The French “*matched the behavior of the soviet forces when it came to sexual violence,*” according to American historian Norman Naimark.
Early in 1945, the French army marched into Germany. It was made up of soldiers from the former French Army of Africa (which included Europeans and Colonials), Free French, and members of the French Forces of the Interior (resistance). Many of the men had a hard time getting along with the Germans; these included volunteers from Alsace that suffered the most during the occupation, Jews from liberated camps or from the resistance, guerrilla fighters who had endure living in clandestinity, legionnaires from Poland and Ukraine, POW’s who escaped Germany, among others.
When the French arrived in Germany, they brought with them robberies, sexual assault, summary executions, and looting. These crimes were sometimes committed by the Moroccan Goumiers, who were already notorious for their war crimes in Italy. The French personnel mainly disregarded this serious infraction and tunred a blind eye on allegation ( even though the French MP’s were far more strict than in Italy)
Freudenstadt is a good exemple, it was heavily shelled by the french artillery and the troop of occupation (mostly Goums ) made a terrible first impression with the locals.
Not to mention that after the discovery of concentration camps by the French army, the number of crimes doubled in occupied Germany.Â
WOLFWOLF68 on
I think we need to look back and see that literally everyone in a war comits atrocities, and that we mostly only judge the worse ones, which does not excuse any of said crimes commited by anyone in that conflict.
Corsica51 on
I don’t blame French soldiers willing to seek some revenge.
Never forget what Germans did in occupied territories.
Never forget Germany started the war.
If you invade my country, kill, or worst, torture the people I love, you better have to kill me before I came to your country for revenge.
Vive la France.
Ploknam on
In 1945, many many people would like ekhm…. talk with Germans.
NoTePierdas on
The French and the Soviets coming for blood is regrettable, but completely understandable.
The Soviets lost 1/6th of their population and were the first to see the concentration camps. Show me a man who says he’d show love to a german trooper taken after seeing that and I’ll show you a liar.
Martial-Lord on
The Soviets and French at least made some attempts to stop the worst excesses. German high command did the precise opposite in occupied areas. People read too much about the rape of Berlin and too little about the Siege of Leningrad. Russian civilians had to fucking eat their own children to survive that hellhole.
fckchangeusername on
Also in central Italy
ForeignRespect1496 on
Do not start/join sny war so we won’t have it, oh damn I forgot it’s impossible to achieve because people are inherently evil and stupid
SPECTREagent700 on
Some people dispute the extent to which it was forced but the Norwegians made German POWs clear minefields.
KrillLover56 on
Wow, wars between imperialist powers that hated each other had… war crimes? Shocking.
IIIaustin on
Who cares
Fucking nazis fucked around hard and found out hard
Honestly it’s surprising they didn’t find out harder
12 Comments
The French “*matched the behavior of the soviet forces when it came to sexual violence,*” according to American historian Norman Naimark.
Early in 1945, the French army marched into Germany. It was made up of soldiers from the former French Army of Africa (which included Europeans and Colonials), Free French, and members of the French Forces of the Interior (resistance). Many of the men had a hard time getting along with the Germans; these included volunteers from Alsace that suffered the most during the occupation, Jews from liberated camps or from the resistance, guerrilla fighters who had endure living in clandestinity, legionnaires from Poland and Ukraine, POW’s who escaped Germany, among others.
When the French arrived in Germany, they brought with them robberies, sexual assault, summary executions, and looting. These crimes were sometimes committed by the Moroccan Goumiers, who were already notorious for their war crimes in Italy. The French personnel mainly disregarded this serious infraction and tunred a blind eye on allegation ( even though the French MP’s were far more strict than in Italy)
Freudenstadt is a good exemple, it was heavily shelled by the french artillery and the troop of occupation (mostly Goums ) made a terrible first impression with the locals.
Not to mention that after the discovery of concentration camps by the French army, the number of crimes doubled in occupied Germany.Â
I think we need to look back and see that literally everyone in a war comits atrocities, and that we mostly only judge the worse ones, which does not excuse any of said crimes commited by anyone in that conflict.
I don’t blame French soldiers willing to seek some revenge.
Never forget what Germans did in occupied territories.
Never forget Germany started the war.
If you invade my country, kill, or worst, torture the people I love, you better have to kill me before I came to your country for revenge.
Vive la France.
In 1945, many many people would like ekhm…. talk with Germans.
The French and the Soviets coming for blood is regrettable, but completely understandable.
The Soviets lost 1/6th of their population and were the first to see the concentration camps. Show me a man who says he’d show love to a german trooper taken after seeing that and I’ll show you a liar.
The Soviets and French at least made some attempts to stop the worst excesses. German high command did the precise opposite in occupied areas. People read too much about the rape of Berlin and too little about the Siege of Leningrad. Russian civilians had to fucking eat their own children to survive that hellhole.
Also in central Italy
Do not start/join sny war so we won’t have it, oh damn I forgot it’s impossible to achieve because people are inherently evil and stupid
Some people dispute the extent to which it was forced but the Norwegians made German POWs clear minefields.
Wow, wars between imperialist powers that hated each other had… war crimes? Shocking.
Who cares
Fucking nazis fucked around hard and found out hard
Honestly it’s surprising they didn’t find out harder
We playing war crime Olympics again?