Vincennes Posted December 7, 2008 Share #1 Posted December 7, 2008 This weekend I bought 2 WW2 photo scrapbooks of a soldier stationed in the motor pool of the 262nd General Hospital in Panama. The vast majority of the photos are of Panama but he includes a few that he apparently got from friends stationed elsewhere. This is one of those photos. Under the photo in the scrapbook is written: "Bob Hubbard in France". On the back of the photo is written: "Some Arabs we cornered down town. Note that tall bastard on the left". I thought this was a good photo to illustrate the uniforms of the Arab soldiers. Anybody know what country they represented? On the building in the background can be read "Hotel de la Marne". Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johan Willaert Posted December 7, 2008 Share #2 Posted December 7, 2008 I believe they are French Goumiers, who fought with the Free-French during WW2. They were US equipped. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goumier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfields Posted December 7, 2008 Share #3 Posted December 7, 2008 Johan, Is that the same as Algerians? Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VALERY Posted December 7, 2008 Share #4 Posted December 7, 2008 Bonsoir, According to the DI (a Koumia, traditional knife) worn by the soldier between the two GI's, these arabs goumiers soldiers are from Maroco and assigned to the Goum maraocain mixte (GMM). A Goum is a 200 men strength unit not far from a company organization. Hidden as a police unit after the 1940 defeat, 4 Groups and more than 10 companies were trained by general Guillaume. Since 1943, led by french officers, they fought from Italy to Germany. Hope my two cents could help you Cheers Valery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogface44 Posted December 7, 2008 Share #5 Posted December 7, 2008 Here is a picture of "Goumiers Marocains" in Italy - 1944. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgawne Posted December 7, 2008 Share #6 Posted December 7, 2008 And for the British- the Goums actually were the origination of the word "Goon" as in The Goon Show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manchu Warrior Posted January 12, 2009 Share #7 Posted January 12, 2009 There is actually a movie that tells the story of the North Africans who fought for France during WWII. The name of the movie is "Days of Glory." The movie did less then $400,000 at the US box office so it not very well known. I found the movie when I was in Best Buy looking for a war movie that I had never seen and I picked this one because it was cheap. I did not even know what it was about until I started to watch it. At first I was disappointed when I realized it was not an American movie and I honestly thought that I had wasted my money. That is until I actually sat and watched the movie. I will have to say I was pleasantly surprised because it is a well made war movie that tells a very interesting WWII story that not many people, including myself, know about. So, I would recommend this movie to anyone that enjoys a good war movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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