South-bashing

[Pooka Fey]

106. Here's another perspective to compare from a war from 70 years ago

Last edited Sat Apr 11, 2015, 06:51 PM - Edit history (4)

From my vantage point of having lived for the last 10 years in Normandy in France, where many public buildings are still scarred by mortar shells that exploded 70 years ago, (logistics and costs of replacing valuable quarried stones on 15-16th Century palaces), I have never seen any lingering hatred or bitterness about WWII expressed towards the Germans by the French either in person or in print. There is lots of discussion and inquiry, but it is philosophical or historical in nature.

In 2010, historians determined French military losses in the Battle of France (May 10th - June 22, 1940) to be 59,000 French soldiers killed, this figure doesn't include French naval deaths. Before 2010, the number was estimated to be between 55,000 and 123,000 French soldiers killed.

In 6 weeks, 59,000 French soldiers died fighting the Nazis - approximately 1,372 every day, noting of course that this not does include the wounded (120K to 250K), nor French soldiers who died after being captured (39K), nor the missing (5K). These are the "Surrender Monkeys" Americans like to joke about when discussing France in WWII.

Add to this number the French Norman civilian deaths incurred during WWII - many by the Allied bombings in 1944 - add 80,000 to 160,000 French Normand civilians killed before D-Day, and 20,000 during. I didn't look for the figure of Parisians and Bretons killed. All of this death in a country about the size of Texas, with about one quarter of the population density of Germany.

Just to put that in perspective, 29,000 American soldiers died, (including my uncle) in Operation Overlord (June 6 - mid July, 1944) the Normandy D-Day invasions. (This number doesn't include other Allied forces deaths) - 829 American soldiers died daily during this operation.

All these numbers are my attempt to quantify these losses, to paint a picture of what the French endured - not counting cities bombed to ruins, livestock killed, economies destroyed, famine during and after the war, etc. which I can't do in a DU post.

People here (the French) say, "you need to know how to turn the page". This is the attitude of the overwhelming majority and I've met several old people who lived through the Occupation. I think the experience after WWI and the Treaty of Versailles must play a part in this - the French having historical knowledge of what punishing and exacting reparations from the Germans after WWI brought about. I just wanted to add another perspective to this discussion.

If only Lincoln hadn't been assassinated...