A Bad Neighborhood

 A BAD NEIGHBORHOOD

May 7

One of the most powerful images of WWII, 
a Frenchman watching French troops leaving Marseille
for French African colonies to escape surrender

Before I tell you about our day, please permit me to reflect a little on the 20th Century military history of our French friends. We've covered the historic bad blood between France and England, which seems to have been put aside for the past century. It's the opposite fence that was the issue for France during more recent times. Living next door to Germany meant France had some really bad neighbors during the first half of the 1900's. In 1914 Germany attacked France with designs on capturing Paris. As a consequence, during WWI France suffered:

• 1.4 million military deaths
• 500,000 civilian deaths
• 620 municipalities literally wiped off the map and 1,300 having been over 50% destroyed.
• Damage and reconstruction costs of 34 billion gold francs, which translates into $135 billion in U.S. dollars today.

In the end France and its allies, including England and the U.S., prevailed. Germany was forced to repay enormous sums for what American courts today would call compensatory and punitive damages. Of course, Germany used the humiliation and financial hardship incurred as rationale for starting WWII. At the least it opened the door to Hitler and the Third Reich.

The enormous cost in lives and rebuilding made France, England, and neighboring countries that had borne the brunt of the fighting during WWI accommodate hostile actions to avoid more fighting. No one in those countries wanted another war just 20 years later. Another result of WWI for the French was that, having won the war, they assumed they had developed the winning formula for warfare, which was based on fighting a defensive war. They built and fortified the seemingly invincible Maginot Line along their border with Germany and felt securely protected from future invasions.

Maginot Line

As we have seen previously, the Germans used their new, mobile blitzkrieg offensive strategy and simply went around the Maginot Line fortifications. The result was a quick and overwhelming invasion of neighboring countries like Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium, which prompted France and England to declare war on Germany. The Wehrmacht (German armed forces) invaded France May 10, 1940 and marched into and occupied Paris just 35 days later. A week afterwards France was forced to sign an armistice with Germany that split the country into the northern part, which was occupied by German forces, and the southern which installed a collaborationist (some would say puppet) government in Vichy under French WWI Gen. Marshall Petain. 

Hitler and entourage visiting Paris a day
after the armistice is signed (23 June 1940). 

In June 1940 proud France, the land of Napoleon, found itself humiliatingly overrun and occupied by its avaricious neighbor, which was led by one of history's most reprehensible leaders. The country was split literally and figuratively; some of its people cut their losses and decided "you can't fight (the new) city hall" and tried not to make waves. As with other countries Germany had invaded and occupied, France's Jewish people were rounded up and sent off to concentration camps, and its captured soldier sent to slave labor camps. German officers moved into the best hotels in Paris, ate at its best restaurants, enjoyed its best nightclubs, and began living "the good life." 

We in America have a hard time relating to what our French allies experienced. Not since the War of 1812 have foreign boots marched on American soil. [What about the Mexicans at the Alamo and in Texas in 1836, you say? Remember that Texans and some American allies were in the process of wresting the state -- for 10 years a Republic -- of Texas from Mexico then. It didn't become a U.S. state until 1845, and we had to fight a war with Mexico 3 years later to settle things.] In 1940 France was a country that had experienced a stunning conquest by a bitter rival, leaving the country somewhat divided against itself and with some of its army and leaders essentially exiled abroad. How does a country in such a situation reclaim ownership of its land and people from a seemingly invincible conqueror?

The French were resilient and proud, and they had supportive allies with whom they shared a common enemy. What became known as the French Resistance arose, both from those in exile and clandestine forces within France itself. The French worked at home and abroad to liberate their homeland, efforts the Allies encouraged, nurtured, and utilized to harass and undermine the occupying German army and to prepare for an invasion of Fortress Europe. One of the main challenges for the French and Allies alike was to decide which leaders of the Resistance and the Free French army were most respected, capable, and trustworthy. 

Free French Gen. Charles de Gaulle, who was in England, emerged as the leader of the liberation. In 1941 he met with Jean Moulin, who had stealthily traveled to London through Portugal, named him his personal representative, and charged him with organizing the French Resistance. (In keeping with the 007-like nature of the story, Moulin returned to France by parachuting into the countryside.) Leaving a meeting in 1943 Moulin was captured by the Gestapo, imprisoned and tortured, and died from injuries while being transported to a prison in Germany. He remains a true hero of the Resistance, and the Museum of Resistance is named for him.

