WHY THE AMERICANS HATE THE FRENCH

112 REASONS WHY SINCE 1944, THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND THE PENTAGON SECRETLY HATED THE FRENCH.

11. "The French are using our gas, but they won't give it to Americans. You can't get gas in the French zones of occupation if you're driving through."

You are not supposed to. The French are given gasoline by U. S. Army authority.. It is the only gasoline they get They are compelled to use it for themselves. The Reciprocal Aid Agreement, under Lend-Lease laws, states (ArticIe III) that the Government of France will not, without the consent of the President of the U.S., transfer any articles provided the French, or permit their use, by anyone not an officer, employee, or agent of the French government. Can an American gas pump give gasoline to a French army car which is not specifically authorized to obtain gasoline from an American pump? If you were on duty would you give gasoline to unauthorized persons? Printing - Stars and Stripes, Yank, Army Talks, Overseas Woman, I and E pamphlets.

12. "One Frenchman told me the French practically gave us the Statue of Liberty. How do you like that?"

The Statue of Liberty began as the idea of a group of Frenchmen, shortly after the Civil War. They commissioned a French sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, to do the work. A committee of Frenchmen was formed in 1874 to raise funds. Bartholdi recommended the site for the statue -- Bedloe's Island in New York harbor. In France, 180 French cities, forty general councils, and thousands of anonymous Frenchmen contributed a quarter of a million dollars (not francs) towards the statue. (The United States raised $280,000.) In 1883, the President of the French Committee, Mr. de Lesseps, officially presented the statue to the American people.

13. "We are not welcome in French Restaurants."
Why should we be ? We are supposed to eat in army messes. Every meal we might eat in a French restaurant would use up just that much food from the Frenchmen's limited supply.

14. "Every time we go into a night club, we get soaked by these Frenchmen".
Were you never soaked in a night club at home? Compare the prices in Paris night clubs to those in the night clubs you've visited in Miami or New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. A G.I. comes out of a night club in the States and says, "A buck and half for a Scotch and soda! That place is a clip joint! The same G. I. comes out of a night club in Paris and says, "Ninety francs for a shot of cognac! That's the French for you - they're all robbers!"

15. "The French are terrible scroungers. They keep mooching candy, soap, cigarettes, food from the GI's. They have no self-respect."
Some of the French are scroungers. Hungry people lose their pride. An empty stomach does not worry about losing face.

16. "The French welcomed us at first; now they want us to get out."

An American GI recently said, "We're like people who were given a wonderful reception for a week-end. But we've stayed in the house for a year. No one wants a house guest that long." Of course the French would prefer that American troops leave France as soon as possible. (So would you, if you were a Frenchman.) As long as we are here, we impose an added strain on the already overtaxed French economy. The French need the billets and food and supplies and services which they are now supplying to us.

17. "The French brag a lot about the fighting they did, but you don't hear any Americans passing out bouquets to them."

General Patton cabled General Koenig, the French commander of the FFI, that the spectacular advance of his (Patton's) army across France would have been impossible without the fighting aid of the FFI. General Patch estimated that from the time of the Mediterranean landings to the arrival of our troops at Dijon, the help given to our operations by the FFI was equivalent to four full divisions. The Maquis who defended the Massif Central, in the south-central part of France, had two Nazi divisions stymied; they kept those two divisions from fighting against us. Perhaps some of us don't like to pass out bouquets - to anyone but ourselves. Perhaps we have short memories.

18. "The French let us down when the fighting got tough. What did they do - as fighters - to help us out?"

Here are a few of the things the French did:

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.
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 our military experts. Those 48 hours were tactically priceless ; they saved an untold number of American lives.
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.
About 30,000 FF1 troops supported the Third Army's VIII Corps in Brittany: they seized and held key spogs; they conducted extensive guerrilla operations behind the German lines.
25,000 FFI troops protected the south flank of the 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 our command.
When our 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 our 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.

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