I don't know if you ever read Shirer's "Collapse of the Third Republic", but it is enlightening in that France's loss of France was near as makes no difference self-inflicted.

All it took was Germany to take advantage of that situation, a national one not unlike that of Germany herself in 1918. If anyone was to recognise the rot of France in 1939-1940, it would logically be the nation who lost the Great War because of the same type of rot.

Anyway, my experience with France could be summed up in one trip, the one I took from Germany up to Belgium, then across France to Paris and Normandy, visiting the famous battlefields of the 101st whilst on my way to Aldershot. I had planned to visit the battlefields of Holland on my return, but that trip was rudely curtailed which is another story for another time though I did get to the Dutch sites by taking part in the Nijmegen March a couple years later.

Anyway, the people of Bastogne were very kind to me. I have fond memories of them. The stop in Paris however was a mistake. I found the people invariably condescending at best and dam rude in the main. I left there with my understandings of the stereotypes not only intact but re-enforced. I promised I would never return and it has been one of the easiest promises to keep I have ever made.

I almost cancelled my planned visits to Normandy after being subjected to the Parisians, and alternatively heading straight to Calais and the ferry. I'm glad I didn't for the people of Normandy were as kind as the Belgians in Bastogne. I will always sing their praises for their hospitality.

I often wonder if the arrogance is a Paris mentality or perhaps an upper class/intelligentsia trait in France as a whole. Certainly the average people in the countryside of Normandy were very very different, and I shall always recall my visit fondly.