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January 27, 2003
Le plus on leur baise le cul, le plus ils nous chient sur la tete. --from Red Gold America has been attacked and faces a formidable enemy and we turn to the nations of the world for moral support in our fight and what do we get from our former French allies—the finger. The French government, the French press, and the French intellectual establishment, members of the French elite all—eaters of oysters, drinkers of premier crus, and lovers of polysyllabic words and nuanced politics. They love to make fun of Americans, and especially of George W. Bush. Americans are crude, simple, inarticulate, and tasteless; Bush is depicted in the French press dressed in a cowboy outfit with a moronic smile and toting two shootin’ irons. It’s time to remember a few things: In 1940 the great French Army—the largest and best among the Western Europeans—surrendered to the Germans in 43 days. And because of the rapidity with which the great French Army capitulated, it suffered the fewest casualties of any of the so-called Allies. France was liberated by an Anglo-American army, not a French force. The Free French were not even told when D-Day was scheduled, and took no part in D-Day. A small French force was allowed to participate in Operation Anvil—the invasion of southern France in August of 1944. The invasion of southeast France along the Riviera was accomplished by the American Seventh Army, which consisted of three divisions, and these three divisions chased Germany’s Nineteenth Army out of southern France. Two of those three divisions were made up largely of cowboys from Oklahoma, the Forty-fifth, and Texas, the Thirty-sixth. The Texas division was made up of guys from little towns like Galena Park and Melissa where, for a few dollars a month, they joined the National Guard, which became federalized at the beginning of the war. The division was blooded in the brutal Italian Campaign the year before, and then in late summer of 1944 the Thirty-sixth started on its mission to free southeastern France. Starting with St. Raphael, they drove northward through Cannes, Grasse, Gap and Grenoble, places these boys had never heard of before they left home and had no plans to visit. They had worked on farms and ranches back home, in shops as mechanics, in stores as clerks, but they were cowboys at heart. Not very verbal or grammatical, they wore cowboy hats mostly, the cheap kind made of straw, and talked about everyday things, but not their cowboy values—being a square shooter, and being upright and honest men. They’d never heard of Voltaire, or Rousseau, or Chateau Petrus—but they liberated southern France, something the great French Army couldn’t do. The Thirty-sixth Infantry—the Texas cowboys—closed with the German Nineteenth Army as they retreated north along the Rhone. At Montelimar the Americans blocked their retreat and a major week-long struggle ensued until many thousands of Germans surrendered and many hundreds of Texans lay dead, like Pvt. Cecil Lewis from Houston, killed in action, or Sgt. George W. Rivers, Jr. from Tuxedo, killed in action, cowboys who had never heard of Montelimar and had never planned to visit. The Thirty-sixth worked its way northeast, fighting the retreating Germans and liberating French town after town. On September 2 the Division entered Lyons and it was greeted by throngs of civilians who came out of hiding to applaud their liberation. The elderly shook hands and threw flowers; the young sought autographs and climbed aboard Jeeps and trucks. They fought their way week by week through the winter and the Vosges Mountains and then through Alsace to the Rhine and into Germany. Their last cowboy adventure occurred in Austria in May, a few days before the end of the war. The Texas division had heard rumors that a number of important French personages were being held captive by the SS in a castle near Worgl, Austria, so they sent a tank crew and a handful of infantrymen of the Thirty-sixth to investigate. The patrol climbed the mountain to the twelfth-century Alpine castle of Itter where Edoard Daladier and Paul Reynaud, former prime ministers; General Maurice Gamelin, former commander of the French Army; General Maxime Weygand, commander of the French Army at the time of the French surrender; Mme Alfred Cailliau, sister of General Charles DeGaulle; Michel Clemenceau, son of the French statesman; and Jean Borotra, French tennis star, were being held captive. When the patrol reached the castle, although the German commandant surrendered it, it was still surrounded by a large force of SS troops which began to attack as soon as they realized that the American group was so small. Their artillery knocked out the lone American tank and blasted gaping holes in the old castle. Captain John Lee, the officer in charge of the expedition, organized his small force and because the castle occupied the high ground and was surrounded by a moat they were able to withstand with minimum losses the repeated storm trooper assaults. At three in the afternoon, long after the defenders had run out of ammunition, another detachment of the Thirty-sixth drove through the SS ranks and opened the road to the castle. So let’s remember, you French bastards, the Texas cowboys who went to France even though they never planned to visit, and who remain there to this day. Posted at 05:01 PM by
 
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Yale...good to see the mention of the 45th Division. My dad was in this division when it was in training; he wound up getting transferred out and serving in the Pacific. There were also a lot of American Indians in the Division; in fact, the original Division emblem was an Indian symbol which bore an unfortunate resemblence to the swastika, and was replaced with the thunderbird.
I do have to differ with some of your comments about the French. You say:
"France was liberated by an Anglo-American army, not a French force. The Free French were not even told when D-Day was scheduled, and took no part in D-Day. A small French force was allowed to participate in Operation Anvil—the invasion of southern France in August of 1944." This may be true of regular forces, but ignores the very substantial contribution of the Resistance. A lot of French men and women took incredible risks, and many of them did not survive the war. Yes, they were a minority of the population: the same would likely be true in any country.
The French effort in 1940 was also not as trivial as often portrayed. They lost 100,000 killed, which, in proportion to population, is probably about the same as U.S. losses.
I'm as angry as anyone at the current policies of the French government, but these should not be used to cast aspersion on those who fought and died 50 years ago.
