THE FIVE INVASIONS OF FRENCH TERRITORY
- including one by Germany

The first invasion of French territory was by invitation only and occurred when Germany  invaded in May 1940. In fairness to the German leader he did so only eight months after France's declaration of war against his own country, throughout which time France had constantly attacked Germany's borders. This retaliatory action served the purpose of forestalling Britain's plans to invade Europe.

Within a few weeks the German Army numbering just 100,000 had defeated the French  Army consisting of 6 million men.

Generally speaking the German Army was welcomed (see piece on Dieppe) in the Low  Countries and there was much collaboration not only in France but in Holland and Belgium where people were glad to be rid of the British and French standing armies. They had had enough of Britain fighting its wars on their territory.

The behavior of German troops in France was impeccable and William L. Shirer (Rise and  Fall of the Third Reich) conceded as much. In his Berlin Diary he writes: "I noticed open fraternizing between German troops and the inhabitants. Most of the Germans act like naïve tourists and this has proved a pleasant surprise to the Parisians. It seems funny – every German carries a camera."

Adolf Hitler even allowed the French to keep its own Navy saying France like Britain  needed it to defend her overseas territories.

THE SECOND INVASION

The British carried out the second invasion of French interests. Churchill demanded that  the French surrender their liberated fleet to the British. When the French made it plain that they had no intention of doing so the British attacked the French fleet based at the Algerian port Mers-el-Kebir. And 1,200 French sailors were killed. French sailors, floundering in the sea, were strafed by RAF fighter planes. No, this won't be a follow-up movie to Pearl Harbor.

THE THIRD INVASION

The third attack on French territory, again by the British, was carried out against the  French Navy based at Dakar, Senegal. This included the battleship Richelieu, which was carrying £60 million of Belgian and Polish gold. Charles deGaulle who had fled to Britain with the remnants of his defeated army wanted to lead the invasion of Dakar, but the Senegalese authorities made it quite clear that he would be repulsed.

However, on September 23, 1940 as dawn broke, the Royal Navy attacked the Senegalese  capital Dakar. David Irving the noted historian takes up the story. "It was a humiliating fiasco. The assault forces never got off their troopships. Charles deGaulle's aviators landed on the airfield and were promptly arrested by the gendarmerie. His emissaries were fired upon as their boat entered the port, and were turned back.

The Richelieu opened fire through the gathering fog with her new 15-inch guns, as did the  Dakar fortress batteries, which hit the cruiser Cumberland amidships and put her out of action.

The next day's brawling off Dakar was equally messy. The British sank a French  submarine; the shore guns savaged the Barham. On the day after that, General Spears accompanying deGaulle, radioed that the latter had thrown in the sponge and would proceed to Bathurst (Gambia), a British colony 100 miles further down the coast.

At 9.00 am a French submarine slapped a torpedo into the battleship Resolution and she  too beat an undignified retreat. Morale among the French defenders was high. Churchill dithered; his ministers demanded that they cut their losses.

THE FOURTH INVASION

The fourth invasion was the D-Day allied invasion at which point the French could be  forgiven for echoing the sentiments of the Czech people. They had rued that they could stand another war but not another liberation.

This was largely an American invasion with a British-supporting cast. Back home in the  U.S.A., the incredulous public was given the impression that their sons were a band of angels welcomed by a grateful liberated population, but what is new about that?

Covering these events much later NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw fell into line with real  history and said, 'The bloodied landscape of France (and) Belgium was American made. The crimes committed by individual American soldiers – rape, thievery and murder – surpassed the crimes of the 'Nazis' in every respect. Even American generals were stealing from French civilians. During one period over 500 rapes a month were being reported. It got so bad that General Eisenhower threatened hangings, but it was an empty threat.

Before this fourth invasion the Allies dropped over 590,000 tons of bombs on France –  equal to almost half the amount of bombs dropped on Germany during the entire course of the war. Over 1 million French homes were destroyed by Allied bombing attacks and some cities such as Caen, Saint-Lo, Carentan, Montbourg and Valgnes ceased to exist.

For every German who lost his life resisting the American invasion of Europe, the lives of  four Frenchmen were taken. Whereas German troops had wandered at will during their occupation of France, the British and the Americans were repeatedly confined to barracks or had their movements restricted because of the French resistance to their presence on French soil.

THE FIFTH INVASION

Finally there was the fifth invasion of France; this time an invasion by the vengeful and  humiliated ill- disciplined forces led by Charles De Gaulle. As soon as the American forces had made it safe for the ousted French general these brigands – for that is precisely what they were - sought revenge for their earlier humiliation.

The most appalling massacres of civilians began to take place whilst American troops  stood idly by. Generally the British media ignored these awful events but one English journalist among others of various nationalities, recorded these desperate tragedies.

"There has never been, in the history of France, a bloodier period than that which  followed the liberation of 1944-1945. The massacres of 1944 were no less savage than the massacres of Jacquerie, of St. Bartholomew, of the revolutionary terror, of the commune, and they were certainly more numerous and on a wider scale.

The American services put the figures of 'summary executions' in France in the first  months of the liberation at 80,000. A former French Minister, Adrien Tixier, later placed the figure at 105,000." – Huddleston, op. Cit., 243 & 245-46. Note: (Under the Reign of Terror 18,000 fell in the frightful butchery that followed the war and insurrection of 1870 – 71).

Footnote: Less than 1% of the French people had anything to do with the 'resistance'.  From this we can deduce that 99% accepted or supported the German occupation, which in any case was confined only to those territories that would facilitate an Allied invasion.

 

A LESSON LIBERATION (AND DEMOCRACY)

After the fall of France in the summer of 1940 the French National Assembly's Deputies  (MPs) held the sessions in the city of Vichy's opera house. Here, after several days of noisy debate, they agreed to abolish the Constitution and the French Republic, and accord full powers to Marshall Petain for the duration of the occupation. Of 649 deputies only 80 voted against. Surprise! Surprise! none were arrested, imprisoned or er, gassed. The new French Government was internationally recognised; the sole exception being Britain.

This beautiful French City immediately boomed with prosperity. It was almost impossible  to book a restaurant table and the shops did a roaring trade. Whenever the new French leader, Marshal Petain took his daily constitutional stroll crowds would gather to sing the Marseillaise or Marechal Nous Voile! (Marshall – we're ready) which was his personal anthem.

Children would hand flowers to the blue-eyed old gentleman and teenage girls lined up to  have their cheeks pinched by him.

The new motto was 'Travail, Famille, Patrie (Work, Family, and Patriotism). The Catholic  Church was once more free to teach in schools, and the industrious peasantry became the models for the New France. The civil service was cleansed of corruption and the Freemasons cleared out.

The 'Statut des Juifs' gave a much wider definition of Jewish identity than did the National  Socialist in Germany, though as citizens of France they were protected from deportation. However, Jews were banned from holding many public positions.

After the 'liberation' of France the 89-year old hero General was tried for treason and  sentenced to death but was later pardoned.

DID YOU KNOW

More Frenchmen died fighting for Nazi Germany than died fighting against her?