A Little Respect for the French

As every schoolchild knows, the British retreat from Tobruk might have turned into a complete rout, but for the heroic stand of the Free French at Bir Hakim. Americans have their own "we are not here to surrender" story (McAuliffe at Bastogne), but we don't hear about this one much.

The French in North Africa started with a couple hundred men and ONE 75 mm cannon. They formed up at Ft. Lamy in Chad, then travelled 400 km and captured the Italian garrison at Kufra, a huge propaganga victory at the time.

But DeGaulle, their leader, had a long war. Churchill thought him the man of destiny, Roosevelt had little use for him. DeGaulle spent much of his time easrly in the war fending off intrigues from Vichy rivals, Roosevelt, and even MI5.

It's easy to see why the French loved him:

"Finally, in October 1944, Roosevelt and Churchill recognised the French Committee of National Liberation as the provisional government of France and de Gaulle as its leader. De Gaulle curtly responded, 'The French government is happy to be called by its name'. De Gaulle had won and, in the process, inflicted on the American President his greatest personal defeat of the Second World War."