BEF and French army allowance 1940

Thinking about things that would cause friction between the co-operating parties.

In Battlefield-series documentary " Battle of France" it is mentioned that the allowance for BEF was 17 francs a day, while 50 centime(?) a day for the French soldiers.



Can anyone confirm this?

 

Any knowledge of this one? Thanx for any info...

 

Does that mean the French were paid 34 times less? As long as they didn't know about it... Also when you go on ops abroad you get usually paid more, maybe not such a difference, but my opinion is that the French wanted to treat the BEF correctly. If they started counting pennies , maybe they would be relunctant.

 

Seems like I have read the British forces were paid more than the French during WWI but I am not sure of WWII. The US got paid more than the British officers. I don't know how they compared to the German troops though. I would guess Russian and Japanese troops would be on the bottom and China would be rock bottom.

 

Many factors were taken into account. For instance the French were sometimes close from home and could get home more often. They also got severals things they would sometimes not have gotten at home, especially in the country, such as free cinemas, free education programmes, driving, free clothing (uniforms), free driver licence (including for lorries) , sport competitions etc... food (terrible but free) and a free place to sleep which was welcomed in 1939.

 

Thanx for the info. I was looking for details why this might have been so, because without good reasons, and I´m sure during the phoney war both sides would know their payment, this might cause more friction, naturally.

 

You know what I will ask veterans. They would probably remember. Allow me some time though as the ceremonies are all over for the Liberation period here.