The French fought, they just had really poor tactics and communications, so they were always a day late and a dollar short. The untold story of Dunkirk is the sacrifice of a lot of French and British units fighting the delaying action.

And, there were fascists in France, though, I think the higher ups in the Government were war fatigued and just didn't want to see a repeat of the bloodletting of WW1 and surrendered early. Now once in power those that made up Vichy French did what they could to keep the Germans happy and keep in power. And by that time Petain was having the first signs of cognitive issues so made a good figure head and easy to manipulate.

The sad thing is that the British and French could have ended Nazis Germany during the invasion of Poland. The Germans had hardly any defense in the west. A push by the French would have ended in Berlin.

The Rick Atkinson "Liberation Trilogy " that details the us story in Africa, Sicily, Italy, w Europe mentions the involvement of the Vichy then free Free French involvement. I had no idea how much of a role the French played in the allied effort. They certainly didn't win the war, but they did play a part. Several battles would definitely have gone differently if not for French involvement.(100% supplied by USA)
Also, pretty much every French general or admiral was a major pain in the ass to each other and the US and British HQ.

Not necessarily mind blowing but I related the French embarrassment at Fort Douamont in February 1916 but the Germans had theirs on May 8, a little over two months later, so I'll relate it too:

on that day, some of the Bavarian soldiers from the regiment that captured the fort were in the weapons storage area of the fort and were brewing coffee on top of a cordite box. They were using explosives from a hand grenade as the fuel for their fire. Needless to say a small explosion occurred which set off the cordite and boxes of grenades, which in turn set off flamethrower cannisters. The flaming liquid started flowing through the dark corridors of the fort and before the river of fire could be contained, it entered into the magazine of the 155 gun. The explosion ripped through the fort and those Germans not completely incinerated, had their lungs burst by the blast travelling through the narrow corridors.

Those further away survived but became asphyxiated by the fumes from the explosion. The lights went out and panic ensued. In a crazed stampede the surviving troops exited the fort on the north and east. As they emerged from the fort with shredded uniforms and blackened faces, their comrades defending the German lines outside the fort thought the long dreaded French counterattack by African colonial troops was starting and the machine gunners opened up on the survivors of the blast.

650 men in total were lost including the entire staff of the 12th Grenadiers. To this day, most of the dead are still in the collapsed casemate of Fort Douamont.

My paternal grandfather was born in France and was about 7 or 8 years old when WWI broke out. About 2 years before the end of the war he immigrated with my Great Grandmother to Brazil and a few years later to Mexico. His father was direly wounded in the war and died a few years after the armistice was signed from wounds. Both sides of his family had several male members killed or maimed.

In talking to him when I was older he relayed that he believed it a foregone conclusion that France would really not fight WWII as the will of the populace in general was very much against another all out war. France never released the precise casualty figures to WWI. I have read that some historians estimate that between military dead and wounded and civilian deaths and wounded/affected from war caused issues; i.e. starvation, disease, sickness, and military action at up to almost 27% of the population. My grandfather relayed that it was just devastating to many families, including his own.

One of my senior history seminars I remember understanding that that based on estimated casualties, the population in general, and demographics of France at that time that out of every 100 working age males 15 had been killed and another 60 wounded, most fairly severely given the medical treatments of the time. French casualties in the first 2 years of the war were very high.

My great grandmother refused to ever return to France, although my grandfather did several times but refused to live there ever again. Again, in speaking to him later in life he believed that Germany, like France, would never rise to be a military power again, not because of imposed limitations but because of the after effects of such a harsh defeat and the impact of deaths on a more modern and sensitive society. My grandfather and my great grandmother despised the Germans and Germany.

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day:

On October 18, 1927, Charles A. Windus, 76 years of age, died in the hospital at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. Mr. Windus had had an unusually varied military career. He fought in the Union Army at Petersburg, deserted the cavalry in 1868 and served a year of hard labor for it, and later won the Medal of Honor fighting the Kiowa at the Battle of the Little Wichita in 1870. In 1877 he acquired another dubious distinction while serving as deputy sheriff in Brackettville: while arresting four fugitives he shot and killed a Black Seminole named Adam Payne, one of several "Buffalo Soldiers" who had won the Medal of Honor serving as scouts for the U.S. Army. Thus, Windus became the only Medal of Honor recipient who ever killed another.

Temporary rules were put into place by the Richmond Golf Club in England in 1941 due to German bombing. I don't know why these were considered temporary, they seem fair to me to be considered permanent rules of golf.


