[X] My Assistant

[Wounded Ronin]

That was actually WW1, the weapon in question you're probably thinking of is the chauchat, it was mentioned in different series on History channel, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauchat

I remember learning about the French infantry rifle on a website, where the magazine was an internal magazine, and you had to load it by pushing cartridges in one after the other, such that the possibility of your bullet striking the primer on the next cartridge hard enough to set it off existed. I couldn't believe the magazine design as something you were supposed to use in the middle of a firefight. Makes you feel like they'd have been better off with lever action winchesters or something.

EDIT: Here we go...

Just as the Germans adopted the Mauser and the British the Lee-Enfield, so the French opted for the Lebel 8 mm weapon (officially titled the Fusil modele, produced in 1886, and which unusually fired smokeless cartridges) as their rifle of choice during the war years.

Despite its wide use it suffered from a marked practical design flaw. Its eight rounds were loaded, nose to tail fashion, in a tubular magazine placed under the barrel of the rifle. This resulted in slow loading since the operator had to be wary of one round hitting the primer of the cartridge in front, thereby causing a most unwelcome explosion.

Although a better French model, the Berthier (see below), was available from 1916, the Lebel - despite its flaws - continued to be standard issue.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/rifles.htm

[Wounded Ronin]

Ummm, you do realize that the French practically invented smokeless powder, right? And that they basically fought the Germans to a standstill in WWI (despite the fantastically awful Chauchat)? And that they built the first truly modern tank? And that they destroyed the entire Ivorian Air Force in 2004?

I'm sorry, but the French have some seriously scary dudes waiting to do violence in the night (13eme RDP, Legion Etrange, Chasseurs Alpines, to name but three units). They get a bad rap for World War II (unjustifiedly so, in my opinion) and everyone seems to ignore their actions before or since.

This.

BTW, IMO everyone who lives in a former French colony, but who is not French, really should join the Legion Etrange. They get to drink beer and wine!

[CanRay]

Yep. And the Canadian Ross Rifle's breech blew up if it was put in backwards. And there was no label to tell you the right way.

[CanRay]

This.

BTW, IMO everyone who lives in a former French colony, but who is not French, really should join the Legion Etrange. They get to drink beer and wine!

Yeah, I'll pass, thanks.

[Manunancy]

This.

BTW, IMO everyone who lives in a former French colony, but who is not French, really should join the Legion Etrange. They get to drink beer and wine!

Don't forget the food ! Smelly cheese, snails and frogs. Yummy. Just the things to build your willpower...

though to be accurate, we eat our snails cooked and only the frog's cooked hind legs rather than the whole raw critter. That's the beginning of decadence and might explains some of our military troubles (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[CanRay]

Creole cooking, that's a mighty fine dish! I gar-on-tee!

[Tyro]

Ummm, you do realize that the French practically invented smokeless powder, right? And that they basically fought the Germans to a standstill in WWI (despite the fantastically awful Chauchat)? And that they built the first truly modern tank? And that they destroyed the entire Ivorian Air Force in 2004?

I'm sorry, but the French have some seriously scary dudes waiting to do violence in the night (13eme RDP, Legion Etrange, Chasseurs Alpines, to name but three units). They get a bad rap for World War II (unjustifiedly so, in my opinion) and everyone seems to ignore their actions before or since.

They have their up sides. Every modern nation has its scary motherfuckers (yes, even Canada). The problem is that they also hold the record for most unbelievably awful military ideas which got past the planning stages into implementation.

[CanRay]

They have their up sides. Every modern nation has its scary motherfuckers (yes, even Canada). The problem is that they also hold the record for most unbelievably awful military ideas which got past the planning stages into implementation.

We're such nice people because we know how badass we really are. We're the guys in the corner of the bar, sitting quietly, drinking lemonade, while everyone out drinks heavily and shows tattoos and brags about things... Because we have absolutely nothing to prove.

OK, that's JTF2, the rest of us are drinking beer because we just have a little bit to prove. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Tyro]

We're such nice people because we know how badass we really are. We're the guys in the corner of the bar, sitting quietly, drinking lemonade, while everyone out drinks heavily and shows tattoos and brags about things... Because we have absolutely nothing to prove.

OK, that's JTF2, the rest of us are drinking beer because we just have a little bit to prove. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Still, I think it's pretty impressive that Canada's kept itself so thoroughly out of other countries' business. Your relationships with other countries are such that smart Americans travelling abroad say they're Canadian.

[CanadianWolverin...]

Still, I think it's pretty impressive that Canada's kept itself so thoroughly out of other countries' business. Your relationships with other countries are such that smart Americans travelling abroad say they're Canadian.

Psst, CanRay, don't tell him about the Canadian mining companies... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

[Tyro]

Psst, CanRay, don't tell him about the Canadian mining companies... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

What about the mining companies?

In any case, the *people* of Canada have a reputation worldwide as nice, polite people. That's worth a lot in my book.

[pbangarth]

What about the mining companies?

In any case, the *people* of Canada have a reputation worldwide as nice, polite people. That's worth a lot in my book.

