I am in Evansville. Can’t get much further south and still be in Indiana. I actually bought two copies so I can give one to my brother in law. Heading up to Bloomington, IN to get a few games in this weekend.
@UN:
@Dylan:
It’s a good thing you bought two :-D
No kidding, but don’t worry too much, the French pieces never are on the board that long. :-D
Neither are the Canadian uni–-oh wait a minute
Hahah. I see what you did there, UN.
Seriously though Eville, it is good you bought two and least WOTC is giving you replacements.
Mine is missing all the UK’s units. They told me I’d get them in 7 to 10 days. I’m in Minnesota.
Heh, better the UK than German/Russian/Italian pieces. At least with UK units you can use the Pacific units. (90% of the pacific UK units are never used anyways)
thats a bummer,i never missed units in my games,touch wood
Mine is missing all the UK’s units. They told me I’d get them in 7 to 10 days. I’m in Minnesota.
Heh, better the UK than German/Russian/Italian pieces. At least with UK units you can use the Pacific units. (90% of the pacific UK units are never used anyways)
Yeah you are right it could be worse. I’ve already taken the UK units from my other games. I’m just surprised I didnt have to make a u tube video of Hitler reaming out his people (like the jap tatical bomber issue) in order to get them to send me new ones!
North Texas here and all contents of both games are present and accounted for!!
Thank God!
Thoes426 :evil:
There is one misspelling in the rulebook - but it is a common one. The writer describes Finnish people (Finns) as “Fins”
So the French are missing? Insert your own joke.
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Oh, here we go…
@UN:
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Oh, here we go…
“Le honneur” again…
Dude, no offense, but the French have to take it like men that they were not exactly shining examples of bravery in WWII. Whether political/cultural/societal whatever, they flat out failed on a variety of levels.
Such epic failness has led to jabs, comments, and winks. Just accept it and move on.
@UN:
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Oh, here we go…
“Le honneur” again…
Dude, no offense, but the French have to take it like men that they were not exactly shining examples of bravery in WWII. Whether political/cultural/societal whatever, they flat out failed on a variety of levels.
Such epic failness has led to jabs, comments, and winks. Just accept it and move on.
It’s l’honneur. French does this in order for the words to flow better.
Anyway, in their defense, the Germans had actually prepared for war for a couple of years and Germans had air superiority.
@UN:
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Oh, here we go…
“Le honneur” again…
Dude, no offense, but the French have to take it like men that they were not exactly shining examples of bravery in WWII. Whether political/cultural/societal whatever, they flat out failed on a variety of levels.
Such epic failness has led to jabs, comments, and winks. Just accept it and move on.
Because that whole French Resistance thing never exited, amirite? I suppose all that courage to join up knowing full well you would be branded as a rebel and traitor, oh no, not really a “shining example”. Oh yes, and the Free French fighting outside France were all just cowards at Bir Hakeim and Monte Cassino, I suppose? I guess my grandfather was just a wuss, huh?
You know, I really wasn’t going to say anything until you provoked it. Your ignorance is overwhelmingly pitiful.
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
@UN:
@UN:
Careful! You might insult the French, and then they would be angry enough to surrender en masse…
Oh, here we go…
“Le honneur” again…
Dude, no offense, but the French have to take it like men that they were not exactly shining examples of bravery in WWII. Whether political/cultural/societal whatever, they flat out failed on a variety of levels.
Such epic failness has led to jabs, comments, and winks. Just accept it and move on.
Because that whole French Resistance thing never exited, amirite? I suppose all that courage to join up knowing full well you would be branded as a rebel and traitor, oh no, not really a “shining example”. Oh yes, and the Free French fighting outside France were all just cowards at Bir Hakeim and Monte Cassino, I suppose? I guess my grandfather was just a wuss, huh?
You know, I really wasn’t going to say anything until you provoked it. Your ignorance is overwhelmingly pitiful.
I have a question: why would members of the resistance be labled “traitors”? They’re not going against their country.
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.
At the risk of going way off topic….
First off, my deepest thanks to your grandfather, and to yourself if you have inherited his fighting qualities and outlook on life. The sad fact is that the French, as a whole, fought poorly. So did the Italians, for that matter. Granted, individual units performed heroically, but by and large the greater mass of both countries was absolutely ineffective.
Read “France under the Germans” by Phillipe Burrin. Excellent story of how deep collaboration was between individual French men and women and the occupying Germans.
Read “To Lose a Battle” By Alistaire Horn. Excellent read on how and why France (and the BEF) lost the Battle of France.
