“With dynamite, my dear colleague.”
We sometimes denigrate the French. And in truth, they’ve not exactly been our country’s most constant ally since World War II.
Nonetheless, the French have produced many distinguished military leaders. This includes one many Americans likely have never heard of: Lieutenant General Jean Ganeval.
Then-Brigadier General Jean Ganeval was the Commandant (Military Governor) of the French Sector of Berlin throughout the Berlin Airlift. (Like the rest of postwar Germany, Berlin was still under military occupation in 1948; and like the rest of Germany, Berlin was also divided into four occupation sectors: British, US, French, and Soviet). Ganeval’s authority within the French sector of Berlin was considerable, approaching that of a colonial governor or viceroy.
Direct French participation in the Berlin Airlift proper was limited. This was not due to politics or historical animosity; by 1948 France was involved in a war in Indochina they would ultimately lose, and the majority of the French Air Force’s transport assets were engaged in supporting that war. France could supply its occupation troops in Berlin by air, but not much more.
Nontheless, France – and Ganeval – played an essential role in the Berlin Airlift.
During the first part of the Berlin Airlift, two existing airfields – Gatow and Tempelhof – in the British and US sectors were used. These sufficed for summer and fall supply requirements. But the onset of winter brought a new need: coal. Lots of coal.
Literally thousands of additional tons of coal a day would be required for winter heating. The net result was to more than double the existing daily air transportation requirements. Gatow and Tempelhof combined couldn’t handle the required increase.
The French constructed a new airfield in their sector: Tegel. Working day and night, largely by hand, German labor crews supervised and directed by French military engineers constructed this new airfield in 90 days. Without Tegel, the Berlin Airlift might well have failed.
One obstacle remained, however. In the French sector were two radio towers (reportedly approximately 80 and 120 meters in height) belonging to Soviet-controlled Radio Berlin. These towers made the approach to the new Tegel airfield unacceptably dangerous.
Prior to Tegel’s completion, Ganeval had asked the Soviets to remove or relocate the towers. The Soviets had refused.
Ganeval then advised the Soviets that if the towers were not removed, he would remove them. Still the Soviets did nothing.
Ganeval was a man of his word. On 16 December 1948, at approximately 1100 local time, on his order French sappers used explosives to demolish the two towers blocking the approach to Tegel airfield.
Predictably, the Soviets were outraged. Ganeval’s Soviet counterpart, Lieutenant General Alexej Kotikow, called Ganeval and reportedly asked him how he could possibly have done this.
General Ganeval’s response? See above – it’s the title of this article. (There are multiple recorded versions of Ganeval’s reply; each conveys the same laconic idea.)
Ganeval was a professional in all senses of the word. After the fall of France in 1940, Ganeval had stayed behind and become active in the French Resistance between 1941 and 1943. In October 1943, he was captured and imprisoned – and was later deported to Buchenwald concentration camp. He thus had strong personal reasons to hate Germany and the German people.
As Military Governor of the French Sector of Berlin, Ganeval was in a position to “slow roll” French efforts to support the Berlin Airlift had he chosen to do so. Instead, despite of his own personal history – or perhaps because he had himself known the pain of slow starvation – Ganeval chose to help feed his former enemies to the best of his professional abilities.
Lieutenant General Jean Ganeval lived a long and successful life after serving as French Military Governor of Berlin. He continued his career in French Army, successfully serving in many high-level assignments. He retired from the French Army as a Lieutenant General in 1959, then was elected to and served in the French Senate from April 1959 to October 1968. He died at age 86 in Paris on 12 January 1981.
Rest in peace, my elder brother-in-arms. We can all learn much from your example.
Category: Historical, Real Soldiers
The French do have a way with a good turn of phrase, I’ll grant them that.
Thanks for this Hondo, I always enjoy reading your military history posts.
So much fun to poke the French. So much better to show respect to those who do the right thing, with panache!
Yeah, it was a nice line, timely delivered. Me, I prefer the action stuff, such as the executions of Frogs who were sufficiently large in number to have the Nazi Germany bless them as their very own Waffen SS contingent. All countries at war have their traitors. The French just had more than anyone else, I guess.
I read a book (without pictures) about the Berlin Airlift. It just stagers the mind how much synchronization it took for it to be successful.
@4 – and probably an equal number were in the French Resistance.
One of my favorite books when I was a kid was “Children of the Resistance”. It fascinated me that young teens would fight, and sometimes die (some horribly), to free their country.
Interesting Airlift tidbit: Outside the entrance to Templehof, there’s a sculpture commemorating the “Luftbruke.” It’s a stone arc pointing west. Outside of Rhein-Main in Frankfurt, there’s an identical sculpture pointing east. Supposedly, both sculptures are on the same azimuth.
@6. Yes, but isn’t resistance what one would expect from a country subjugated by an invading army? Instead, there were two French governments, one representing the resisters and the other the appeasers and collaborators. There were also troops actively aiding the Nazis, full-fledged and loyal members of the Axis powers.
Actually, 2/17 Air Cav – France seems to have had far fewer SS “turncoats” than Estonia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Hungary, Croatia, or the Ukraine. France had about the same number of people fight for the Nazis as did Albania, actually. Denmark and Serbia each had only about 1,000 less SS turncoats than France despite having hugely smaller populations. Hell, 2,500 from India (!) reportedly fought in SS units!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffen-SS_foreign_volunteers_and_conscripts
Most of the French collaboration with Nazis occurred within France during occupation, by personnel within or working with the existing Pétain government and its successor organizations. Relatively few Frenchmen actually fought on the Nazi side.
Some folks claim, jokingly, not to like the French. I, however, will straightfacedly (did I just coin a word?)state that I really don’t like them, on the whole.
