“France had no means or will to fight...”
Yes, i think everyone agrees that France had no will to fight. This is an assertion not in dispute.
What is less clear is support for your assertion that the French surrender prevented a Soviet-style takeover of France like happened in Eastern Europe, and how that ties into Vichy resistance during the African landings.
But thank you for answering. I learned all I need to know in the exchange.
“What is less clear is support for your assertion that the French surrender prevented a Soviet-style takeover of France like happened in Eastern Europe, and how that ties into Vichy resistance during the African landings.”
Western Europe was given a preview of what Stalinism represented during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939); our Popes are still canonizing martyrs among the 7,000 priests (including 12 bishops) that were executed in that short time. Life in the Communist zone had all the hallmarks of what Stalin represented: commissars, political executions, class warfare, starvation. The war ended when the “fascists” (the Spanish Army), with support from Hitler & Mussolini, beat the Communists (supported by Stalin). Months after that war ended, the French were supposed to believe that when Germany & the Soviet Union invaded Poland (yes, the Soviet Union invaded from the east - that is when the Polish officer corps was executed in the Katyn Forest), that they should fight Germany? For unexplained reasons, the heroic allies coming to the defense of Poland failed to declare war against the Soviet Union - an irony not lost on Europeans to this day; the allies also stood by while the Soviet Union invaded the countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia - and purged them of enemies as well.
Once the US was allied with the Soviet Union, there was no reason for the French in North Africa to treat them with anything but suspicion.