@LHoffman:
But as a fighting and producing nation, they were lost in the shadows of their Allies.
Lost in the shadows of their allies?
Let’s take a look at some of the things the French did after their country fell.
-The French fought in Africa, in Sicily, liberated Corsica, fought in Italy, took part in the invasion of Europe and fought through the battles of France and Germany–-from Normandy to Munich.
-At the Battle of Bir Hakeim in North Africa, the Free French held off the forces of Rommel’s Afrika Korps for 16 days, allowing the British 8th Army to re-organize and stall the Axis advance into Egypt at the Battle of El Alamein. They resisted with almost no support from the British and escaped only when they ran out of ammunition. If the Free French hadn’t held on as stubbornly as they did at Bir Hakeim I doubt the British Army would have had time to stop the Axis from blitzing into Egypt.
-Units from the French navy participated in the invasions of Sicily, Italy, Normandy and South France.
-Units of the French navy and merchant marine took part in convoying operations on the Atlantic and Murmansk routes.
-On June 5, 1944, the day before D-Day, over 5,000 Frenchmen of the resistance dynamited railroads in more than 500 strategic places.
-They delayed strategic German troop movements for an average of 48 hours, according to military experts. Those 48 hours were tactically priceless ; they saved an untold number of Allied lives in the Normandy Campaign.
-French resistance groups blew up a series of bridges in southern France and delayed one of the Wehrmacht’s crack units (Das Reich Panzer Division) for twelve days in getting from Bordeaux to Normandy when it would normally take three.
-About 30,000 FF1 troops supported the US Third Army’s VIII Corps in Brittany: they seized and held key spots ; they conducted extensive guerrilla operations behind the German lines.
-25,000 FFI troops protected the south flank of the US Third Army in its daring dash across France: the FFI wiped out German bridgeheads north of the Loire River ; they guarded vital lines of communication; they wiped out pockets of German resistance; they held many towns and cities under orders from Allied command.
-When the US Third Army was approaching the area between Dijon and Troyes from the west, and while the Seventh Army was approaching this sector from the South, it was the FFI who stubbornly blocked the Germans from making a stand and prevented a mass retirement of German troops.
-In Paris, as the Allied armies drew close, several hundred thousand French men and women rose up against the Germans. 50,000 armed men of the resistance fought and beat the Nazi garrison, and occupied the main buildings and administrative offices of Paris. It was only on the last day when Allied troops (French and American) came in to help the FFI forces, and by then the German garrison was ready to surrender. To the French.