Minor correction - the fleet was sunk by the guns of the Royal Navy - not the RAF.
I thought I had read somewhere that it succumbed to a big RAF bomb raid.
Jan
The Royal Navy sank the French fleet in port after the French capitulation - they said “come join us, mes amis”, to which the French replied “soddez-vous off”. So unfortunately we had to sink them to avoid the Germans acquiring a powerful surface fleet, which could have turned the Battle of the Atlantic, or indeed the whole war.
Sinking of the French fleet in 1940? That was not very well thought of by the Brits.
Rainbow warrior?
Soviet crushing of popular revolutions? (although I’m sure they were portrayed as glorious victories in the Ostblok)[/quote]
Are you talking about the French sinking their ships because they were afraid that they would end up in German hands. The fleet in Toulon? I think that happened in 1942 when the German occupied the rest of France or Vichy France. Anyhow I think that would be regarded a successful resistance movement. Dont know how they explain WW2 in France but im sure they dont touch on it alot. Of couse from what I know about the French you probably arent going to see many on the site to tell us. Especially Parisian’s. Sorry I love France but I hate Paris. Nice city but loaded with assholes. :mrgreen:[/quote]
The story of the destruction of the French Fleet by the British Navy, together with the reasons behind it, can be found here :
http://www.answers.com/topic/destruction-of-the-french-fleet-at-mers-el-kebir
One key paragraph from the article :
In the whole action against Mers-el-Kebir, 1297 French sailors were killed and about 350 were wounded. The action severely strained relations between Britain and France for some time, and gave the Germans a propaganda coup.
However, the action was very influential amongst the leadership of the United States, which was gradually preparing public opinion for escalating involvement in the war. Following the rapid success of the German military, there was considerable speculation that the United Kingdom would soon fall. There seemed to be a great risk that the Royal Navy would fall into German hands, including any material provided to the British by the USA. Martin Gilbert in his biography of Churchill wrote “Within a few days ‘Oran’ had become a symbol of British ruthlessness and determination”.
You can also include the revision of the record of the resistance in France. Up until recently the part the resistance played in the war was exaggerated. As more and more info is coming out of the woodwork the part the resistance played in the war changes. This can be put down to reinventing the part France played as much for home consumption as for history.
Well I dont know about France…but the Norwegians (only 3 million at the time) seem to be very proud of there resistence to the Germans. Especially since Denmark quickly gave up, Sweden wimped out and the Finns were just fucking confused. I dont know yet but Ill have to ask when i get to Norway how much they learn about WW2. I would say from the Swedes and Finns that I know that their knowledge of WW2 is pretty poor. Or maybe just none of them were interested.
Edited to add:
I know that the French do not like to talk about WW2 much at all so they much learn about it pretty well. Not alot to be proud of besides the resistance and De Gaulle walking into Paris after the allies paved the way.