re: #638 Lupin

I was talking WWII because the French did surrender then; WWI was won, by the French and the British with the help of the Americans, Canadians and Australians, but it’s doubtful that, even without them, it would have resulted in a surrender.

Of course the French lost the 1870 war against the Germans, a war even more pointless than WWI.

Indochina (Vietnam) and Algeria are greyer area, with political factors outweighing purely military ones. (A good read on both topics are the Jean Larteguy books, available in English.)

Right. Need to learn more about the 1870 war. Found out that a long ago aunt’s husband was in that war on the German side and that side of the family apparently hated the French and Catholics. Ironic since my great grandfather, the man’s nephew ended up marrying a Catholic here in the US and raising my grandfather and his sibs Catholic.