Jean Moulin (whose scarf was worn to cover
the scar left when he attempted to cut his own
throat when captured by the Germans)

Another French hero, Philippe de Hauteclocque, a French army officer who took the nom de guerre of Gen. Leclerc to protect his family in France, like Moulin traveled a circuitous route to reach Gen. de Gaulle in London. He was named as a commander of French forces in French Equatorial Africa and had a distinguished record of defeating forces in other French colonies in Africa who had been loyal to the Vichy French. De Gaulle promoted him to the rank of general and gave him command of the 2nd Free French Armored Division, which began training to fight with the Allied forces who would invade Normandy. They landed on Utah Beach on 1 Aug. 1944 and were engaged in the liberation of France that took them to Paris. De Gaulle had lobbied the Allies, who had planned to bypass Paris to reach Germany more quickly, on the importance of not only prioritizing the liberation of Paris, but in letting a French unit take the lead in entering the city. Eisenhower was convinced, and Leclerc's unit had the honor of leading the Allied advance into and liberation of Paris on 25 Aug. 1944.

Gen. Leclerc landing at Utah Beach

[Note: Let me apologize to any reader who hasn't dozed off while plowing through my prelude to the visit to the General Leclerc & Jean Moulin Museum of Resistance & Liberation. I believe the context of the French experience in WWII is critical to understanding the museum. Candidly I had never heard of the Leclerc & Moulin Museum, which is quite new by Paris standards (opened in 2019), nor had I heard of the two men whose names it bears. I didn't want any readers to be as clueless as I was before I began researching the Paris portion of our trip about the men recognized by the museum.]

On our last day of sightseeing on the trip we had an early start to the Metro station to buy our Navigo cards and make the right connection to the museum. We found it, but with some nearby construction didn't know we were "there" when we were there. Upon entering we found that the museum was in some respects a book that told the stories of the two men, who ironically never met, and of the Resistance and the Liberation. Signs and displays in French and English told the story in a well organized manner. Not a lot of showy displays; more of a Joe Friday "just the facts, ma'am" approach. We were glad we went. Here are a few photos of ... well ... their photos and displays:

The French Order of Mobilization

  

"We've lost a battle, but not the war!"
rally letter sent home by de Gaulle 

Equipment used by the Resistance 

Liberation! De Gaulle on the Champs-Elysee'

Our guide for the Paris Walks Occupation tour which we had scheduled for the afternoon, had recommended Le Nemours, a sidewalk cafe near our rendezvous point. The food, service, and ambiance were very good, and after lunch and a short walk to the Tuileries Gardens we met Mary Ellen and began our tour. It was no surprise that the Germans stayed in the areas near the Tuileries, Louvre, Place de la Concorde, and art museums. Several centered around the Place Vendome, whose centerpiece is a column topped by a statue of Napoleon and which celebrates some of his most important military campaigns. Since our guide was an American who had immigrated to Paris several years ago and knew we were Americans, she also pointed out buildings like the Hotel Crillon, where in 1778 France and the U.S. signed an agreement by which France became the first nation to recognize the U.S. as a sovereign nation; the Talleyrand Hotel, where the Marshall Plan was administered in 1947-52; the Hotel Bataille de Frances, where the Republic of Texas had its embassy in 1842-43. We passed the American Embassy and ended our tour walking down the Champs Elysee' toward the Arc de Triomphe. 

Some photos from the tour ...

Place Vendome with column 
& Napoleon's statue

Memorials decorated for V-E Day

Georges Clemenceau statue

   

De Gaulle statue at Petit Palais

Although our tour ended near the Arc de Triomphe, we were nearer a Metro stop that would take us back to our hotel. After a full day of walking and sightseeing, we chose the hotel bar followed by a short walk to dinner at a restaurant called Biche (which we learned may or may not translate to what it sounds like in English). The food and wine were very good. It was a good meal to quit on.

Then we just had to make sure everything fit in our suitcases for our flights home tomorrow. Why do dirty clothes take up more space than clean ones?!?