1. Players are asked to collect Bomb and Shrapnel splinters to save these causing damage to the mowing machines.

2.In competitions, during gunfire, or while bombs are falling, players may take cover without penalty for ceasing play.

3.The positions of known delayed-action bombs are marked by red flags placed at reasonably, but not guaranteed safe distance therefrom.

4. Shrapnel/and/or bomb splinters on the Fairways, or in Bunkers within a club's length of a ball may be moved without penalty, and no penalty shall be incurred if a ball is thereby caused to move accidentally.

5. A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced, or if lost or destroyed, a ball may be dropped not nearer the hole without penalty.

6. A ball lying in a crater may be lifted and dropped not nearer the hole, preserving the line to the hole without penalty.

7. A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball from the same place. Penalty, one stroke.

hah, the last one got me. golfers nowadays complain of camera shutters on a swing..

SIAP

Mohammed Aidid, the infamous warlord who was the target of the Blackhawk Down incident had a son. Hussein.

Hussein was also a US Marine and was even part of the expeditionary force that was in Somalia prior to the Rangers and Delta arriving. He was acting as an interpreter at the time. So the warlord whose presence and actions were the cause of an entire force of Marines to land and take part in safeguarding supplies and personnel, was manned by his very son.

The Marines left by the time of the Blackhawk incident and Mohammed had gotten away. He carried the intrawar between other warlords until he was wounded and ended up dying in '96. Hussein, now no longer active duty USMC, was a clerk in California. He dropped his life and returned to Somalia to take on the mantel of his father. With mixed results. He was labeled as President by his clan but was in essence just another warlord and ended up suing for peace between the other major warlord.

Just thought it super interesting the Big Bad of Somalia in the 90's had a son who ostensibly worked against him as a US Marine and then ended filling his shoes as a warlord after his death.


https://www.military.com/history/how-us-marine-went-somalia-and-became-warlord.html

Current mind blowing fact: The Royal Navy has 25 working warships and 40 Admirals.

lol

They definitely don't rule the waves anymore

After months of multiple delays, the SS United States finally left its longtime home of Philadelphia just before 1 p.m. ET Wednesday. The storied ocean liner's next stop is Mobile, Alabama, where it will be prepared for its final mission to become an artificial reef off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.


SS United States is a retired American ocean liner that was built during 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner to be entirely constructed in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title she still holds.

Wiki

As a curmudgeon, I hate watching videos when the same information could be communicated in writing that would take 10 seconds to read and absorb. For example, I believe that that 16 minute video can be summarized as follows:

The SS United States was the world's fastest ocean liner because of its powerful engines, lightweight hull, and efficient propellers.


Powerful engines

• The ship's four Westinghouse turbines could generate 240,000 shaft horsepower
  
• The turbines were similar to the high-pressure, high-temperature powerplants used in the Navy's aircraft carriers
  

Lightweight hull

• The ship's superstructure was made of aluminum to reduce weight
  
• The ship's hull was designed to be sleek and have minimal drag
  

Efficient propellers

• The ship's four propellers were made of manganese bronze and were 18 feet in diameter
• The propellers were designed to rotate efficiently in either direction
• The two inboard propellers had five blades, while the two outboard propellers had four

The SS United States broke the trans-Atlantic speed record on its maiden voyage in 1952. It held the record for over 60 years.

Jabin said:

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As a curmudgeon, I hate watching videos when the same information could be communicated in writing that would take 10 seconds to read and absorb.

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Preach on, brother!

Drives me crazy to Google up "how to replace XXXX part on a 2011 Silverado 2500 HD with a Duramax"

Instead of text, you get links to 40 different Youtube videos.

30 of them are for other brands, including a BMW Isetta.

7 more are for different years or engines.

Of the 3 left, two of them obviously don't have a clue, and have never picked up a wrench in their life.

If you are very, very, lucky, one guy will show the procedure you want, which takes 45 seconds of video. The other 9:15 of the video will be filler and advertisements.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Jabin said:

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As a curmudgeon, I hate watching videos when the same information could be communicated in writing that would take 10 seconds to read and absorb.

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Preach on, brother!

Drives me crazy to Google up "how to replace XXXX part on a 2011 Silverado 2500 HD with a Duramax"

Instead of text, you get links to 40 different Youtube videos.

30 of them are for other brands, including a BMW Isetta.

