The French fought extremely hard, harder than their the British or Americans fought even in their bloodiest conflicts in history, and deserve intense respect from just about everyone out there.
Well said. This should be hammered into every American's head whenever the argument (in whatever form) "But we [god how I hate this "we"] came and won the war for you. You did basically nothing..." comes up!
Curiously, in Germany (I am speaking for the military here), disdain for Italian military prowess is much more widespread