The French at War

headscratcher4

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NOTE: THIS IS POSTED PURELY FOR THE "AMUSEMENT" VALUE -- this was floating around Washington, D.C. emails today, I thought it amusing in a blind-nationalist sort of way....



French Military Prowess Revisited

By Anonymous
From the Net | February 10, 2003

President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld may be upset that the French are not "assisting" us in this fight, but out here at the tip of the spear, there is nothing but jubilation at their absence. Last thing we need is to be carrying the French on our shoulders.

A cursory review of French military history reveals the following:

1 - Gallic Wars - Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2,000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.

2 - Hundred Years War - Mostly lost, saved at last by a female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare: "French armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman."

3 - Italian Wars - Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.

4 - Wars of Religion - France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots.

5 - Thirty Years War - France is technically not a participant but still manages to get invaded. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.

6 - War of Devolution - Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.

7 - The Dutch War - Tied. Dutch farmers and tulip growers are tougher than they look.

8 - War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War - Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Francophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.

9 - War of the Spanish Succession - Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.

10 - American Revolution - In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; " France only wins when America does most of the fighting."

11 - French Revolution - Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.

12 - The Napoleonic Wars - Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for the Russian winter, Prussian grenadiers or a British footwear designer.

13 - The Franco-Prussian War - Lost. For the first, but certainly not the last time, Germany plays the role of drunk frat boy to France 's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.

14 - World War I - Invaded, humiliated and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Winds up a tie for les francaise. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, the American fascination with personal hygiene (a fascination totally foreign to French women) incites widespread use of condoms by American soldiers, thus precluding any improvement in the French bloodline.

15 - World War II - A decisive defeat even by French standards. Hitler and the German Youth spend Christmas time sleeping soundly through the winter, then arouse themselves to conquer France in six weeks. Hitler dances in front of the Eiffel Tower, while the French command staff retreats to Algeria to institute a crash language program to teach French privates how to say "I surrender" in German and French generals to say "We surrender" in German. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song and some small portion of the German work ethic. De Gaulle of it all...

16 - First Vietnamese war (in Vietnamese circles, known as "the scrimmage", or "the exhibition game" where the varsity squad is kept on the sideline to see how the second string will play) - Lost. French soldiers, fresh off their four year occupation by the Germans, catch a terminal case of Dien Bien Flu.

17 - Algerian rebellion - Lost. First time an Arab army has beaten a Western army since the Crusades, and produces the first rule of modern Islamic warfare: "We can always beat the French." A nice phrase, but it lacks something in originality, since it is also the first rule of warfare for the Italians, Russians, Prussians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese, Native Americans and capitalists.

18 - War on Terrorism - Lost. Incensed at not being included in the original "Axis of Evil," France refuses to participate. When it becomes clear that this is a "no-kidding war," Jacques Chirac looks at his cards and immediately surrenders to that old warhorse, Gerhard Schroeder. For good measure, he also surrenders to five million illegal immigrants from Algeria.

The moral of the story is - give thanks to God on high that the French are not helping us!
 
Grady,

Did you see the Humvees with the rocket launchers by the Pentagon? There's supposed to be more along 14th Street, the White House, and Capitol.

I thought this code orange stuff was a joke, but now my terminal site has been declared critical....Worldcom's making us work overtime to double-cover shifts from now till at least next tuesday. I checked with our co-workers in New York and the other terminals in SF and Miami....none of them are going into this posture. Just us....the guys here think it's cause they're expecting us to be a target.....kinda creepy. But I can use the extra $. :D

I guess the terrorists will either kill me, or make me finally able to pay off my credit cards!! :D ;) I've never seen this joint so busy! Give me a call sometime....it's past time for us to have another MadHatter lunch!

-Rick
 
Yes, it is getting a little freaky around here...However, working as close to the White House as I do, I feel oddly secure during the day...I figure this is pretty well patrolled ground. Not sure I'd want to be hanging out at Pentagon City or some of the museums, however....:(

Added: I live on Capitol Hill, the patrols have increased considerably, and many more 'copters in the air last night...anyone want to buy some realestate?:(
 
Yeah......

War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.
-- French Proverb


Makes ya wonder.
 
An English guy once told me a joke that went like this:

Q. Why do French tanks have forward gears?

A. In case the enemy attacks from behind.
 
What's that other old joke


Ad in Germany after the fall of France:

"Used French rifles...great condition....only dropped once"

-z
 
rikzilla said:
What's that other old joke


Ad in Germany after the fall of France:

"Used French rifles...great condition....only dropped once"

-z

Thats no joke. I actually have a French 1932s pistol. French ww2 arms were sold in pristine condition to american military surplus dealers. The guns were barely scratched in most cases.