That’s a helluva contest, Hondo, trying to determine which one among several countries at war had the greatest number of turncoats and traitors.
cheeky answer….i like it
2/17 Air Cav: my point was that your original charge was baseless. Yes, France had a number of traitors during World War II who fought for the Nazis – about 9,000 out of a 1940 population of roughly 42 million. In contrast, Italy had 15,000 out of a comparable population (about 44 million); Belgium, 3x as many (27,000) out of a population of about 8.3 million; and the Netherlands, 25,000 out of a population of about 8.9 million. (I’m intentionally omitting states in Eastern Europe as many in those states actually had good reason to be against their existing government of the day.)
There are many reasons not to like the French. They’re inconstant allies, are arrogant as hell, and “look out for number one” perhaps more than the rest of the nations in Western Europe. But an unusually high “traitor” rate during World War II doesn’t seem to be among the reasons.
For what it’s worth: estimates of the number of personnel actively involved in the French Resistance range from 200,000 to about 500,000, depending on varying levels of participation. The French government officially recognized 220,000 as being members of the Resistance after World War II.
I’m a fair fellow, Hondo. I’ll accept that the French may not have had the greatest number of traitors IN UNIFORM during WW II. I’ll do my own count later and report back on it. Right now, I’m trying to do my taxes while thinking of the $700,000 gardening fee we are to pay for our ambassador’s estate in Belgium.
The French soldiers, their military as a whole, is very good. They have, however, an unfortunate history of being poorly served and led by their government.
I would argue that the last French government that was worthy of it’s soldiers and sailors was that of Napoleon.
2/17 Air Cav: I understand your pain on both counts, amigo. Had a substantial change in my personal tax situation last year and ended up having to mail in an extension on mine this morning. That’s another argument in favor of taxing consumption while banning taxing income, IMO.
And yeah – spending $700,000 for grounds maintenance seems excessive, even on a relatively large compound in Europe. That works out to the rough equivalent of around 5 persons full-time @ $100k year, or 10 persons full-time at $50k/year, including +40% for benefits.
For anyone interested in a fascinating book about a French soldier who served in the German army, look for “The Forgotten Soldier” by Guy Sajer.
@17 Yes, that is a book very much worth reading.
OK … one for the French!
Hard to judge the French Military harshly when they were sold out by their politicians so quickly in WW2. Those that were allowed to fight gave a good account of themselves.
The number of 9000 fighting for the Nazis seem to be way low. The SS Charlemagne division by itself peaked at over 7,000 members, and they were a consolidation of a few smaller French Units that had been in action since 1941 and had already taken many casualties before then. SS Charlemagne were some of the last to fight in Berlin, before it fell to the Soviet Steam roller.
The French initially fought Against the Allies in North Africa, it must be said they later changed sides.
There were thousands of “collabos” in France, but most were simply working for and with the Germans to support themselves. There were a good number that were real rats, who gladly worked with the Germans.
If the fighting prowess of the French is to be questioned, then all of Western Europe and Eastern Europe that fell to the Nazis so quickly should be share that reputation.
But for the English Channel, the country we consider our staunchest ally, Britain, may have been steamrolled as well.
Just an Old Dog: perhaps not. 2000 casualties out of a total strength of roughly 7000 yields a casualty rate of about 28% – out of a total aggregate of 9000 when replacements are included.
In my book, 28% qualifies as “many casualties”.
Hondo: I’m taking a brief TAH break from my taxes. I pay all year and, somehow, I owe thousands more at tax time. I wonder how many obamaphones I have bought. Yes, I am whining. As for the earlier issue, I may have been too quick to concede. The reason is that WHEN the measure of disloyal, uniformed Frenchmen is taken matters greatly. Thus, during the rather brief and tumultuous Vichy days, many thousands of French troops –among which I include the Foreign Legionnaires—were aligned with the Nazis but, later, their number dwindled. The French Waffen SS, however, were in Berlin for the bitter end and a number of their officers were summarily shot.
2/17 Air Cav: I don’t think it’s legitimate to consider the French Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen/Marines who remained loyal to Vichy France from June 1940 through late 1942 to be “traitors”. After Torch and the resulting German occupation of the “free” zone in France, however, the characterization “traitor” may well have at least partial merit. And the Vichy officials who actively supported the Nazis and/or openly cooperated with Hitler IMO fully deserve that characterization.
My Father invaded France on D+6 when the front was only 5 miles from the front. His unit crossed france just behind Patton. He liked the french people, but had no kind words for their political leaders. He once told me that while France was occupied no German soldier was safe outside of the cities. Thousands of French partisans died in combat or in Nazi captivity. He always respected the French who terrorized the German occupiers. He had a lifelong hatred for the Nazis. Over running an SS concentration camp will do that to you.
Second ‘front’ should be ‘beach’
@24. Roger: There is no question but there were fiercely loyal French who were essential to and effective at disrupting the German occupation. Many gave their lives for their country and the Allied effort. What always rankled me is how many were willing participants in placating the Germans and, indeed, actively assisting them. I will never understand that, if I live to be 1000. (You want Jews? Well, here they are! You want fighting troops? Well, here they are!) I have greater–much greater–respect for the uniformed German enemy than for traitorous SOBs.
[…] H/T to TAH, who notes that while this is good news, it’s also a fine distraction from some of the other stupid crap coming out of DoD. […]
I would suggest should a foreign enemy invade the US, you would be astounded at the number of Quislings and traitors who would pop up here. Unbending patriotism is not characteristic of the majority of Americans, either. Nor, given our political leaders’ penchant for cutting and running from most conflicts sites since 1953 or so, would we be considered a trustworthy ally either. Sad but true.