Make that 1917.
They actually fought well in the early days of the Great War.
The French soldiers fought as bravely and fiercely as anyone. But the French Generalship was terrible, English generalship only slightly better. Had Pershing been made supreme commander the war would have ended in 1917 with a German surrender. Loses on both sides were simply terrible. Frontal assaults on machine gun emplacements was the rule. At least at Gettysburg American generals learned not to frontally assault strong positions if it could be avoided.
And I’ve had great interactions with some of the French Infantry guys. They’re very capable, when allowed by their political leaders and officers.
Yes, the French charged real good into German machine guns...worth seeing Kubrick’s 1957 classic, Paths of Glory...