What Happened to French Soldiers During WW2? | Animated History

Sources:
Deák, István. Europe on Trial : The Story of Collaboration, Resistance, and Retribution during World War II. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2015.

Goubert, Pierre. The Course of French History. 1st edition. Milton: Routledge, 1991.

King, Jonathan H. “Emmanuel d’Astier and the Nature of the French Resistance.” Journal of contemporary history 8, no. 4 (1973): 25–45.

Moore, Bob. Prisoners of War: Europe: 1939-1955. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2022.

Popkin, Jeremy D. A History of Modern France. Fifth edition. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2020.

Porch, Douglas. Defeat and Division: France at War, 1939-1942. 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Stahel, David. Joining Hitler’s Crusade: European Nations and the Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941. Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Weiss, Steve. Allies in Conflict: Anglo-American Strategic Negotiations, 1938-44. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1996.

Wieviorka, Olivier and Jane Marie Todd. The French Resistance. Harvard University Press, 2016.

Williams, Maude. French Soldiers’ Morale in the Phoney War, 1939-1940. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2018.

Armchair Team Credits:

[rbckoxi]

De Gaulle sent several pilots to the soviets to create a squadron and fight in the soviet air force. They flew yak 9s and often had the colours of the French flag on the nose of their aircraft.

[zoubida]

Nice to mention also that Jean Moulin, the man who united all the groups of the resistance, got brutally tortured by the SS Klaus Barbie until he eventually died from his wounds and exhaustion. Yet the man never talked...

An unsung hero who deserves his own video.

[andbrnr]

I recommend the movie "The Cow and I" which is based on a real story of a French POW in Germany who travels back to France with a cow. Basically the trick was to tell the germans that his mission was to deliver the cow to the next farm so he would continue his way.

[ileana]

i’m french and love that you tell the truth about the french military

[JustAGigolo]

Whoever directs the animation has the best creative mind for it, every scene feels perfect, has thought put into it and helps visualize a lot of aspects!

[AlexC-ouju]

my father's uncle at 13 was an ammo runner during the war for the resistance, he never even got to hold a rifle until the last years because weapons were so scarce. He thoroughly disliked the 'last hour resistants' people who joined the fight after the liberation of Toulouse.

[oliversherman]

It's crazy to think how WW2 was basically a civil war for the French between fascists and anti-fascists. Yet all the popular media ever talks about is how France surrendered and that was it for them

[Jayjay-qeum]

The Free French Memorial on Lyle Hill in Greenock, in western Scotland, in the shape of the Cross of Lorraine combined with an anchor was raised by subscription as a memorial to sailors on the Free French Naval Forces vessels that sailed from the Firth of Clyde to take part in the Battle of Atlantic.

The memorial is also associated, locally, with the memory of the French destroyer Maille Breeze (1931) which sank at the Tall of the Bank.

To this day, General de Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June 1940 remains one of the most famous speeches in French history.

[jokodihaynes]

"History is not written by the Victors it's written by those who write stuff down"-Max miller tasting history

[Torrikify]

My grandfather, aged 18 in 1941, was faced with the choice of going to Germany or joining the African Army in Algiers. He took part in the Tunisian campaign, where he met the Free French. He then headed for Italy, where he took part in the Battle of Garigliano with the 1st DFL. He then participated in operation dragoon, liberating provence, the Rhône valley, Burgundy, Alsace and then Germany.

[jeremyarnie]

Jean Moulin was not executed, he died from his injuries while he was in a train to Germany and no one exactly knows how he got arrested, maybe a French man betrayed him or the Gestapo was clever enough to arrest him. Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie knew the answer but never disclosed it.

[baptister]

My hometown was massacred by ss in 1944 after an attack by the résistance to the local garrison. The ss the next day took all the men and hang them on the balconies of the city. The worse part about this tragic event is that some of the ss were what we call "malgré nous" which is the term for the french from alsace that fought in the german army.

[MrRoady]

For all of you history buffs and comics enthusiasts, famous french cartoonist Jacques Tardi made a 3 parts comic book about his father's experience as a tankist during the battle of France, and then his capture and imprisonment in a Stalag in Germany during the totality of the war, up until his liberation and the return to civil life as one of the "defeated ones". It's called "Moi René Tardi, prisonnier de guerre", and it kinda reminded me of "Maus" by Art Spiegelman in its way of mixing up History and the difficult communication between a father and his son

[sharkjack]

Smh France just shoulda just loaded a save game

[corbinmartin]

How ironic is it that the day I discover I’m related to De Gaule from finding his old letters in my grandmother’s basement is the day arm chair uploaded this, thank you for this

[derkaiser]

Anyone who ever talks down about the French in WWII I always argue about the rear guard at the Battle of Dunkirk. Thousands of French soldiers knowing they were going to die or be captured still defended the British withdrawal and fought valiantly. And the French Resistance never let the Germans rest until they were liberated.

[WojtekO]

My great grandfather was a french soldier during ww2, after the defeat in 1940 the war basically beacame an escape simulator, he escaped german's prisons 5 times, went to see his wife 5 times and got send back to prison 5 times.
I only know that one time he rode a cow wile escaping, hell yea.

[jokodihaynes]

Charles de Gaulle had trouble trying to get French soldiers to fight for him because the British attack french battleships

[yourboishitposts]

It's always a good day when the armchair historian uploads

[Matt-bzdm]

Thanks for this one, my great grandfather was captured in 40 and since he died young he never told my grandpa what really happened to him