Do the French Really exist?

[niceguy2005]

...in WitP that is. I have played this game for a while and other than seeing one French destroyer I have seen nothing of French troops, though I seem to recall that they are referenced. Also, I notice that there are French pilots, but I see no planes. When and where do the French actually have a presense in this game, if at all?

[spence]

C ration Cordon Bleu.

[jcjordan]

They only have a couple of ships in the game. I think in the beginning of the development of the game they were thinking of using them but didn't make final cut but were left in the pilot as the Communist Chinese were also.

[niceguy2005]

Ok, that makes some sense

[m10bob]

I'm being REAL good....................................

[DeepSix]

ORIGINAL: m10bob

I'm being REAL good....................................

LOL... "Must... not.... type...."

[BossGnome]

would have been fun to see the two get mixed together as some sort of development error... would've ended up with "communist frenchese" as pilots. [:'(]

[RUPD3658]

Must show restraint......must show restraint.........no cheap shots against the frogs, I mean French.

[Ron Saueracker]

They could have at least made New Caledonia a malarial cesspool to loosely model the island government lack of cooperation.[:D]

[madmickey]

The vast majority of French Canadian were against Fighting on the allied side in WWII. They thought it was an English war.

[Rob Brennan UK]

damnable fr&$^% ..

iirc the french pilots are for the richlieu BB as spotter guys .. although with a pool in the 100's its a bit bizarre ..

maybe have an allied option of activating free french units the japan gets indo china as a major ally . activating troops and a/c units ( supplied by japan) as home defence units ? .. PP's could be used to move the viet-mihn to thailand etc .. mabe a good political option.. or i have been playing too much WiF politics in flames

[BossGnome]

most french canadians were against fighting in any war with the english canadians. being a french canadian myself, I can say it is mostly because we don't really like english canadians, and so we do it just to piss them off. I don't think that's a good attitude, but before saying "hey, the french canadians didn't wanna go to WW2, they're pussies!" consider a few things:

1) in the canadian army of WW2, there were only a few french canadian regimets, so most of the french canadian soldiers would get thrown into english-speaking battalions, where they would have a hard time to follow, let alone understand orders shouted at them in english.
2) Canada was still an english dominion. We "technically" had the choice to go to war, but in practise, we didn't. We went to war because england told us to go to war. French canadians, having been conquered by england, resented that a lot. Had they REALLY had the choice to go to war, they might've been more supportive of it. But it was kind of "forced" upon them.
3) Finally, french canadians just don't like war very much, which is believe is an admirable trait. Only recently, guess who was the most vocal in opposing the second Iraq war in canada?

So french canadians weren't just against fighting in WW2, they're against fighting in general. [:)]...except when fighting includes creating your own political party to go piss off the federal government by stopping most projects by voting against them... [:'(]

[Sarge]

ORIGINAL: BossGnome


1) in the canadian army of WW2, there were only a few french canadian regimets, so most of the french canadian soldiers would get thrown into english-speaking battalions, where they would have a hard time to follow, let alone understand orders shouted at them in english.

On the contrary there was only a few Battalions for the primary reason , lack of numbers of french joining the fight [;)]

2) Canada was still an english dominion. We "technically" had the choice to go to war, but in practise, we didn't. We went to war because england told us to go to war. French canadians, having been conquered by england, resented that a lot. Had they REALLY had the choice to go to war, they might've been more supportive of it. But it was kind of "forced" upon them.

WWII was force upond a lot of pepole, that did not mean they had the choice to sit on their hands as the worlds Fate was being decided .

That has got to be the weakest excuse I have ever heard [:D] lol

3) Finally, french canadians just don't like war very much, which is believe is an admirable trait. Only recently, guess who was the most vocal in opposing the second Iraq war in canada?

I know a couple of Americans that don't like war very much also. But that didn't stop them from being uprooted to go fight for a England along with the rest of humanity in Europe they didn't care much about.

If everyone picked up that kind of Justification to avoid wars the world would be a very BAD BAD place.

[Fishbed]

And if people were reasoning using general statements all the time, dealing with people and communities just like if they were like a single man all thinking the same, the world would be even WORSE... [;)]

[Brady]

The French are along with many other little left out aspects of the War in the Pacific, are but the tip of the iceburg. Portiguse, Tie, Axis Indian troops, Mexician, Alien preitors at Iwo Jima exct. are not in game...Thought to be honest the French represent a considerable force over all, I beleave only a Brigade of Portiguse Forces were inrute to Timor, and those forces present on Timor were rather small'ish, Timor was Dutch and Portiguse, not all Dutch as in the game. New Caladonia was French at game start historicaly yet one of countless pro allied aspects of the game it is Allied in game with a freaking base force present at game start. Indo China should also have some Vichy French forces present, and Air Assest's, though ground forces are abstracted in the since of the instant creation of units should China Invade.

[bradfordkay]

"New Caladonia was French at game start historicaly yet one of countless pro allied aspects of the game it is Allied in game with a freaking base force present at game start."

In the CHS there is no allied base force at Noumea.

As far as the Vichy French air assets are concerned, if they are included then you have to work out some possibility that they will be attacked in air by Japanese aircraft, as really happened.

[Fishbed]

WitP handles politic matters quite poorly, so as long as things like the French forces may not be represented in a satisfactory way, I still prefer having them out.

I mean, how can you plan to simulate the japanese attack of 1944 against the vichy troops in Indochina? The communist guerilla? The possible turn-over of some troops in Indochina? That's way to complicated for WitP, which is above all a fully military wargame and nothing else [:)]

[el cid again]

Only recently, guess who was the most vocal in opposing the second Iraq war in canada?

Pretty foolish. This is a war we didn't start and do not have the option to end. Wether they like it or not, the French-Canadians are as much the enemy as we are. . I note the second biggest air force in Afghanistan is FRENCH too.
And in spite of political posturing, France has and always had a mission at the HQ controlling Operation Iraqi Freedom. The French probably have a better cultural understanding of this enemy than we do. The only French soldiers I know are very realistic and hard nosed about this war. I wonder why the public and politicians are so foolish?

[el cid again]

mean, how can you plan to simulate the japanese attack of 1944 against the vichy troops in Indochina? The communist guerilla? The possible turn-over of some troops in Indochina?

How about Thailand - which actually fought BOTH the Japanese AND the British when the war began (we don't often hear about it, but the British INVADED Thailand - and were rebuffed - it is in a Thai history written by an American academic). Thailand then invaded Malaya, Burma and Cambodia (only in Burma was it not retaking land wrongly taken from it). But later on it defected from Japan's side.

Or Burma. Two regiments defected to Japan - but these units defected again in 1945! And actually attacked the Japanese - so we would accept them.

[Fishbed]

Sorry El Cid, I didn't mean to be one-sided in anyway, I was specifically talking about French Indochina, not about the whole peninsula.

Your point is very interesting, this is the kind of operations im always looking for: forgotten, exotic but still important sideshows... If you have any address or biblio reference about this, I take it

AJ