I grew up around jokes about the French and that they were chickens in the war. I have been reading about WWI and WWII and think now it's a bit unfair to label them as such.
France suffered huge losses during the first war. As did England. It's cost was huge. The time between the two wars was grim and money was short. A very young Winston Churchill (long before he became PM) pushed through some very unpopular spending on defence. He paid particular attention to our Navy. Idk if this was amazing foresight on his part but it was the last thing on most peoples mind. Another war.
The French Parliament had no such Winston Churchill, and not surprisingly tried to get their economy in better shape.
So, when WWII developed, and the German's got to France yes they did surrender very quickly. In all fairness this was not down to them being chickens, but simply down to the fact they had not re-armed since the last war. They simply had no war machine in which to fight.
The French fought bravely during WWI. 
Three guys, an Englishman, a Frenchman and an American are out walking along the beach together one day. They come across a lantern and a genie pops out of it. "I will give you each one wish, " says the genie. The American says, "I am a farmer, my dad was a farmer, and my son will also farm. I want the land to be forever fertile in America." With a blink of the genie's eye, 'FOOM' - the land in America was forever made fertile for farming. The Frenchman was amazed, so he said, "I want a wall around France, so that no one can come into our precious country." Again, with a blink of the Genie's eye, 'POOF' - there was a huge wall around France. The Englishman asks, "I'm very curious. Please tell me more about this wall. The Genie explains, "Well, it's about 150 feet high, 50 feet thick and nothing can get in or out." The Englishman says, "Fill it up with water."
I mean no disrespect to you or to Squiddy's family friend, Bodaccea.
There's only one "Frenchman" at whom these French jokes are aimed. He's a troll. I find it funny that the "French" troll is so butthurt at these jokes given how he bashed Zippo and QV and others for their nationalities.
I know someone who fought with the Allies at Normandy and if it were not for him and other Canadians and Americans like the ones this troll bashes, I think that France would probably still be speaking German.
