Posters Artwork Documents

"Our Fair France" at the Abyss ...

British cartoonist Illingworth comments on the reasons for the defeat of France in the immediate aftermath of the event, 1940. "Marianne", blinded by censorship, is shown being led to the abyss by "Senile Leadership" (clearly personified in Pétain) and military incompetence, urged on by the "Fifth Column" of anti-democratic French civil opinion. I know that some might decry Illingworth's dumping of the entire responsibility for the defeat on France. However, it is equally fair to note that his analysis of the reasons for the defeat are certainly close to the mark; and that while the British Expeditionary Force were as much defeated as the French, operational "control" rested with the French in their own country. There was little Britain could have done to save France from herself. At least in the short term. Best regards, JR.