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To: lqclamar
The only numbers fudging was Zimdog, who originally used a base figure of over 275 thousand to take his "muslim troop count" when in reality less than half of those ever made it into the service, just over half of those ever made it to Europe, 10% were white French officers, and sizable portions of the remainder were from non-muslim colonies like Madagascar and the French colonies in central Africa. All of that information was in the original article he quoted from, but he chose not to share it - intentionally IMHO.

Your misrepresenting the article and your misrepresenting the numbers again. The article clearly stated that 122,000 soldiers in West Africa were mobilized to defend France, including some 9000+ French officers who may or may not have been white. The article also clearly stated that the Tirailleurs Sénégalais contributed 275,000 troops over the course of the war, that is to say before the fall of France and also in the subsequent FFL army.

I am being quite straightforward. I will ask you once again to stop misrepresenting my arguments and the arguments of the reputable historians I cite.

What also needs to be noted of the few muslim French troops that did serve is this: they were forced conscripts.

Yes, the 180,000 Muslim West Africans were mostly drafted. Many re-enlisted after their 3 years were up, but many were initial volunteers.

I will kindly ask you to stop denigrating the service of troops who bravely fought the Nazis simply because you dislike their religion or their continent.

165 posted on 02/16/2007 9:46:42 PM PST by zimdog
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To: eleni121
The full quote from Sheck clearly shows he was referring to non-mobilized troops before the armistace:

"The overall number of Tirailleurs Senegalais deployed in France between September 3, 1939, and June 25, 1940, was 100,000, but around one-third of them were still in training or in transit when the armistice took effect; see "Troupes Coloniales en 1939-1940: La mobilisation et la periode d'attente," L'Ancre d'Or Bazeilles, no. 256 (1990), 27-38. For a list of soldiers mobilized in France's colonies in 1939-40, see Fargettas, "Le massacre des soldats," 2:26. Altogether, over 122,000 people were mobilized in French West Africa before the armistice, including 9,622 Europeans (mostly officers). The Tirailleurs Senegalais made up the lion's share of the colonial troops (275,354 men, total), followed by the Indo-Chinese units (88,898 men)."

168 posted on 02/16/2007 9:57:22 PM PST by lqclamar ("That's it, Seth, you can't blame them. It's want of education. That's all it is.")
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To: zimdog
Another false personal attack by zimdog:

"I will kindly ask you to stop denigrating the service of troops who bravely fought the Nazis simply because you dislike their religion or their continent."

Noting the historical fact of their conscripted service and their small historical numbers is not "denigration," nor have I attacked African allied troops in WWII because of their continent. Much to the contrary, I praised the WWII service of a distinguished African spitfire pilot in Post #78 - http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1785542/posts?page=165#78

It should be noted that personal attacks such as zimdog's in the previous post are against the rules of FR.

172 posted on 02/16/2007 10:09:22 PM PST by lqclamar ("That's it, Seth, you can't blame them. It's want of education. That's all it is.")
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