Posted on 07/22/2017 9:06:51 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Part of the problem the French had is that they did move.
Vehicles broke down moving into Belgium and there was no way to haul them off to be repaired far behind the lines. Their divisions had little ability to repair them themselves, and often their quirky design made field repairs difficult.
Germans recovered French vehicles by the 1000's and used them well into 42'
French troops often fought fanatically but they had lousy equipment and worse logistics.
From “Top Secret”:
“This is Chevalier, Montage, Detente, Avant Garde, and Deja Vu......Over there, Croissant, Souffle, Escargot, and Chocolate Mousse.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQhNPOxHWyk
The 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) and Charlemagne Regiment are collective names used for units of French volunteers in the Wehrmacht and later Waffen-SS during World War II. From estimates of 7,340 to 11,000 at its peak in 1944, the strength of the division fell to just sixty men in May 1945.
They were one of the last German units to see action during World War II, when they participated in the defence of central Berlin and the Führerbunker. They were among the last to surrender during the final days of the Battle in Berlin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33rd_Waffen_Grenadier_Division_of_the_SS_Charlemagne_(1st_French)
I saw this yesterday. I went in VERY excited. It was one of the only movies I wanted to see this summer.
VERY disappointed. The two guys with me? Ditto. “Boring” said one. “Put me to sleep.”
Coming from Christopher Nolan, it’s amazingly bad moviemaking. He focuses on three individuals or in one case, a boat with a civilian captain and his two sons. The plot careens back and forth between the three groups. With pilots crashing into the sea and ships sinking, all the underwater shots are confusing. Plus, aviators with masks are flat hard to differentiate among. (It’s one reason why George Lucas didn’t have any of his pilots in “Star Wars” ever have a mask on).
Nolan said he wasn’t making a war movie, but a movie about “survival.” Well, DiCaprio just did that with “Revenant” (an equally boring movie. There definitely are heroes: Tom Hardy runs his plane out of fuel trying to take down a bomber, and manages to land on the beach in time to surrender. Kenneth Branagh’s commander stays on the dock til the last Frenchman is evacuated. The civilian boat captain refuses to turn around when his own son is badly injured. The man who has injured his son, a shell-shocked soldier they picked up on a sinking ship, played by Cillian Murphy, does not want to go back to Dunkirk and struggles with the boy, throwing him into the hold where he hits his head (fatally as it turns out). At then end, back on English docks, Murphy asks the brother if his younger brother is ok. The boy could have responded with hate (”You DID THIS!”) but instead lies. “Yes, he’s ok.” Why heap more guilt on the soldier who still has a war to fight?
But even these acts of courage don’t capture the spirit of overcoming that the operation itself was-—as Spielberg did with the troops on Normandy. Admittedly this was an evacuation, and as Churchill (who is never mentioned until the very end) says, “Wars are not won by great evacuations.” Still, it was the LARGEST and most remarkable evacuation in history, at least maintained the ability of England to fight for five more years, and demonstrated both the strengths & weaknesses of the British and the Germans.
Despite a $150m budget you do NOT “see it on screen.” Looks like there are maybe 50,000 guys waiting to load, rather than 400,000. The most planes you see at a time are three Spitfires. When the civilian rescue fleet appears, it looks like maybe 30 boats instead of the hundreds that actually arrived.
In short, a big disappointment.
Sand Crabs cry: “We were on the beach at Dunkirk too!!”
Frankly, the best war movies being made these days are Russian ones. “Brest Fortress” is one of the best war movies I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of them.
watched the movie at the IMAX with my youngest son, and we both enjoyed it, and if the French don;t like it then tough they should have fight harder against the Germans.
Instead they gave in, and now hand over the country to third wold immigrants while letting Germany dictate what should happen all over Europe.
Yep. The British did a good job of that at The Somme against the Germans, and at Gallipoli against the Turks.
I watched it yesterday and there was a mention near the beginning of Churchill, and at the end his speech was read about fighting them on the beaches, so this reviewer is an idiot.
Thanks for the review. Won’t waste my time on it.
They have a point actually.
They were most of the rearguard, holding off the Germans.
And the units being withrawn, as well as participating vessels, were pretty mixed up Franco-British.
In crowd scenes at least, for accuracy, there should have been some fellows in French uniform.
As they say, “War is a series of calamities that result in victory.”
When they cast a member of a Boy Band in one of the leading roles, I knew it would be a dog.
I thought you were going to say the French actors took the summer off, which is what most French workers do each year.
And everyone knows Hollywood is a stickler for historical accuracy.
Where the other million or so Frenchman?... Waving swastika flags as the Germans marched into Paris.
Soon to be made a movie by Clint Eastwood. Oh some of the French will love that one too.
youngest boy and myself watched it and loved it.
I would go as it is well worth a watch. We loved it.
It almost makes us even for you not speaking German now.
The Complete Military History of France
Excerpt:
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