Brits, sing with us now, you're on your knees

[MaratleFou]

Originally Posted by Robert Middlemore And I was always under the impression that the flag of France was a white cross, on a white background.

actually it IS!

http://www.targetofopportunity.com/french_flag.jpg

[Johann]

I think it is time for the good old anthems to come out again.

Points to those who know which two societies these were the anthems of and bonus points of you can actually say which belonged to which:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hi6yfgOclw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_rmLmrCv6E

[Monsieur d Auchy]

Originally Posted by Robert Middlemore And I was always under the impression that the flag of France was a white cross, on a white background.

I thought it was the flag color of the brits at Dunquerque in 1940...

Anyway, nice joke but your statement is right.
The flag of France (the royal flag) was a white flag, symbol of purity.
Early middle age, the color of France was red (like the Oriflamme - king's standard)
later on, french kings started to use blue, because it was a color harder to make than red, more expensive (something quite odd to think about these days, but it's the way it was)
So France let the british be in red and France took the blue, a more noble color. Normal :P
The white was exclusively used by the king, or vessels of the navy under the authority of the king. The white flag with a multitude of fleurs de lys was reserved exclusively to the royal family.
As for the white flag with 3 fleurs de lys it was the flag of the royalists after 1789 and the revolution (restauration).
You still find these three colors in the modern french flag:
Bleu: the Kingdom of France, Blanc: the King of France, Rouge: the Oriflamme (war banner).
Other interpretation exist (like saying that red+blue= Paris and white in the middle= Paris took the King) but this one isnt bad in my humble opinion.

Link:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapeau_de_la_France
And for the language impaired:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_France

[Robert Middlemore]

Originally Posted by Monsieur d Auchy I thought it was the flag color of the brits at Dunquerque in 1940...

Oh you mean the battle where we had to fight to evacuate our army from France because you couldn't be bothered to fight for your country yourselves anymore?

[Monsieur d Auchy]

Originally Posted by Robert Middlemore Oh you mean the battle where we had to evacuate our army from France because we hadnt the balls to fight and honor our alliance.

I corrected your sentence for you. You're welcome.
Thank god the french were there to cover your "tactical retreat" (it's the word brits usually use when they flee like rabbits no?)

EDIT: Note that I do not blame the brits for having fled, cause every country sharing a common border with Germany had to do the same in a few days/weeks (Belgium, Holland, France, Poland ...). Not a single country manage to counter them. What I go against here is the anglo-saxon way to depict a french fleeing the battle while in the same situation they ran even faster :P
And I am not even talking about such 'jokes' comming from a Belgian or a Dutch... especially when you check their own "performance".
But well, c'est de bonne guerre, like we say in France (roughly: blaming ones long time enemies is almost natural).
Though, we shouldnt forget that we were once brother in arms too (ww1), fought well together, suffered there a lot. Considering that, some "jokes" can easily be understood as volontary humiliations and insults, toward a country which, in my opinion, doesnt deserve it.

EDIT2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_0l5pNboao

[NoirDesir]

Originally Posted by Robert Middlemore Oh you mean the battle where we had to fight to evacuate our army from France because you couldn't be bothered to fight for your country yourselves anymore?

Simply untrue, France continued fighting after the British evacuated at Dunkirk. The Dunkirk evacuations were completed by the 4th June, France signed the Armistice with the Germans on the 22nd June.

Two French divisions remained behind to protect the evacuation. Though they halted the German advance, they were soon captured. The remainder of the rearguard, largely French, surrendered on 3 June 1940.

[Shanya Silver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0spgsWunqn8

[Major Major]

Never mind Middlemore, they are still just pissy over Operation Catapult.

[NoirDesir]

Originally Posted by Major Major Never mind Middlemore, they are still just pissy over Operation Catapult.

Oh, you mean the British betrayal at Mers-el-Kebir?

[Aegir]

If you're talking about the french, you need this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc78yPv_ztM

Just sayin'