7 more are for different years or engines.

Of the 3 left, two of them obviously don't have a clue, and have never picked up a wrench in their life.

If you are very, very, lucky, one guy will show the procedure you want, which takes 45 seconds of video. The other 9:15 of the video will be filler and advertisements.

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I believe if you want to monetize a video, it has to be a certain length.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Quote:

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I believe if you want to monetize a video, it has to be a certain length.

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It also needs to be watchable, which most aren't.

To keep it on the topic of this thread, Mark Felton's videos are great. He speaks very slowly, so I usually watch at 1.25 speed.

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Bingo! I watch almost all videos at 1.25x to 1.5x.

TexasAggie73 said:

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p_bubel said:

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After months of multiple delays, the SS United States finally left its longtime home of Philadelphia just before 1 p.m. ET Wednesday. The storied ocean liner's next stop is Mobile, Alabama, where it will be prepared for its final mission to become an artificial reef off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.


SS United States is a retired American ocean liner that was built during 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner to be entirely constructed in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title she still holds.

Wiki

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A lot of military family were passengers on transfers to Europe

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My mother was a passenger around 1960-61 when her family returned from a duty station in Britain.

Sapper Redux said:

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TexasAggie73 said:

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p_bubel said:

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After months of multiple delays, the SS United States finally left its longtime home of Philadelphia just before 1 p.m. ET Wednesday. The storied ocean liner's next stop is Mobile, Alabama, where it will be prepared for its final mission to become an artificial reef off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.


SS United States is a retired American ocean liner that was built during 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner to be entirely constructed in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title she still holds.

Wiki

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A lot of military family were passengers on transfers to Europe

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My mother was a passenger around 1960-61 when her family returned from a duty station in Britain.

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There is a military brat sites on Facebook where many brats(children of military members) talk about their crossings. A lot of times the dad was already there and the mom would have to take the kids by herself.

A 7,000 mile rescue behind enemy lines using a PBY.

TLDW:

Quote:

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One of the longest rescue missions of WWII was conducted from Perth, Western Australia, by U.S. Navy Patrol Wing 10 using PBY Catalina flying boats. The mission was codenamed Operation Flight Gridiron.

The trip was 3,232 miles one way.

In late April 1942, two PBYs flew from Perth to Corregidor in the Philippines and rescued 50 key personnel as the fall of U.S. forces was imminent. The PBYs also delivered medicine and key supplies.

Corregidor finally fell on May 6th, 1942. The PBYs took off on April 27th, 1942, and returned May 2nd and 3rd, 1942. The trip to Corregidor required four refueling en route, two of them on a lake on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, surrounded by the Japanese.

During the night of April 29th, 1942, the PBYs landed on the water at Corregidor. Boats rapidly unloaded supplies and brought out evacuees. The planes commenced their long journey back to Perth. One PBY was damaged during a lake takeoff that required temporary makeshift repairs using a tree.

The planes flew a total of about 7,000 miles, with 3,900 of those miles in Japanese controlled airspace. The undamaged plane took 5 days to complete the mission and the damaged plane 6 days.

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Involvement of USS Langley, the converted first USN aircraft carrier was a tender at this point. Patrol Bomber Y=Consolidated Aircraft code. I didn't know that part.

Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry O'Hare (March 13, 1914 November 26, 1943) was an American naval aviator of the United States Navy, who on February 20, 1942, became the Navy's first fighter ace of the war when he single-handedly attacked a formation of nine medium bombers approaching his aircraft carrier. Even though he had a limited amount of ammunition, he was credited with shooting down five enemy bombers and became the first naval aviator recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II.[1]

His father was the lawyer for Al Capone.

i may have posted this earlier, but i love this graphic of Napoleon's campaign into Russia


The Grand Armee started out with a strength over over 680,000 men, which by the time it had retreated, only 93,000 survived.

In contrast, the 6th army from Germany had roughly 330,000 men at the onset of the Battle of Stalingrad, and after their surrender and internment, less than 5,000 returned to Germany after the war.

Yes thx, I should have noted that both the link and x poster are pretty pro-Russian. I am sure a French version of Napoleon's motivations etc. would be very different, but I didn't know his history as to military applications/marriage proposals at all.

And Abrams you are correct, the chronology/history of his army being slaughtered/dying/freezing to death is absolutely incredible. It's a very sad history, from which I don't think the French people ever fully recovered (after their revolutions of course, White Terror/second restoration etc).