 112
REASONS WHY SINCE 1944, THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND THE PENTAGON
SECRETLY HATED THE FRENCH.
11. "The French
are using our gas, but they won't give it to Americans. You can't get
gas in the French zones of occupation if you're driving through."
You are not supposed to. The French are
given gasoline by U. S. Army authority.. It is the only gasoline they
get They are compelled to use it for themselves. The Reciprocal Aid
Agreement, under Lend-Lease laws, states (ArticIe III) that the
Government of France will not, without the consent of the President of
the U.S., transfer any articles provided the French, or permit their
use, by anyone not an officer, employee, or agent of the French
government. Can an American gas pump give gasoline to a French army
car which is not specifically authorized to obtain gasoline from an
American pump? If you were on duty would you give gasoline to
unauthorized persons? Printing - Stars and Stripes, Yank, Army Talks,
Overseas Woman, I and E pamphlets.
12. "One Frenchman told me the French
practically gave us the Statue of Liberty. How do you like that?"
The Statue of Liberty began as the idea of
a group of Frenchmen, shortly after the Civil War. They commissioned a
French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, to do the work. A
committee of Frenchmen was formed in 1874 to raise funds. Bartholdi
recommended the site for the statue -- Bedloe's Island in New York
harbor. In France, 180 French cities, forty general councils, and
thousands of anonymous Frenchmen contributed a quarter of a million
dollars (not francs) towards the statue. (The United States raised
$280,000.) In 1883, the President of the French Committee, Mr. de
Lesseps, officially presented the statue to the American people.
13. "We are not welcome in French
Restaurants."
Why should we be ? We are supposed to eat in army messes. Every meal
we might eat in a French restaurant would use up just that much food
from the Frenchmen's limited supply.
14. "Every time we go into a night
club, we get soaked by these Frenchmen".
Were you never soaked in a night club at home? Compare the prices
in Paris night clubs to those in the night clubs you've visited in
Miami or New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. A G.I. comes out of a night
club in the States and says, "A buck and half for a Scotch and soda!
That place is a clip joint! The same G. I. comes out of a night club
in Paris and says, "Ninety francs for a shot of cognac! That's the
French for you - they're all robbers!"
15. "The French are terrible
scroungers. They keep mooching candy, soap, cigarettes, food from the
GI's. They have no self-respect."
Some of the French are scroungers. Hungry people lose their pride.
An empty stomach does not worry about losing face.
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16. "The
French welcomed us at first; now they want us to get out."
An American GI recently said, "We're like people who were given a
wonderful reception for a week-end. But we've stayed in the house
for a year. No one wants a house guest that long." Of course the
French would prefer that American troops leave France as soon as
possible. (So would you, if you were a Frenchman.) As long as we are
here, we impose an added strain on the already overtaxed French
economy. The French need the billets and food and supplies and
services which they are now supplying to us.
17. "The French
brag a lot about the fighting they did, but you don't hear any
Americans passing out bouquets to them."
General Patton cabled General Koenig, the French commander of the
FFI, that the spectacular advance of his (Patton's) army across
France would have been impossible without the fighting aid of the
FFI. General Patch estimated that from the time of the Mediterranean
landings to the arrival of our troops at Dijon, the help given to
our operations by the FFI was equivalent to four full divisions. The
Maquis who defended the Massif Central, in the south-central part of
France, had two Nazi divisions stymied; they kept those two
divisions from fighting against us. Perhaps some of us don't like to
pass out bouquets - to anyone but ourselves. Perhaps we have short
memories.
18. "The
French let us down when the fighting got tough. What did they do -
as fighters - to help us out?"
Here are a few of the things the French did:
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The French fought in Africa, in Sicily,
liberated Corsica, fought in Italy, took part in the invasion of
Europe and fought through the battles of France and Germany --
from Normandy to Munich.
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Units from the French navy participated in
the invasions of Sicily, Italy, Normandy and South France.
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Units of the French navy and merchant marine
took part in convoying operations on the Atlantic and Murmansk
routes.
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On June 5, 1944, the day before D-Day, over
5,000 Frenchmen of the resistance dynamited railroads in more than
500 strategic places.
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They delayed strategic German troop
movements for an average of 48 hours, according to our military
experts. Those 48 hours were tactically priceless ; they saved an
untold number of American lives.
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French resistance groups blew up a series of
bridges in southern France and delayed one of the Wehrmacht's
crack units (Das Reich Panzer Division) for twelve days in getting
from Bordeaux to Normandy.
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About 30,000 FF1 troops supported the Third
Army's VIII Corps in Brittany: they seized and held key spogs;
they conducted extensive guerrilla operations behind the German
lines.
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25,000 FFI troops protected the south flank
of the Third Army in its daring dash across France: the FFI wiped
out German bridgeheads north of the Loire River ; they guarded
vital lines of communication; they wiped out pockets of German
resistance; they held many towns and cities under orders from our
command.
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When our Third Army was approaching the area
between Dijon and Troyes from the west, and while the Seventh Army
was approaching this sector from the South, it was the FFI who
stubbornly blocked the Germans from making a stand and prevented a
mass retirement of German troops.
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In
Paris, as our armies drew close, several hundred thousand French
men and women rose up against the Germans. 50,000 armed men of the
resistance fought and beat the Nazi garrison, and occupied the
main buildings and administrative offices of Paris.
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