J'ai lu l'amende de Français juste, merci, Monsieur Cirrus. J'ai un problème écrire le français, et bien que je puisse parler assez français pour me faire compris, mon accent est terrible, et le bruit en résultant est moins qu'élégant. Vous pourriez dire que Jacko parle français comme une vache espagnole.
As a historian by training, I do have a problem with revisionist historians - especially those inspired by empty nationalistic posturing, and the selective vision of Francophiles amuses me.
The French have not been much of a martial race since the defeat of Napoleon, and many of the jokes have some grounding in truth, though the reason that most of us repeat them is precisely to get up the noses of the French, and of the Francophile Brits. Why would we want to do such a thing? Well perhaps it's because the snail munchers display altogether too much envy and dislike of the 'Perfidious English' and what goes around......
It's amusing, though inaccurate, to make accusations of cowardice. That, of course, is unjust, as the French military problem has never been one of lack of courage, but rather one of poor procurement and a lack of competence and leadership.
As to the performance of the French Army in the Great War, you only have to compare losses, and to look at the mutinies of 1917.
In WWII, if you're asking questions, then how about the following:
1) With a massive superiority (90 odd divisions to 40 odd) why did the French not attack Germany properly in the Saar? Keitel thought that they'd have won a resounding victory.....
2) Would sacrificing more British troops at Dunkirk in order to evacuate more of the French forces have been a good plan, when so many of those that we did rescue ended up going home to fight for Vichy? Of course some French forces fought exceptionally well, but the effectiveness of the overall French effort was soon eroded by defeatism and panic.
3) How could the UK be accused of 'abandoning' the French when British and Canadian forces remained engaged elsewhere in France, when Britain attempted to form a second BEF, and did not finally complete its pull out (from Cherbourg, St Malo, Brest and elsewhere) until 25 June? Though some 300,00 withdrew from Dunkirk, more than 200,000 withdrew in this later evacuation.
4) You can't judge the French in WWII without acknowledging the alacrity with which the Vichy regime rounded up Jews and other undesirables, making themselves entirely complicit with Nazi atrocities and crimes against humanity.