Posted by: David Foster on January 27, 2003 08:40 PMFirst. of all the Resistance, was much over-rated, specially the non-Communist
Posted by: narciso on January 27, 2003 09:40 PMStalinist section. In addition, thanks to the aide of me like Major Louis Stone,
Army Intelligence & Finance;(they were
able to pay their way, into the War in
Indochina, and they paid us back through
the French Connection, which shipped
sizable volume of the preferred crop of
Indochina and later Lebanon, which had no small role, in conplicating our own already difficult urban milieu, so to
speak; not to mention the disaster they
left behind in Algeria
Damn. That brought a lump to this Texan's throat. Any recommendations on books about this bunch of cowpokes?
Posted by: Scott Chaffin on January 27, 2003 10:00 PMIt's always worthwhile to point out that the largest single French naval action of the war occurred in the harbor at Toulon, November 27, 1942. This event is most typically airbrushed as some quasi-heroic act by a come-to-senses Vichy, but its essential context lies in how Churchill had begged Darlan to sail the fleet to safety from which it could fight the Nazis. He preferred to lick Nazi boots. The rest is history.
Never miss an opportunity to do the French a bad turn.
Posted by: Billy Beck on January 28, 2003 08:28 AMYale, just discovered your site. This will get a link, and I'll be back for sure.
I was just talking to my dad about the French amnesia problem the other night. My grandfather fought in both world wars, both times in France, and when my Dad visited Compien and the railroad car made so famous by Hitler's little gig, the museum there made NO MENTION of the Americans who fought and died by the thousands to liberate Compien and the surrounding towns. There were maps on the walls showing British divisions, but not a single mention of Americans! My grandfather visited on the anniversary of the WWI Armistice some years back, and he stood in the graveyard filled with American bones and wept for his fallen friends, but what did the museum guide have to say about the absence of any mention of these brave boys (most of whom volunteered to fight, my Grandfather included)--get ready, this is a direct quote: "Oh, zee Americans were not important."
They can all go to hell as far as I'm concerned. They think we're backwards and have no taste? They should have tried living under Nazi rule these past 60 years!
Posted by: Deb on January 28, 2003 11:58 AMIf it weren't for America, French for "amnesia" would be "der Gedächtnisschwund."
Thanks for a wonderful essay.
Posted by: John Battle on January 28, 2003 05:52 PMBooks on the 45th...there is "The Rock of Anzio," which is more or less conventional military history. There's also "Day of the Americans," by a Dachau inmate who was liberate by this division and wanted to pay them tribute. (As he tells it, some of the cowboys & Indians decided to execute justice on the Germans themselves, and got into a lot of trouble for it.)
Re the Resistance, there were plenty of non-Communist people and groups. For instance, read "Noah's Ark" by Marie-Madeleine Fourade. She was a conservative, in fact probably a royalist, who created and ran a huge resistance network (the name "Noah's Ark" was due to the animal code names given to the members.)
Posted by: David Foster on January 28, 2003 07:37 PMSo I assume you support a war against Iraq? Could you please tell me just exactly how much of a threat Saddam Hussein really is? Do you think he would actually attack the U.S.? I think George Bush has gone a little power happy.
Posted by: Kenny Rudzinski on January 31, 2003 06:01 AMBTW, are you a little pissed at the French or what? SHEESH!!!!!
"I'm the commander. See, I don't have to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation." - George Bush
Try reading "IBM and the Holocaust" by Edwin Black
also
Posted by: Kenny Rudzinski on January 31, 2003 06:04 AM"Lies My History Teacher Told Me" by J. Loewen
Thank you for that. I'm linking it. Well done.
Posted by: Dean Esmay on January 31, 2003 07:12 AMYALE THANK YOU. MY HUSBAND'S TWO BROTHERS WERE KILLED IN THE NORMANDY INVASION LIBERATING THOSE SWINE. DON'T FORGET THEIR TREATMENT OF LEON BLUM, THE POET, SOCIALIST, JEWISH, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE. HE WAS HAULED AWAY TO A CONCENTRATION CAMP WHILE HIS FORMER CONSTITUENTS JUST STOOD BY.
Posted by: RUTH KING on January 31, 2003 09:41 AMOh Kenny... would you please stop going into other people's houses and crapping on the floor? That kind of behavior is just not civilized... oh, yeah... you are Canadian...
Somebody should house train that boy...
Posted by: Mike S on February 8, 2003 10:11 AMIn 1938, Chamberlain appeased Hitler and most of Europe supported him for it. Churchill, constantly speaking of "Herr Hitler's" threat, was seen as a war-mongering "cowboy." Estimates of WWII dead including civilians run as high as 20 million and beyond. In 2003, Chirac and Schroder want to appease Hussein and most of Europe supports them. Bush and Blair, constanlty speaking of "Herr" Hussein's threat, are seen as war-mongering "cowboys". An emboldened Hussein would reap broadened support as the "leader" of the Arab World. Given that oil IS the lifeblood of the industrialized world, it is then only a matter of time before he invades his own Mid East "Czecholslavakia" and triggers WWIII. The 11th century mentality of the Mid East leaders is incompatable with the 20th century weapons they possess and the 21st century weapons they want to possess. French and German amnesia must be returned in kind. Perhaps it is time to carry out LBJ's threat and exhume all the American "cowboys" buried Europe. Bring them home where their sacrifice will be appreciated, instead of spit on by the arrogant French whose greatest artistic treasure is the Mona Lisa, a portrait of an ugly woman by an Italian! Twice in the last century France begged for help. Twice, American "cowboys" answered "Yes." When France asks for help in this century, Americans should answer, "Sorry, we're busy rounding up some doggies on the North Forty." Yeeha!
Posted by: 2nd Generation Vet on February 13, 2003 02:33 PM