| 94. "It burns me up to see a Frenchman using American uniforms." It would burn you up more if they were in German uniforms. Before we invaded North Africa, in 1942, our government arranged to equip eleven French divisions. Why? Because every French soldier took a place that might have had to be filled by an American. The 11,000 French soldiers who were killed in action after D-Day were entitled to the uniforms in which they died. Question: Where else could the French have gotten uniforms? From the Germans? France was occupied by the Germans when we were equipping the French Army. Question: Why didn't the French dye their uniforms, to distinguish them from ours? Because they did not have the dyes. Why didn't we dye the uniforms before turning them over to the French ? Because we were using our dyes for more important war production purposes. Why didn't we or the French provide more easily recognized French insignia? That was a mistake. |
