Nick (The Pathetic Pedantic Twit) wrote:


In 1940, like the French, the Americans also were unprepared for a
great war. But the United States was fortunate enough to have, as its
neighbors, Canada and Mexico, not Hitler's Third Reich.

The French army was vastly larger than the US Army in 1940.
Fortunately the US was protected by the Atlantic ocean.


The reasons why France fell in 1940 are too complex to explain in
detail here. It's true that toward the campaign's end, when it had
become evident that they would be fighting and probably dying for an
already lost cause, many French units ceased their resistance and
melted away in a general 'sauve qui peut!' But under extreme
circumstances of hopelessness, almost every army tends to become
demoralised, ineffective, and fragmented.

When, in 1943 at the Battle of the Kasserine Pass, the well-equipped,
fully trained, and highly confident United States Army encountered
the German forces of Field Marshal Rommel (the legendary 'desert
fox'), the Americans were swiftly routed, surrendering in substantial
numbers. Fortunately for them, unlike the French in 1940, the
Americans were allowed enough of a respite for them to be able to
recover from the consequences of their ineptitude.

According to British Field Marshall Alexander, the American army
was both poorly trained and ill-equipped to do battle with the
German army. The American tanks, for example, were not designed
for tank versus tank warfare. The were inferior in both armor
thickness and in gun power to the German Pz Mark IVs which they
faced at Kasserine. Likewise the Germans had been fighting for
3-1/2 years by that date, while the Americans were facing their
first major battle since 1918. This quality differential was
demonstrated very neatly be the Germans at Faid Pass[1] and Gafsa,
where they drove forward practically unimpeded until the terrain
canalized their movements and American artillery could zero in on
them.

[1] The battle at Kasserine pass was an American victory, the
earlier battles at Faid Pass and Gafsa which drove the US Army
back toward Kasserine were German victories.


Whenever ignorant jingoistic Americans revel in ridiculing other
peoples, that corroborates some of the worst "ugly American"
stereotypes abroad. Those self-proclaimed "pro-American" Americans
might laugh less if they became more aware of that reality.

Whenever ignorant jingoistic anti-Americans revel in ridiculing
the USA, that corroborates some of the worst "ugly foreigner"
stereotypes at home. Those self-proclaimed "anti-American"
foreigners might laugh less if they became more aware of that
reality. Such as for example, the French. ;-)


[For the record: I think the whole anti-French fad, complete
with Freedom Fries, etc, is extremely silly, but entirely
inconsequential.]