Can't believe I never saw this thread.
I too am a big fan.
Mainly just of history in general, but WW2 I find very intersting.
I too am a big fan.
Mainly just of history in general, but WW2 I find very intersting.
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Timmy-loves-Rabo said:Can't believe I never saw this thread.
I too am a big fan.
Mainly just of history in general, but WW2 I find very intersting.
Echoes said:More and more interested in military history. I have the books by Sun Tzu and Clausewitz on my bedside table but I'm yet to start reading, lol.
My military heroes are: Chief Kondiaronk (Beaver Wars), Hector de Caillère (Beaver Wars), Chief Pontiac (French & Indian Wars), General François-Athanase Charette (War in the Vendée), Andreas Hofer (Napoleonic Wars), Marshal Živojin Mišić (Balkan Wars, WWI), Marshal Louis Franchet d’Espèrey (WWI), General Draza Mihailovic (WWII), Marshal Philippe Leclerc (WWII), General Pierre Koenig (WWII), General Marcel Bigeard (Algerian War), ... hmm okay I'll desist here.
Of course, the French contribution to the victory in WWII was decisive and not restricted to the "Résistance" at all ...
Besides, World War II starts to bore me. Every history TV programmes, so many books, history mags, ... In the end there's an overdosis ...
Libertine Seguros said:On the other hand, most of Poland's contribution to the war effort came as resistance - yet you are willing to dismiss France's contribution because of their early surrender. La Résistance are one of the most enduring images of the war, and were vital in the war effort for the Western Allies. This is not to dismiss either - both contributions were vital - it was La Résistance that helped many in Germany to freedom via Spain and America, just as many in Poland, Hungary (Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat awarding many Jews in Hungary Swedish citizenship in order to allow them to live free and reach freedom, is particularly noteworthy here) and Czechoslovakia did in their part of Europe. The formal contribution of France to the war is fairly insignificant - but then so is Poland's. Their contribution to the war effort under occupation in the form of resistance movements, however, is spectacular.
Echoes said:"Reasonably" good documentary on the Rwandan Genocide on the ... BBC: http://vimeo.com/110709607
Echoes said:It should be highlighted that Pétain prevented the Nazis from having the atomic bomb by removing the heavy water that they got in Norway, to Cambridge, UK and subsequently to the US. Is this a known fact?
Shingshan said:Cool thread
History is my hobby, specially militar history, and in a way the reason why I will never be trully happy in profissional, I've choosen to be an accountant instead of an academic career in History, the only one possible.
About Petain and the heavy water, he didn't had anything to do with the sending of the 150 liters (app 40 US gallons) the French had at the time.
Actually France had bought to the Norwegien all their stock, for their own nuclear program, that's why the Germans had to wait until 1943, when the factory was destroyed by the British Commandos. The Norwegien factory was open back in 1930 about then years before the French defeat by the nazis.
During the chaos that followed the fall of France 1n940, it was two French scientists from the Radium Institute with the help of a few military that took all the French heavy water back back to England.
It’s the kind of history that would give a good script for a film, instead of the usual super heroes stuff.
And if you think about it’s real a crucial part, a very significant event of WWII, without heavy water no nuclear bomb could be produced, and the French had all the world stock at the time, so just imagine what could had happened if the Nazis had got their hands on it back in 1940.
The French were the one’s with most advance nuclear programme at the time, way ahead of the US or Nazi German.
I think the question isn’t if Petain would deliver the heavy water to the nazis, the thing is he wouldn’t had a choice, the only thing Vichy could do was to destroy it before the Nazis could reach it. Would they do it ? Well we will never know. But still back in 1940 world leaders already knew the importance of heavy water.
Here’s some importante links to know more about interresting bit of WWII history.
http://stochasticreview.blogspot.pt/2013/11/the-heavy-water-coup-of-1940.html
rhubroma said:Petain was a French fascist, or am I mistaken?
ToreBear said:Norwegian commandos first destroyed/damaged the production facilities, then when the remaining stockpile was to be transported to Germany, the ferry it was on, was sunk by an explosive device.
Never heard about the French side of the story before, I'll have to look into it when I find time.
Shingshan said:During the chaos that followed the fall of France 1n940, it was two French scientists from the Radium Institute with the help of a few military that took all the French heavy water back back to England.
Shingshan said:It’s the kind of history that would give a good script for a film, instead of the usual super heroes stuff.
Shingshan said:I think the question isn’t if Petain would deliver the heavy water to the nazis, the thing is he wouldn’t had a choice, the only thing Vichy could do was to destroy it before the Nazis could reach it. Would they do it ? Well we will never know.
Shingshan said:Well things are more complicated than that. Yes after French defeat he believed that the defeat was a result of democratic goverments, so he became a fascist of the "classical" kind, Family, Religion etc etc.
Shingshan said:I wouldn't go so far as saying that Churchill trusted Petain, not after the British bombed the French squad in Mers-el-Kebir, he didn't trust De Gaulle that's for sure.