Text 24586, 75 rader
Skriven 2006-11-07 23:16:36 av Gary Braswell (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 24546 av VERN HUMPHREY (1:123/140)
Ärende: Election
================
VERN HUMPHREY -> GARY BRASWELL wrote:
 VH>>> And at the time of the North African invasion, De Gaulle was NOT
 VH> the
 VH>>> leader of any siginificant French movement.

 GB>> I said they were small.

 VH> Pretty close to insignificant.

 VH> In fact, the Allies had chosen another man to head the "Free French"
 VH> (Darlan, as I recall), but he was assassinated.  De Gaulle was their
 VH> second choice.

De Gaulle started the Free French. The US only wanted to deal with Vichy at
first, then they decided they did not want to deal with De Gaulle and went
after Darlan.



 VH>>> Right -- from one to two. :-)

 GB>> No, it was a massive shift.


 VH> If as many Frenchmen were in the Resistance as claimed to be, the French
 VH> would outnumber the Chinese. :-)

No, you lost the reference. After the interview, 80% of the French people were
behind De Gaulle.


 VH>>> Let me point out that at least one American General who had
 VH> French unit
 VH>>> under his command had a very low opinion of them. :-)

 GB>> Well, Guderian had a high opinion of the 4th and De Gaulle.

 VH> When?  Before the end of the war, or after?

 VH> The German Generals said a lot of things after the war to ingratiate
 VH> themselves to the allies.

Before and during. You must have forgotten my previous post. De Gaulle fought
to within a mile of Guderian's HQ.


 GB>> When the Germans re-militarized the Rhineland, De Gaulle wanted to
 VH> attack th
 GB>> with "...brutality and speed."

 GB>> He also tried to get legislation passed for creation of 7 armored
 VH> divisions.
 GB>> France, like the rest of Western Europe did not understand the role
 VH> armor wa
 GB>> to play in the exploitation of breakthroughs. They wanted a defensive
 VH> force
 GB>> built around the Maginot. I would guess you know its known as "The
 VH> Idiot's
 GB>> Plan" today.

 GB>> De Gaulle did not get the armored divisions.

 VH> In other words, he failed.  Ideas are one thing, execution is another.

Of course he failed. Anyone who went against the prevailing Army doctrine did.

-- 
"We are safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the
night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."- George Orwell

"For those dreams taken, here are a few nightmares."
Written on a bomb dropped on Tora Bora.

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