White?

This is coolbert:

This will surprise some folks? Thanks here to the BBC.

"Paris liberation made 'whites only'"

"Papers unearthed by the BBC reveal that British and American commanders ensured that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a 'whites only' victory"

Charles De Gaulle was adamant, even insistent, that when Paris was liberated from German occupation, that THE LIBERATION BE SEEN AS A VICTORY FOR "WHITE FRENCH TROOPS".

DEMANDS, made in the earliest part of 1944, well BEFORE the Normandy invasion.

The trouble, as realized by American and British commanders, was that the forces of the Free French Exterior [FFE] were for the most part, NOT COMPRISED of "white" troops.

"that black colonial soldiers - who made up around two-thirds of Free French forces - were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital."

These were:

"mainly West African colonial [troops] - - the Tirailleurs Senegalais"

French colonial troops from Senegal. Commanded by "white" Frenchmen.

In addition to the Senegalese, Moroccans [goum], and also "Middle-easterners" [Syrians] predominated in many of the FFE units.

These soldiers, "non-whites", were prohibited from participating in the liberation of Paris and the victory march along the Champs-Élysées.

And WHEN THE PARADING "WHITE' FRENCH TROOPS MARCHED THROUGH PARIS IN THE AFTERMATH OF LIBERATION, IT COULD VERY WELL BE THAT THESE WERE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGIONNARIES, CONSISTING FOR THE MOST PART OF SPANISH NATIONALS?

"Many of the 'French' division which led the liberation of Paris were Spanish"

"'the Second Armoured Division, which with only one fourth native personnel, is the only French division operationally available that could be made one hundred percent white.'"

Rising to a position of authority in post-war France was often predicated upon a Frenchman having served in the Second Armoured Division during WW2. Having been a troop in Second Armoured under General Le Clerc was a "meal ticket" for a lot of Frenchmen!!

This too from the BBC article:

"Given the fact that Britain did not segregate its forces and had a large and valued Indian army, one might have expected London to object to such a racist policy."

The British Army did during World War Two have highly segregated units. Indeed, this was done intentionally so. "National" units of Sikhs, Ghurkhas, Nigerians, British Indian Army troops, etc., all fought as distinct "national" or "ethnic" units and did not integrate.

Charles De Gaulle did see himself as a "messianic" like figure. French honor and pride must be restored - - and he was the man to do it? Those goum and Tirailleurs Senegalais were just given the short end of the stick, in a very unjustified manner?

coolbert.