BRADLEY"]Quillan, I must call you up on your claim about the French and the Battle of Britain. Seven Free French pilots died in the Battle of Britain. Only 13 French pilots fought in BoB!1500 Czech pilots managed to make it to Britain from a little country to the east of Germany, how bloody difficult could have been for the French to make it across the Channel. More Norwegian combatants died on D-Day than French. Shameful. [/quote]Bit down on the French aren't you?The Czech pilots had seen that after their annexation by the 3rd Reich there was no future in staying in their own country. The French pilots had an air force of their own to belong to and to fly for. It was mainly destroyed on the ground in May/June 1940.The French were not deployed for D-Day. The French involvement in the Battle of Normandy came with their 2nd Armoured Division, Leclercs division that came under the command of Patton's 3rd U S Army. They were landed in France on August 1st 1944 and were in action in the battle closing of the Falaise gap in the middle of August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB Posted March 23, 2009 Share Posted March 23, 2009 A bit down on the French aren't I? I'm sorry, but I just find it hard to stomach French soldiers standing aside while others took the brunt from June to August in a drive to liberate France from an unwelcome occupier. I know the Falaise Gap was a very nasty affair, but IMHO it should have been French soldiers storming the Normandy beaches not Americans, Brits and Canadians. You would have thought French soldiers would be queuing up for the job - I'm sure there were enough French soldiers in Blighty to cover the first wave of all six beaches. I just don't understand why DG wasn't more insistent that Free French soldiers play a more prominent role on the 6th of June. He was certainly most insistent about most things he wanted and was a constant pain in the neck to Eisenhower and Churchill. Then DG had the gaul (groan) to announce, on his arrival in Paris, that he and his French troops had liberated France. What cheek!Once again, if 1500 Czech pilots, most of them travelling through France, could make it across the channel, then why didn't more French combatants regroup in Britain? And I know someone will come back with comments about memories of WW1 and sympathies with the Vichy position etc etc, but I still think it is shameful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Just a caveat I want to add to my comment about Czech pilots above. Many of them served with the French airforce until the fall of France and then they made their way to Britain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectateur Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 You can't blame DG for the absence of French troops at D-Day. I'm sure that Patton would have loved to have see his 3rd Army storming ashore, complete with the French Division, rather than Bradley's 1st Army. Similarly Mongomery would have loved to have been given reinforcements and the order to get to Berlin in April '45. However it was that scheming devious politician , Allied Supreme Commander Eisenhower, who decided who went where and when.With regards to D-Day, perhaps he was led to believe that the French Canadians were indeed French. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMB Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Spectateur I'm sure you're right . Guts and glory.Scheming devious politician is a tautology btw :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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