D-Day: June 6, 1944

73 years ago on this day the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy and changed the course of history for the better. It's a good day to spare a moment to be thoughtful and thankful.

St. Crispin's Day 6 Centuries After Agincourt

It is the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt that was immortalized in Shakespeare's Henry V.  Here's that famous speech delivered by Kenneth Branagh:

Proposed Euro Coin Design Spawns Fight Over Napoleon's Legacy

The design is intended to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.  The French are objecting.  At least there's no doubt where this op-ed writer's sympathies lie.

Oh, since we're on the topic ...

Quote of the Day: Charlie Hebdo

Time to repeat this fundamental point:

... it is vitally important to resist the impulse–so common among “responsible” institutions, whether foreign ministries or large newspapers–at a time like this to somehow imply that the victims brought their fate upon themselves and that the best line of defense against such attacks is to practice greater self-restraint in the future. ... That is giving the terrorists precisely what they want, indeed the very reason they carry out such attacks is to deter others from similar mockery in the future.

The right to offend is the very essence of free speech–and as long as a publication doesn’t incite violence (which neither Charlie Hebdo nor The Interview did) its right to say whatever it likes must be defended to the last inch.  That is, after all, the very bedrock of freedom upon which Western democracies rest–and the very opposite of the kind of totalitarian state that Islamists have created in Iran and a large chunk of Syria/Iraq.

Nerd News: A Brit-Bashing Portuguese Professor

Dude's got a position at Imperial College, London, so I personally think it's just a little rich that he's turned right round and published a Brit-bashing book back in Portugal.  For extra entertainment, check out this take by a Frenchwoman:

Brit-bashing is a French pursuit, thank you very much – a national sport that we enjoy safe in the knowledge that whatever we throw at Les Rosbifs, they are more than capable of lobbing back at us Frogs. From Joan of Arc to Waterloo and Mers-el-Kébir, we have long known where our most beloved enemy stands: 20 miles and a world away from Calais (never to be surrendered again), in lockstep with us in a love-hate dance . Not for nothing is Wellington’s bust at the British Embassy in Paris displayed next to that of Napoleon . Not for nothing is the inscription on your coat of arms in French; or the fact that we celebrate 1066 (and all that) at Bayeux with the finest and oldest of all tapestries.

So who’s this upstart, insinuating himself right at the heart of our family quarrels?

A German Commander Reports on the Allied Invasion of Normandy

Here's something I hadn't come across before!  Take a look at a piece of Field Marshal Karl R. Gerd von Rundstedt's report:

I--Four facts which must be emphasized:
(1) The enemy's complete mastery in the air.
(2) The skillful and large-scale employment of enemy parachute and airborne troops,
(3) The flexible and well-directed support of the land troops by ships' artillery of strong English naval units ranging from battleship to gunboat.
(4) The rehearsal of the enemy invasion units for their task; most precise knowledge of the coast, of its obstacles and defense establishments, swift building up of superiority in numbers and material on the bridgehead after just a few days.

Normandy on D-Day and 70 Years After

Remarkable photographs from then and now.  See this too.

While you're thinking about the day, take a few minutes for:

• Jim Martin, the 93-year-old Ohio vet who will parachute back into Normandy to mark the occasion by making the same jump he did 70 years ago as a private in the 101st Airborne.
• A glance across the pond, where the BBC has Sir Patrick Stewart, Toby Jones, and Benedict Cumberbatch reading bulletins from D-Day in chronological order of their original broadcast.

Mind the Gap: Apparently Size Does Matter

As France's national rail company has found out to its chagrin.

A Matter of Perspective

Landmarks from different angles!

Quirky Euro Files: Boat Jousting in Southern France

"Brutal yet refined."

Forgotten History: The 1924 (Inaugural) Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix

Take a photographic journey back to days when curling teams used actual brooms and speed skaters wore suits and ties.  Everyone looked very dapper indeed!

Unmentionable: French Lingerie Industry Is In Trouble

Mon Dieu!   Here's an amusing factoid that surprises absolutely nobody: the French totally outspend the Germans and Brits when it comes to lingerie.

A Political Cartoon From France

This was apparently in Le Monde.  It pointedly shows Obama and the UN poring over chemical weapons while Assad is off busy slaughtering his countrymen by conventional means.

In Vino Veritas ... and Explosive Devices

Via Dignified Rant, "wine militants" versus the Socialist Party in Carcassone, France. 

Liberté, égalité, morosité: Boo hoo

You would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at this monument to almost self-parodying ennui. Here's a bit of it:

The French are so busy wallowing in their existential estrangement — a state of mind Camus described as “Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?” — that they don’t even have the energy to be rude.  ... It’s not that they’ve lost faith in their own superiority. They’ve lost faith that the rest of the world sees it. The whole country has, as Catherine Deneuve says of her crazy blue moods, une araignée au plafond — a spider on the ceiling.

Poor baby. Watch this:

The Tour de France Begins!

One of our favorite sporting events finally begins!  There's nothing quite like watching the peloton fly through the gorgeous fields and mountains of France.  Doping scandals have been awful for every fan's morale, but I can't help it - I've got to watch the race.  There's something epic about this thing. Even better: it's the 100th edition of the Tour.

Oh, and someone to watch: Yukiya Arashiro of Japan is on Team Eurocar.  Back in 2009, I'd noted that he and Fumiyuki Beppu were the first Japanese participants to finish the race.  This is Arashiro's fourth Tour.

"Europe's Biggest Problem Child"

Yet another public slapfest from the harmonious utopia known as Euroland.  By the way, the insult sounds way better in the original German: "Frankreich – Europas größtes Sorgenkind."

Pants in Paris!

Congrats, women of Paris, you can now wear trousers without getting arrested!

Forgotten History: The French in Mali 100 Years Ago

Photos from a past French involvement in Mali.

Mali and the Return of Françafrique

Things are getting interesting.