France and the United States

Indeed, the shame of France was such that until 1942 national socialist Germany needed only about 30,000 troops to keep tout ensemble of France under its thumb to put this number in perspective, it is slight than twice the number of policemen that had patrolled the streets of Paris.

Not all Frenchmen, however, rolled everyplace for the Nazi regime. General de Gaulle fled France on an airplane provided by Winston Churchill to buzz off the resistance abroad (9); when he landed Churchill formally recognise him as a French leader despite his recluse status (14). The General quickly realized that his best confide of organizing an army lay in North Africa, and he slowly set about this all-important task (15). De Gaulle did not agree deep underlying problems with Nazism, however: "Discussing Resistance attacks on German soldiers, he remarked, 'If the Germans want us to stop killing them, they energise only to go home' (Vinen). As the myth of Axis impregnability was shattered by Allied victories in Stalingrad and North Africa, cheer many French to take up the resistance La Resistance and begin to chip away at the Vichy regime.

This land is important because it sets the stage for the nurturing of French pride post-liberation. Paris was liberated by the Deuxieme Division Blindee (2e DB), made up of Fre

Beevor, Antony and Cooper, Artemis. Paris After the Liberation: 1944-1949. Penguin Books. New York. 1994.

Johnston, Patricia. "France and the US: Best of Friends, Worst of Enemies." The Inquisitor. May 14, 2003.

Vinen, Richard. "The Last Emperors." Agence Global. February 19, 2004.

This dichotomy was exacerbated by a thriving black market for the goods that were provided by the "American military cornucopia coffee, gasoline, tyres, cigarettes, boots, soap, ammunition, morphine, Spam or whisky" (124). U.S.

forces were beg off from French import duties and exchange controls, which allowed them to convert their pay in Francs to Dollars at the official exchange rate, and then convert their Dollars behind to Francs on the black market at an astronomical return (125). This fact greatly preoccupied the French government and supply resentment, since U.S. soldiers were awash in cash as a will of their dealings with the black market.

nch forces, on August 25, 1944 (Beevor, 48). The 2e DB had raced in front of its American commanders, who had meant to leave Paris in German manpower for a few more weeks to achieve broader strategic objectives (36). De Gaulle, invariably a savvy politician, knew that "on this victorious afternoon, symbolism was of preponderant importance" (49). It was important for the French to believe that their liberation was the furbish up result of French actions, and that de Gaulle was the mastermind behind it all. The fame that resulted from de Gaulle's wartime actions led to his circumstances as the President of the Provisional Government that was erected in kinfolk of 1944 (Bonjour la France).

After World War II's conclusion, the American GIs in France were replaced by American executives for the Economic Cooperation Administration, the Europ
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