The first that come to mind are some gold mining companies in Central America and South East Asia, poisoning the environment, stomping on local people's rights and property... that sort of thing.

If you are looking for a foreigner's view on the Canadian psyche as it relates to the rest of the world, check out this British journalist's take on it:

[ Spoiler ]

Salute to a brave and modest nation - Kevin Myers , 'The Sunday Telegraph' LONDON :

Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region.

And as always, Canada will bury its dead; just as the rest of the world, as always, will forget its sacrifice - just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does. It seems that Canada ’s historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored.

Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States , and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts.

For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population of seven million people [my note: For WW II, I think we were about ten or eleven million, but the percentage was still at around 10%] served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the 'British.'

The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian Navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.

Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.

Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has[me again: ?n't?] any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British.

It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces.

Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia , in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan ?

Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.

Lest we forget.

[CanRay]

Very good job, Pbangarth. Thank you. And Canadian Mining Companies stomp on our own Miners as well. A friend of mine died due to neglect of the corporation and they got away with it due to high priced lawyers, just as one example. (To be fair, most "Canadian" mining companies are "Canadian" in name only now, with figurehead owners. They're typically South American owned now.).

As for USAers that pretend to be Canucks... That pisses me off. A few countries have started to catch onto that trick, and, well... It dilutes the Goodwill we've made in the world.

I'd hate to travel to Holland and not get the treatment a lot of Canucks get there today. (I'm planning on a European trip as part of my bucket list. Hopefully one I can do before it becomes a Bucket List.). Or, worse, be treated like a "Fake Canadian" and have to provide proof that I am. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

One thing I'll point out about Canadian Psychology, we have few heroes, and they're typically the people that failed to do the job they set out to do, but died trying, damnit!

[Wounded Ronin]

What about the mining companies?

In any case, the *people* of Canada have a reputation worldwide as nice, polite people. That's worth a lot in my book.

Canadian women are so beautiful that when I see them I am overwhelmed and want to cry. The weather must create this by giving them great complexions.

[Faraday]

Canadian women are so beautiful that when I see them I am overwhelmed and want to cry. The weather must create this by giving them great complexions.

I knew one canadian woman a few times. She's ok looking, but no stunner.

[CanRay]

Canadian men and women are no more or less beautiful than anywhere else. We just have all the types of beauty, and a few new types due to multi-racial families.

[Tyro]

The first that come to mind are some gold mining companies in Central America and South East Asia, poisoning the environment, stomping on local people's rights and property... that sort of thing.

If you are looking for a foreigner's view on the Canadian psyche as it relates to the rest of the world, check out this British journalist's take on it:

[ Spoiler ]

Salute to a brave and modest nation - Kevin Myers , 'The Sunday Telegraph' LONDON :

Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region.

And as always, Canada will bury its dead; just as the rest of the world, as always, will forget its sacrifice - just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does. It seems that Canada ’s historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored.

Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent with the United States , and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts.

For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: It seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population of seven million people [my note: For WW II, I think we were about ten or eleven million, but the percentage was still at around 10%] served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the 'British.'

The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian Navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.

Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world. The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.

Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has[me again: ?n't?] any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer, British.

It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces.

Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia , in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan ?

Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.

Lest we forget.

Thanks for the article. It made me think.

[pbangarth]

Thanks for the article. It made me think.

You're welcome. Me too.

[Mesh]

They did some tests, and it turns out the Gorkhas weren't any good.

Mesh

[phlapjack77]

As for USAers that pretend to be Canucks... That pisses me off. A few countries have started to catch onto that trick, and, well... It dilutes the Goodwill we've made in the world.

Talked to an Australian the other night at a bar. Asked him to guess where I was from, since I don't have much of an accent. He guessed Canada, but I'm from America, so I asked him why.

He said he was "safe" with that guess - if I were really Canadian, then he would have guessed correctly, and if I were American, I would consider it a compliment. He said if he guessed American and I were Canadian, it might have been insulting...

[CanRay]

Talked to an Australian the other night at a bar. Asked him to guess where I was from, since I don't have much of an accent. He guessed Canada, but I'm from America, so I asked him why.

He said he was "safe" with that guess - if I were really Canadian, then he would have guessed correctly, and if I were American, I would consider it a compliment. He said if he guessed American and I were Canadian, it might have been insulting...

Might?

[phlapjack77]

ouch (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[CanRay]

I only say that because you were talking with Aussies.

Aussies, Kiwis, and Canucks have a bit of a war history together. Apart, we kick much ass.

Together, well... There's probably a reason we've only fought a few battles together. We scared England too much with the results.

Were it any place else, you'd have likely been ID'd as a USAer, most likely called a "Yankee".

[phlapjack77]

I think he was just being polite - you're right, picking an American out of a lineup of foreigners tends to be pretty easy.

But I'm not a Yankee at all - "ya'll come back now, ya hear?"

[CanRay]

Yeah, I got the full details from an Oakie. But, to most of the world, "Yankee" is synonymous with USAer, and considered more "Accurate" than "American", as that would also include everyone from countries in North, Central, and South America.