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In 1940 France was thought to have the strongest and best army in the world, but the Germans beat them quickly. Marshal Petain actually shook hands with Hitler at the surrender, and France is still the butt of jokes today because of this shameful defeat. If not for French support of General Washington there would be no US today, but the surrender in 1940 is more recent, and France as a country has not yet lived it down. In 1954 General Navarre agreed that Dien Bien Phu was lost, but when he learned that a white flag of surrender was being flown, he raced to the telephone and instructed that the flag be taken down.

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15y ago

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