First off, my deepest thanks to your grandfather, and to yourself if you have inherited his fighting qualities and outlook on life. The sad fact is that the French, as a whole, fought poorly. So did the Italians, for that matter. Granted, individual units performed heroically, but by and large the greater mass of both countries was absolutely ineffective.
It was Alphonse Juin, commander of the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy, that devised the plan to break the Gustav Line and have the Allies charge into Rome. It was the FEC who compromised the entire German defense by flanking them in the mountains. I’d say that’s a pretty big achievement by itself.
At Bir Hakeim, the Free French brigade there stalled the Afrika Korps for 16 days, as Rommel could not risk simply bypassing the fort. Cut off, with virtually no support from the British, they suffered minor casualties while inflicting twice as much casualties on the Afrika Korps. They only evacuated when they ran out of ammunition. The French stand at Bir Hakeim has often been cited as one of the major factors in helping the British 8th Army gain precious time to re-organize and halt the Axis advance completely at the First Battle of El Alamein.
I wouldn’t exactly call those minor successes. Also, the Italians fighting poorly was a result of British propaganda. Yes, their equipment was old and their commanders inept, but the Italians knew how to fight when cornered, and would be especially vicious in Sicily.
Read “France under the Germans” by Phillipe Burrin. Excellent story of how deep collaboration was between individual French men and women and the occupying Germans.
Read “To Lose a Battle” By Alistaire Horn. Excellent read on how and why France (and the BEF) lost the Battle of France.
Read the first, read the first half of the first one, need to go to the library to check it out again :|
Don’t get me wrong, I love France and the French influence on culture. I do, however, call a spade a spade when necessary. Napoleon was a great leader, and had incredibly brave French soldiers under him. WWI also had a very tough French defense against the Germans. However, in WWII the French, through a combination of factors, were whipped like schoolboys on and off the battlefield.
The French would be the last people to deny that the Germans gave them a terrible beating. But we were outnumbered and outgunned. Our tactics were woefully outdated, and poured our military budget into the Maginot Line. But they still resisted bitterly, especially the French rearguard at Dunkirk.
The French resistance is grossly exaggerated as well.
Only around 10% took part in actual resistance. The rest of the population were either indifferent, sympathetic to the Resistance (i.e. turning a blind eye, reading a Resistance newspaper). However, Patton cabled General Koenig, the French commander of the FFI (French Forces of the Interior), that the spectacular advance of his army across France would have been impossible without the fighting aid of the FFI. During D-Day they kept entire German divisions tied down, one of them famously being the 2nd SS “Das Reich” Panzer Division. They have not been exaggerated in our history books, but they certainly were a valuable asset to the Allies.
Also unexplored is the fact that the Spanish Civil War had just ended, and many refugees/fighters from that war, heavily leftist, fought against the invading Germans as well in France. The Polish and Spanish figure prominently among these. In fact, many Maquis bands in Southwest France were composed entirely of Spanish veterans of the Civil War.
Oh believe me, it’s quite explored. There is a monument in Bordeaux to the Spanish members of the Resistance.
