Friday 11 November 2022

French Sailors Ail

Its been reported that after the fall of France, some of the 'Free French Forces' in Britain ...

The Germans Knew The Free French Were On Their Way, By The Garlic Dumps
The Germans Knew The Free French Were
On Their Way, By The Garlic Dumps

 .... told the British government that they couldn't fight unless they had garlic for their meals.

This brings another interpretation to Napoleon's quote about "an army marching on its stomach". Now before anyone makes a comment about them not being able to fight with it as well ... I am sure that many could fight ... they just didn't want to. I don't subscribe to the theory that the the French Army installed rear-view mirrors in their tanks so that they could see the battle.

So at great risk to British soldiers, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) launched Operation Achilles in 1942 to 'liberate' sacks of garlic from Nazi occupied France. Apparently this assuaged the 300 French sailors based on the Isle of Wight, who then said that they would fight if required .... big of them!

As I don't recall the free French having any real navy in 1942 or later in the war, I should imagine that they weren't actually required. Oddly, most of Britain's garlic is now grown in the Isle of Wight.

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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous17 November 2022 at 23:27

    Well, it was Napoleon who said that an army marched on its stomach, haha 😄

    ReplyDelete

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