2e Division Blindée!

This is coolbert:

Here is the full and complete [??] dope from the wiki on the French 2nd Armoured Division from World War Two. NOT to be confused with the American 2nd Armored Division. [please note the spelling of "armor", not to confuse the English and American spellings!]

"The 2nd Armored Division (French: 2e Division Blindée, 2e DB), commanded by General Leclerc, fought during the final phases of World War II in the Western Front"

The French FFE 2nd Armoured Division personnel roster DID consist in large measure of troops that were NOT French!!

"The Division's 14,454 personnel included men from the 2nd Light Division , escapees from metropolitan France, about 3,600 Moroccans and Algerians, and some 3,200 Spanish Republican"

ALMOST HALF OF THE PERSONNEL WERE NOT FRENCHMEN AS THE TERM IS COMMONLY, GENERALLY, AND ORDINARILY UNDERSTOOD!!

THOSE SPANIARDS THAT PARADED THROUGH PARIS DURING THE VICTORY MARCH UPON THE LIBERATION WERE REPUBLICAN FUGITIVES - - ANTI-FASCIST FORCES!! NOT, AS I HAD THOUGHT - - FRENCH FOREIGN LEGIONNAIRES.

Here is a smattering of the 2nd Armoured unit listings from the wiki. Units listed below had personnel rosters that were predominantly non-French or quasi-French [colonial troops]:

* Infantry

Ier Régiment de Marche du Tchad
IIeme Régiment de Marche du Tchad
IIIeme Régiment de Marche du Tchad

* Reconnaissance

1er Regiment de Marche de Spahis Marocains

* Artillery

1er groupe du 3eme Regiment d'Artillerie Coloniale (1/3° R.A.C)
1er Groupe du 40eme Regiment d'Artillerie Nord Africain (1/40° R.A.N.A)

* Armour

* 12ème Regiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique

And as for the FIRST FRENCH TROOPS TO ENTER PARIS:

This party was commanded by Captain Raymond Dronne, and was given the honour to be the first Allied unit to enter Paris ahead of the 2e Division Blindée. The 9th company of the 3rd Battalion of the Régiment de Marche du Tchad was made up of Spanish volunteers.



And again, from the wiki, this footnote regarding the combat effectiveness of the 2nd Armoured during the Normandy campaign:

"During the Battle for Normandy, the 2nd Division lost 133 men killed, 648 wounded, and 85 missing . . . In the same period, the 2nd Division inflicted losses on the Germans of 4,500 killed and 8,800 taken prisoner,"

"The extraordinary ratio of casualties inflicted vs. casualties suffered that was reported by this unit is at odds with the overall relation between Allied and German casualties during the battle of Normandy that becomes apparent from the data [contrasted with the figures for other allied forces]"

Those last two paragraphs, you be the judge as to what is being insinuated here!!

coolbert.