And you thought the Canadian Auto Workers union was bad!

[SebC]

Originally Posted by CrusaderPi

Yes, the Germans got through the forest, but their victory was in doubt until the English retreated for the coast. Besides, what should the French have done on the border? Leave it unfortified and hope they could stop the German army cold?

Either that, or fortify it better.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by SebC

People don't mock the Maginot line for being wussy... they mock it for not working. Which it didn't, since it was supposed to keep Germany out. We mock the French because they didn't realise their enemy could go around the wall, and the forest they thought was impassable turned out to be quite passable.

That's a myth, the French realized very well the Line wouldn't keep the Germans out entirely - that's why the Anglo-French armies were in the Low Countries waiting for them. As far as attacking through the Ardennes goes, that was a brilliant improvement on the original Mastein plan by Guderian that only a similar genius would have expected, and it was also a huge gamble that could very well have rebounded on the Germans and led to their own quick defeat.

Anyway, all of this is tangential to the main point - I could pick all kinds of American, or British, or for that matter Canadian mistakes and defeats to "prove" a country is full of cowards and idiots, but all that kind of argument really "proves" is that the person making it is more interested in their prejudices than in truth.

[Hack&Lube]

Don't forget the French assistance in the American Revolution...and somehow people keep forgetting Napoleon conquering continenal Europe and his worldwide empire.

A lot of country's leaderships can be assused of stupidity and cowardice in WWII, not realizing how fast and quickly Hitler would and could strike. Britain had Neville Chamberlain seeking appeasement, the U.S. was isolationist and watched country after country fall in Europe without getting involved because they wanted to keep to themselves (they did send the early Lend-Lease though).

The French had the bad luck of being the WWI opponent that Germany wanted to stop paying reparations to and also next-door. The Maginot line was, like much of war technology in the 20th century, a decade behind modern times and modern techniques. Just as WWI taught European armies that what was once "glorious" warfare over land with brightly dressed infantry and calvary charges was now useless against artillery and machine guns, how the battleship arms race was rendered moot by the appearance of aircraft carriers (Bismarck anyone?) - the maginot line was a fortification that couldn't stand up to the advancements of mobile armour and modern tactics. When you live nextdoor to your enemy who can attack by surprise, you are likely to get steamrolled unless your forces are just as mobile and just as fast.