https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/06/british-paratroopers-landing-in-france-for-d-day-event-told-to-show-passports
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/28331845/brit-paras-d-day-french-immigration-passports/
Maybe if they'd had some of these bureaucratic bell-ends in 1940 they would have slowed the Wehrmacht down a bit. A Maginot Line of clipboards and offialdom to ensure that the Germans all had the correct visas and the panzers the appropriate insurance documents. On the other hand, if the Paras had been armed to the the teeth, they could have just kept on going until they got to Paris.
Because the current issue is people breaking into France from Britain :-\
And after September they'll be fingerprinted as well :(
EU Travel Rule Change (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckmm866p23mo)
Quote from: Raider4 on 09 June 2024, 05:06:59 PMAnd after September they'll be fingerprinted as well :(
EU Travel Rule Change (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckmm866p23mo)
People were warned
It could have been better handled- doing the checks before take off - but that is the law.
Indeed. A pity the French don't spend the same kind of effort with the illegals that are camped on their side of the Channel.
They do. It just isn't reported.
US troops were subject to the same passport checks but, because they arrived earlier, they did not need to be checked a second time.
Quote from: Last Hussar on 10 June 2024, 06:58:27 AMThey do. It just isn't reported.
Really? If it isn't being reported where is the evidence to be found - we need to know? The French "extraire la pisse", I think and, clearly, need to do much better, notwithstanding that the UK government is paying for a lot of the measures, that the French should be implementing anyway. Being "sans papiers", used to be an offence in France.
Quote from: Shedman on 10 June 2024, 07:53:33 AMUS troops were subject to the same passport checks but, because they arrived earlier, they did not need to be checked a second time.
Quote from: Raider4 on 09 June 2024, 05:06:59 PMAnd after September they'll be fingerprinted as well :(
EU Travel Rule Change (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckmm866p23mo)
These are not tourists, they are troops of another NATO country. There used to be something called the Status of Forces Agreement as I remember, and in 25 years in the army prior to 1993 I was involved in exercises in Canada, Kenya and Oman and not once do I remember being asked to queue to show my passport and have my photo taken at some temporary border post. The Soviets used to do it when you transited the Berlin corridor though. This, it seems to me, was the French being French and has all the appearance of an intended slight.
Quote from: John Cook on 10 June 2024, 10:45:59 AMThese are not tourists, they are troops of another NATO country. There used to be something called the Status of Forces Agreement as I remember, and in 25 years in the army prior to 1993 I was involved in exercises in Canada, Kenya and Oman and not once do I remember being asked to queue to show my passport and have my photo taken at some temporary border post. The Soviets used to do it when you transited the Berlin corridor though. This, it seems to me, was the French being French and has all the appearance of an intended slight.
They never asked for passports in 1944-'45.
England and Wales voted to drag us out of the EU so that we could be a sovereign nation ... this is what sovereignty looks like. We are a foreign nation and are being treated as such. I can't believe anyone is surprised.
However, this is a wargames forum not a political one and I suggest this has run far enough and propose the thread be locked.
Ithoriel
+1
+1
Your wish is my command.
I saw this ping up on social media over the weekend with people like the Mail and Farage outraged at this treatment from the French. The daft thing is that this isn't anything new, an ex-servicemen pointed out that they'd had to do the same on a similar D-Day drop a few years back. The only difference this time is that it's been video'd and then blown out of all proportion.
I do find the hypocrisy amusing, as the people who have been screaming about protecting borders and illegal immigrants now have an issue when another country legally controls their own border. Granted they could have done it in a more discreet manner (as Shedman mentions) but it is what it is.
I saw a lot of people making this into a Brexit/EU issue too, but any British person has always had to show their passport to get into France, whether it's a D-Day re-enactment, a holiday, or a booze run on the Eurostar to get some French plonk. We were never in Schengen so were never allowed free movement into other EU countries.
Quote from: Ithoriel on 10 June 2024, 04:22:30 PMHowever, this is a wargames forum not a political one and I suggest this has run far enough and propose the thread be locked.
Very true, Techno's hit the lock button on this. There's going to be a lot of political conversation over the next few weeks so probably best if we keep our little corner of the internet free from it.