I am not a history expert. Most of what I know comes from video games, but while I do have several text books on WW2 - I never have the chance to really delve into them.
But I post at a bunch of different websites, and I noticed this time and time again and again: "the French are surrender monkeys" or sometimes "the French are cowards and we had to save them" or something of that nature.
First of all, as an American, I find it absoulutely horrible that so many of my countrymen in particular could have this bloated sense of attitude. It really is sad. Again, I am not a military expert, I cannot tell you OOB, or go into statistical detail of the Heer or Werchmact or anything like that, but nevertheless I find it curiously interesting that so many people write off the French as a cowardly and surrendering nation.
The main reason I find it interesting is this: If the American army, in May of 1940 - was placed in the same position as the French were, I just don't see US Army doing any better. I can't back this up, but I get this gut feeling that in 1940, the Germans would have opened up a big can of whooping on us.
And if the UK was placed in the same shoes as the French army was? Does anyone here think they'd be able to perform any better than the French army?
And people say the French surrendered too easily. Well, for those of you who feel this way, would you have preffered that every man, women, and child's life be placed into jeopardy? Whenever I see people saying "the French are surrender monkeys," I feel like saying to them:
"Well, what you are advocating is that they turn Paris into Okinawa, so that thousands of civilians get killed in the fighting? Is this what you want?"
So I thought, what if it was the Imperial Japanese Army that was in the shoes of the French army in May 1940? And the Japanese would have fought to death, but I get the feeling that they too would have lost. Does anybody, think that the US, UK, Japanese, or Soviet army - if they took on the role that the French army did in 1940 - think that those militaries would have stopped the Germans in May 1940?
Cause quite frankly, in May, and June of 1940 the German army pretty much pooped on the French Army. But if it were the American or UK army or Japanese army, or Soviet army, I get the feeling we'd all get pooped on too if we were in the same position as the French were in May - June 1940. So why are we always bitching and complaining that the French are cowards? It makes no sense to me - if you can't fight anymore, you simply can't fight anymore. You have to surrender and try to survive. I also think there is a double standard here; cause I see tons of people saying the French are cowards and surrender monkeys - as if we expect them to fight to the bitter death - but then we turn around and lable the Japanese as a bunch of backwards, fanatical, and unthinking people.
It's as if people want both pies. How do you guys feel about this?
But I post at a bunch of different websites, and I noticed this time and time again and again: "the French are surrender monkeys" or sometimes "the French are cowards and we had to save them" or something of that nature.
First of all, as an American, I find it absoulutely horrible that so many of my countrymen in particular could have this bloated sense of attitude. It really is sad. Again, I am not a military expert, I cannot tell you OOB, or go into statistical detail of the Heer or Werchmact or anything like that, but nevertheless I find it curiously interesting that so many people write off the French as a cowardly and surrendering nation.
The main reason I find it interesting is this: If the American army, in May of 1940 - was placed in the same position as the French were, I just don't see US Army doing any better. I can't back this up, but I get this gut feeling that in 1940, the Germans would have opened up a big can of whooping on us.
And if the UK was placed in the same shoes as the French army was? Does anyone here think they'd be able to perform any better than the French army?
And people say the French surrendered too easily. Well, for those of you who feel this way, would you have preffered that every man, women, and child's life be placed into jeopardy? Whenever I see people saying "the French are surrender monkeys," I feel like saying to them:
"Well, what you are advocating is that they turn Paris into Okinawa, so that thousands of civilians get killed in the fighting? Is this what you want?"
So I thought, what if it was the Imperial Japanese Army that was in the shoes of the French army in May 1940? And the Japanese would have fought to death, but I get the feeling that they too would have lost. Does anybody, think that the US, UK, Japanese, or Soviet army - if they took on the role that the French army did in 1940 - think that those militaries would have stopped the Germans in May 1940?
Cause quite frankly, in May, and June of 1940 the German army pretty much pooped on the French Army. But if it were the American or UK army or Japanese army, or Soviet army, I get the feeling we'd all get pooped on too if we were in the same position as the French were in May - June 1940. So why are we always bitching and complaining that the French are cowards? It makes no sense to me - if you can't fight anymore, you simply can't fight anymore. You have to surrender and try to survive. I also think there is a double standard here; cause I see tons of people saying the French are cowards and surrender monkeys - as if we expect them to fight to the bitter death - but then we turn around and lable the Japanese as a bunch of backwards, fanatical, and unthinking people.
It's as if people want both pies. How do you guys feel about this?
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