French Troops Inflict 1469 American Casualties!
That Was Then, This Is Now
February 21, 2003
In three days of sporadic fighting and sneak attacks, the French have inflicted 1469 American casualties. As U.S. forces landed on the shores of North Africa, the French army opened fire from land and sea based artillery positions despite U.S. pleas for peace. In 9 separate landing zones scattered from Morocco to Algeria, the American troops were ordered not to fire unless fired upon by the French and the French fired with a vengeance. By the end of the third day, the French had surrendered and most of the French navy was either sunk or damaged.
Less than 18 months after the surrender of France to Germany, the Americans and British launched Operation Torch in an effort stop the German advance and liberate Europe, including France, from their Nazi stranglehold. The French, under the leadership of Nazi collaborator Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, rebuffed peace overtures from the American President and fought ignobly on behalf of their German conquerors. The American forces overcame the French opposition with less effort than a hot knife cutting through the Maginot Line.
The battle raged from November 8 to November 11, 1942. That was then, this is now.
Just months prior to Operation Torch, the Nazis had launched the siege of Stalingrad which lasted from August 19, 1942 until the Soviet breakout and victory on February 2, 1943. The Russians were able to repulse the Nazi invasion of their country and liberate the Eastern Front primarily as a result of the U.S. Lend - Lease Bill. Russia, as the second largest recipient of Lend-Lease aid, received over $11 billion in U.S. support from December 12, 1941 to May 8, 1945. By war’s end, “400,000 of 650,000 Soviet army trucks were of American supply-as were 2,000 Soviet locomotives and 11,000 freight cars. American - made boots were being worn by 13 million Soviet soldiers who often depended for their food rations on five million tons of grain provided by American farmers.”
That was then this is now.
By December 1944 defeat seemed imminent for the German forces. In a last attempt to forestall the inevitable, German forces, under the leadership of Adolph Hitler, launched the Ardennes Offensive (commonly known as the Battle of the Bulge) in southeastern Belgium. Orders from the German High Command stressed the invective for all troops to, “fight with the utmost brutality. German officers urged their soldiers to show no mercy, even to prisoners of war.”
On December 17, 1944, SS Panzer Commander, Colonel Joachim Peiper, captured numerous prisoners from the US Army's Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion at the Baugnez crossroads in Belgium, southeast of the town of Malmedy. Later that day, under Peiper’s orders, German forces summarily executed at least 80 American POW’s. “The SS soldiers on the scene roamed among the fallen POWs, shooting or bludgeoning those who showed signs of life. Others tracked Americans fleeing the site to buildings at the intersection. They set the structures on fire and shot the US soldiers who ran outside to escape the flames.”
At war’s end, the U.S. taxpayer, through the auspices of the Marshall Plan, granted the German people almost $1.4 billion in economic assistance to rebuild their country. The French and Russian conquerors of Germany executed, raped and tortured their German vanquished.
That was then, this is now.
It is September 1944 and the liberation of Belgium is drawing near. Eventually, the fighting in Belgium would cost the United States over 75,000 casualties, but the people of Belgium were liberated from Nazi tyranny. On December 19, 1944, near Rocherath, Belgium, U.S. Army Technician Fourth Grade Truman Kimbro lost his life. Kimbro, born in Madisonville Texas, was awarded the Medal of Honor… posthumously. Here is a description of Kimbro’s last moments from his Citation:
On 19 December 1944, as scout, he led a squad assigned to the mission of mining a vital crossroads near Rocherath, Belgium. At the first attempt to reach the objective, he discovered it was occupied by an enemy tank and at least 20 infantrymen. Driven back by withering fire, Technician 4th Grade Kimbro made two more attempts to lead his squad to the crossroads but all approaches were covered by intense enemy fire. Although warned by our own infantrymen of the great danger involved, he left his squad in a protected place and, laden with mines, crawled alone toward the crossroads. When nearing his objective he was severely wounded, but he continued to drag himself forward and laid his mines across the road. As he tried to crawl from the objective his body was riddled with rifle and machinegun fire.
Kimbro was fighting for the freedom of the Belgian people when he sacrificed his life. That was then, this is now.
Here is a list of World War II American military cemeteries in Europe:
|
Cemetary |
Location |
Graves |
Missing |
|
Ardennes |
Neuville-en-Condroz, Belguim |
5,310 |
462 |
|
Brittany |
St. James, France |
4,410 |
498 |
|
Cambridge |
Cambridge, England |
3,811 |
5,125 |
|
Epinal |
Epinal, France |
5,255 |
424 |
|
Florence |
Florence, Italy |
4,402 |
1,409 |
|
Henri-Chapelle |
Aubel, Belgium |
7,989 |
450 |
|
Lorraine |
St. Avold, France |
10,489 |
444 |
|
Luxembourg |
Luxembourg City, Luxembourgh. |
5,076 |
370 |
|
Netherlands |
Margraten, The Netherlands |
8,302 |
1,722 |
|
Normandy |
St. Laurent-sur-Mer, France |
9,386 |
1,557 |
|
Rhone |
Draguignan, France |
861 |
293 |
|
Sicily-Rome |
Nettuno, Italy |
7,862 |
3,094 |
Of the over 300,000 Americans killed in defense of world freedom during World War II, these are the ones who never made it home from the European Theater.
That was then and this is now:
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French President Jacques Chirac warns that removing the murderous dictator Saddam Hussein might, “create a large number of little (Osama) bin Ladens.” In 1935 France opposed sanctions against Mussolini fearing that disarming Italy would persuade Mussolini to form an alliance with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. The French have always been farsighted.
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German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin preaches that, “A war (with Iraq) is not justified. This debate is distracting from the real interests of the United States. Those are geo-strategic and oil interests. The critics are quite right with their motto ‘no war for oil’.” On the same day, a German court sentenced 9/11 terrorist Mounir el Motassadeq to 15 years in jail (maximum) for 3,066 counts of accessory to murder, 5 counts of being an accessory to attempted murder and an accessory to bodily injury count. German Interior Minister Otto Schily told reporters in Berlin, “I think this marks a success in the international fight against terrorism… It is a harsh sentence, but I think it is justified.” The harsh sentence is less than two days of jail time for each of the 9/11 victims murdered.
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From our ever-grateful Russian allies who refused to repay their Lend-Lease obligations, “The Kremlin has also moved to forge closer ties with U.S. opponents including Iraq, a traditional Soviet ally. Moscow says it is keen on safeguarding billion-dollar oil contracts in the oil-rich country.” The Russians are former allies of Nazi Germany.
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From Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, “It's not a war. You can't just use words like that. There needs to be a 'mobilization' against terrorism.” It took the Belgian army less than 18 days to surrender to the Nazis in 1940. Soldiers in the modern Belgian army have a median age of 40 and are unionized. Belgian soldiers are eligible for six weeks of vacation a year, and they protested for more benefits last year, which they naturally received.
Perhaps the most telling question of all is to ask what any of these nations have ever done for the United States other than revel in American misfortune. In the words of the poet Ennuis, “Amicu certus in re incerta cernitur” (A friend in need is a friend indeed). It’s a good thing that all the Americans who sacrificed so much for world freedom didn’t know then what kind of “friends” this country has now.
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