Not to kill a joke, but...
The French fought bravely in WWI. They didn't surrender, nor appease or even collaborate with their enemy in WWI.
Of course, given the weapons and leadership their military brass gave them, and the proximity of the front lines to Paris, they had little choice.
You may now resume making French jokes.
See my post #37...
You are correct in weapons and leadership given them. Didn't take long for us to replace the Chau Chat machine gun issued our troops with the reliable BAR, did it?
The French did indeed fight heroically (Verdun, etc.) but in 1917 half of the entire French Army mutineed and refused to accept orders.
This was miraculously covered up by French and British intelligence; they never knew.
On the other hand, they did mutiny in April of 1917. But when you consider 800,000 Allied dead for '14-'18, perhaps one can take just so much and no more.
I do think that these mutinies began the downfall of the French military.
They were competent, tough, brave -- comparable to the soldiers of Napoleon's Grand Army.
They almost all were killed in the early years of the war. They were young, and most had no children. France was repopulated by the descendants of the unfit and the cowardly.
Selective breeding at work.