Was the situation very different for the Tirailleurs in the First and Second World Wars?
Ah yes, I think so. For them… excuse this expression, the First World War was absolutely limpid. In the Second World War, however, they were subjected to immense trials, if not only in Syria, where they had to fight one another, the Vichy Tirailleurs versus the Free France Tirailleurs. There were also the executions carried out by the Germans in 1940, and captivity, which was extremely harsh. We are also poorly informed about many of their participation in the Resistance. For example, the first French resistance fighter was a Guinean named Addi Ba, who took up the armed resistance in the Vittel region as early as the end of June 1940. Addi Ba was shot by the Germans in Epinal on 18 December 1943 shouting “Long live France!”. People have also made reference to the fact that the Germans were outraged to see Africans in the French army in the First World War, and that this was exploited by the French propagandists: the image of the Tirailleur was used to mock the Germans… An officer i
