scrubbedexpat099

Tiger was a heavy Tank, Sherman a Medium.

Morel likely you would call in the Artillery and Jabos.

caretaker

My Uncle Bob commanded a squadron of Sherman tanks, and because the radios weren't very reliable he used a bugle to get the attention of the others. My cousin and I spent hours trying to play it when we were kids, and I suppose he still has it.

Steerpike

So Bob's Yer Uncle, then!

Boomhauer

I shall be boycotting this movie in support of the French . Who else is with me.

Dunkirk: French critic accuses film of being 'witheringly impolite' by underplaying French involvement in the evacuation | The Independent

dc koop

Not I. Didn't take them long after Dunkirk to start collaborating with the Nazis, Laval, Petain et al

In the main it was the French Communists who formed the resistance groups.

robin1234

"Them?"

French people living in France "collaborated," usually a prudent thing to do. Vichy was the government of France and life had to go on.

Many thousands of French men and women served abroad in the Free French service, armed forces, merchant marine and support services. Thousands died in action. Obviously the majority of these weren't communists.

morpeth

Very prudent, and not just in France.

dc koop

When I mentioned members of the French Communist party I meant those French civilians who operated against the Nazis in occupied France. They blew up train tracks, cut phone lines, in general carried out a program of harassment against the occupiers. They also worked closely with British M.I.6 arranging rendez -vous points for saboteurs flown in from the UK. They proved themselves exceptionally useful just prior to the D-Day landings in providing information on the disposition of German forces in the Normandy region.

The Free French of course weren't necessarily Communists. They were members of the French military who had managed to get out of France before the surrender, many of them at Dunkirk. Other French citizens in North Africa also joined the Free French forces after Operation Torch was carried out.

The Viichy government with the help of French Police and occasionally civilians rounded up thousands of French Jews who ended up in Auschwitz. They also provided lists of available men and women to serve in the Nazi Todt Labour organization.

dc koop

For a member of a bomber crew shot down over France 50-50 chance they would not be turned in by one of the locals.

A neighbor of mine who died a few years back landed with the 101st in Normandy. Some of the locals weren't too friendly either. They didn't see them as liberators but the source of an inconvenient disruption in their lives.

Some of them were caught looting the bodies of dead Paras, even removing their clothing. The MPs rounded them up and took them behind a nearby farmhouse and shot them all.

ddsrph

I saw a documentary a few years ago done in the seventies when many players were still alive. They interviewed a German analyst whose task was accessing American war materials production. He said when he ran the numbers on predicted bomber production he knew the war was lost. He said that the numbers he predicted also turned out to be way low.

morpeth

Did I read correctly that allied MP's were shooting French looters ? I hadn't heard that was common.

In the situation in France under German rule it certainly was prudent to collaborate, and I have met some Frenchmen who said life under German rule for the most part was comfortable enough.

morpeth

It seems at all levels the Germans underestimated many factors about the Russians and the Americans. I have also seen references that one of reasons for timing of the war was the view of some in Germany, including Hitler, that Germanys relative advantage in some areas would decline as the Allies geared up production and military preparation.

caretaker

For someone uncertain of their reading, you write very precisely. The Londoners who looted bombed houses during the Blitz could have been hanged or shot, but the courts only jailed them. MP's in a war zone could probably be authorised to shoot looters, but I would imagine it is an effective deterrent so not too common.

dc koop

Collorate means helping the enemy. Would you have helped the Nazis ?

Steerpike

If the occupying force said 'everyone stand over there', are you 'collaborating' by standing over there, or just being prudent? I imagine that self-preservation was a key factor in most people's lives during these times.