Don’t get me wrong, I love France and the French influence on culture. I do, however, call a spade a spade when necessary. Napoleon was a great leader, and had incredibly brave French soldiers under him. WWI also had a very tough French defense against the Germans. However, in WWII the French, through a combination of factors, were whipped like schoolboys on and off the battlefield.
The French resistance is grossly exaggerated as well. It had less than 100,000 members until June 6,1944, when numbers swelled immensely (people “joining the bandwagon”) A common joke is the Resistance had 100,000 members at the time of the D-Day landings, 500,000 at the end of the war, and 42 million after the war! (quote from a French resistance member: “If we had known there were so many of us, we could have licked the German Army by ourselves!”)
Also unexplored is the fact that the Spanish Civil War had just ended, and many refugees/fighters from that war, heavily leftist, fought against the invading Germans as well in France. The Polish and Spanish figure prominently among these. In fact, many Maquis bands in Southwest France were composed entirely of Spanish veterans of the Civil War.
Some good links:
http://seacoast.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0tmc/occupied/resist.htm
Time for a good joke:
Q: Why do the French plant so many trees on their roads?
A: So the Germans can march in the shade!
First off, my deepest thanks to your grandfather, and to yourself if you have inherited his fighting qualities and outlook on life. The sad fact is that the French, as a whole, fought poorly. So did the Italians, for that matter. Granted, individual units performed heroically, but by and large the greater mass of both countries was absolutely ineffective.
It was Alphonse Juin, commander of the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy, that devised the plan to break the Gustav Line and have the Allies charge into Rome. It was the FEC who compromised the entire German defense by flanking them in the mountains. I’d say that’s a pretty big achievement by itself.
At Bir Hakeim, the Free French brigade there stalled the Afrika Korps for 16 days, as Rommel could not risk simply bypassing the fort. Cut off, with virtually no support from the British, they suffered minor casualties while inflicting twice as much casualties on the Afrika Korps. They only evacuated when they ran out of ammunition. The French stand at Bir Hakeim has often been cited as one of the major factors in helping the British 8th Army gain precious time to re-organize and halt the Axis advance completely at the First Battle of El Alamein.
I wouldn’t exactly call those minor successes. Also, the Italians fighting poorly was a result of British propaganda. Yes, their equipment was old and their commanders inept, but the Italians knew how to fight when cornered, and would be especially vicious in Sicily.
Read “France under the Germans” by Phillipe Burrin. Excellent story of how deep collaboration was between individual French men and women and the occupying Germans.
Read “To Lose a Battle” By Alistaire Horn. Excellent read on how and why France (and the BEF) lost the Battle of France.
Read the first, read the first half of the first one, need to go to the library to check it out again :|
Don’t get me wrong, I love France and the French influence on culture. I do, however, call a spade a spade when necessary. Napoleon was a great leader, and had incredibly brave French soldiers under him. WWI also had a very tough French defense against the Germans. However, in WWII the French, through a combination of factors, were whipped like schoolboys on and off the battlefield.
The French would be the last people to deny that the Germans gave them a terrible beating. But we were outnumbered and outgunned. Our tactics were woefully outdated, and poured our military budget into the Maginot Line. But they still resisted bitterly, especially the French rearguard at Dunkirk.
The French resistance is grossly exaggerated as well.
Only around 10% took part in actual resistance. The rest of the population were either indifferent, sympathetic to the Resistance (i.e. turning a blind eye, reading a Resistance newspaper). However, Patton cabled General Koenig, the French commander of the FFI (French Forces of the Interior), that the spectacular advance of his army across France would have been impossible without the fighting aid of the FFI. During D-Day they kept entire German divisions tied down, one of them famously being the 2nd SS “Das Reich” Panzer Division. They have not been exaggerated in our history books, but they certainly were a valuable asset to the Allies.
Also unexplored is the fact that the Spanish Civil War had just ended, and many refugees/fighters from that war, heavily leftist, fought against the invading Germans as well in France. The Polish and Spanish figure prominently among these. In fact, many Maquis bands in Southwest France were composed entirely of Spanish veterans of the Civil War.
Oh believe me, it’s quite explored. There is a monument in Bordeaux to the Spanish members of the Resistance.
Glad to hear we are on the same page.
Did individual Frenchmen, and units, perform heroics in WWII? Undoubtedly! Bir Hakeim is a shining example of this.
Did the French army (as a whole) perform miserably? Also undoubtedly!
