Paris liberation made 'whites only'

[MellowDem]

Source: BBC

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.

Many who fought Nazi Germany during World War II did so to defeat the vicious racism that left millions of Jews dead.

Yet the BBC's Document programme has seen evidence 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.

By the time France fell in June 1940, 17,000 of its black, mainly West African colonial troops, known as the Tirailleurs Senegalais, lay dead.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984436.stm

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A new finding that shows some of the disgusting hypocrisy and bigotry present during WWII, a war that often gets glamorized. May we never forget.

[Blue_Tires]

1. i'm guessing that's something Patton would have lobbied for...

[Froward69]

3. Patton

Did not care what color the soldier was... only that they killed Germans. His verbiage would suggest he was a bigot. Just as my Grandfathers would. however that was the way language was used. besides Patton was encircling Paris to the south. not going into the city.

[sailor65]

4. Patton was very progressive

in his attitudes about race.

[LibertyLover]

5. Patton had African-American troops in his Third Army

and not just for burying the dead or hauling oil cans. Among them were the 999th Field Artillery Battalion and the 761st Tank Battalion, which included a Bronze Star winner, Corporal Buddy Branch, who, iirc, received his medal from Gen. Patton himself.

[Blue_Tires]

6. maybe I'm confusing Patton with MacArthur...

[BlooInBloo]

2. Perfectly unsurprising.