@calvinhobbesliker:
Yeah, don’t insult the French any further, or he’ll copy and paste pages of the manual given to American troops in France in 1946 who were complaining about the French
112 Gripes About the French. I actually got a copy of that from a friend’s grandfather, who was American. :-D
And hey, the people who wrote that book are much more able to defuse stereotypes about the French than I am, so that’s why I instead cite it instead of ranting myself.
I have a question: why would members of the resistance be labled “traitors”? They’re not going against their country.
They were labeled traitors in Vichy France and in the Occupied Zone (though Vichy held legal authority in the Occupied Zone too) by Vichy and German propaganda. They were branded as terrorists and dangerous to the “peace” of France. Some people didn’t think them terrorists, but didn’t approve of their actions: countless people were executed and several towns razed to the ground in reaction to Resistance actions.
Now, by 1943, after Vichy was occupied, there was a lot more support for the Resistance.
Free French soldiers were branded as rebels and traitors as well to the “rogue” de Gaulle. They joined up knowing perfectly well that their country’s government would want their head.