The French surrendered once. They (as a nation, regimes have changed) did get beaten up in other wars in history but they have spent much time kicking ass and spilling blood. If anything I would assume that they would have gotten a stereotype of being uncontrollable bloodthirsty warriors, with a distinct lack of concern for the lives of their own troops.
I mean, Agincourt? Grecy? Their uniforms in WW1? They were killing their own troops out of arrogance or sheer stupidity but no signs of cowardice to be seen. (If only they had been able to control their knights and their temper.) And Napoleon did a good show of kicking ass as wel, too bad that age and all the accumulated illnesses took out his best edge.