My father worked as a mechanical engineer in West Germany after the war. He told me the French removed all the machines from the factories and took them to France, then the Americans installed much better new machines in their place.

The Marshall Plan was a real thing.

My father also told me that before the Americans decided on the Marshall Plan, they considered other plans (also named for American generals IIRC) one of which involved sterilizing all German men.

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giardini 8 hours ago | parent [-]

hollerith says >My father worked as a mechanical engineer in West Germany after the war. He told me the French removed all the machines from the factories and took them to France, then the Americans installed much better new machines in their place.

The Marshall Plan was a real thing. <

So damned funny!!8-)) The phrase "Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory!" comes to mind.

	▲	hollerith 8 hours ago \| parent [-]
		France received aid from the US, too. An unreliable source I just consulted says France got twice as much as West Germany got from the Marshall Plan. But yeah, transporting those old machines back to France was probably a waste of Paris's time.