'Attack' the French cry (4,3)
I believe the answer is:
lash out
'attack' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the french cry' is the wordplay.
'the french' becomes 'la' ('the' in French).
'cry' becomes 'shout' (synonyms).
'la'+'shout'='LASH OUT'
(Other definitions for lash out that I've seen before include "Strike (or spend) wildly" , "severely run down" , "React aggressively" , "Spend lots" , "Punch wildly" .)