In the case of the 1932s, you had a pistol that was prone to jam, was an insufficient caliber, and had insuffucient velocity. If the French hadn't surrended in WW2, there would certainly be far fewer French today. They didn't have the weapons to compete with germany.

Of course, that is no excuse since that meant Germany would have more supplies and troops for the UK war. Surrendering only transfers the problem to the next country in line.
 
They really are ............

The latest load of old shiBe comming out of the French this evening.

I wonder just what it will take to sway some people....

On a very well presented BBC prog, looking at many details of the potential war with Iraq, comprising a panel of major "players" as it were and an audience of other interested parties. We had the Typical French MP (Huddled up next to the German I might add) who was determined to simply be negative in an almost pythonesque way.

When It was put to the MP that his country may have a different view of the whole thing had the 9/11 planes crashed into some building in Paris (the Eiffel tower was not the best choice of example in my opinion since it effectively is uninhabited) He responded to the effect of "No we wouldn't, we have had terrorism in the past".

On the scale of 9/11?? I dont think so! Unless of course he means that only one French person died out of the 3000, in which case he is possibly right, I was totally against this war, but their lack of sympathy has completely changed my mind in the last few months.

And from a more personal standpoint, following the arrest of a group of people producing Ricin a mere 5 miles from where I live, I am pleased to say that the French have looked at it and concluded...

"It was bad quality, not technically sophisticated."

Oh thats ok then, I'll tell the kids not to worry, after all its duff batch.

People have been leveling the "Its for the oil" critisism at the US gov. all the way through this, but I tell you this, when it comes to putting your interests above and beyond your responsibilities as a human being, the french take the biscuit! OR should that be croissant???

(Again, flame away.......I am not happy)

:mad:
 
Re: They really are ............

Reginald said:
And from a more personal standpoint, following the arrest of a group of people producing Ricin a mere 5 miles from where I live, I am pleased to say that the French have looked at it and concluded...

"It was bad quality, not technically sophisticated."


Thats because our English ricin doesnt recieve such massive CAP subsidies.
 
From Viz magazine:

"Like the British, the French also have a proud naval history. By far their greatest victory came in (forgot the year, sorry), when they sunk the unarmed Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, in New Zealand."
 
Personally, I like the French. But I can't resist putting a kick in when everyone else is jumpin' on them at the same time. :D
 
I will say this, I admire the _resolve_ of our Ally UK. They uncover the ricin plot and the next day Tony Blair is emoting the message of vigilance.

Conversely, the french had a boat attacked by terrorists about a month ago and they surrendered within minutes. France is just a whipped dog.
 
Starshark said:
From Viz magazine:

"Like the British, the French also have a proud naval history. By far their greatest victory came in (forgot the year, sorry), when they sunk the unarmed Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, in New Zealand."

The Frogs are still sour because in 1940 we sank their navy at Mers-El-Kebir. Haha. :D
 
Starshark said:
From Viz magazine:

"Like the British, the French also have a proud naval history. By far their greatest victory came in (forgot the year, sorry), when they sunk the unarmed Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, in New Zealand."


Incorrect. It was the french secret service who did that.
 
Prolly the most illustrious French warship was the Temeraire.
It had a wonderfull carreer after it was captured by the Royal Navy :cool:
 
Well they did fight hard at Verdun in 1916 didn't they?

I mean they would have lost had not the British sacrificed themselves at the Somme to take the pressure off, but they did fight well...
 
armageddonman said:
Incorrect. It was the french secret service who did that.
Not only that, the French secret service helped stop Godzilla.

(Remember the recent North American version of the movie)
 
Well, you have to admit they were very noble throughout most of WWII -- Sartre thought some really bad thoughts about Germans as he sat in the Cafe de' Flore, and some even considered that maybe helping the Germans wasn't the proper thing to do as they rounded up Paris Jews and marched them off the the Velodome....(but, they knew that the Germans could handle the problem so much more efficiently)...
 
headscratcher4 said:
Well, you have to admit they were very noble throughout most of WWII -- Sartre thought some really bad thoughts about Germans as he sat in the Cafe de' Flore, and some even considered that maybe helping the Germans wasn't the proper thing to do as they rounded up Paris Jews and marched them off the the Velodome....(but, they knew that the Germans could handle the problem so much more efficiently)...


Extremely funny ... I'll think about it next time I drive past the monuments between Saint-André de Corcy and l'Arbresle, around Lyon, where a few dozen French patriots were shot by German troops between 1942 and 1944 ... probably for their "lack of efficency" in delivering Jews ...:mad:

and here's an answer from a "cheese eating surrender monkey" http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,894533,00.html
 

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