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Free French Forces
__NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated in the Italian and Tunisian campaigns before joining in the Liberation of France with other Western Allies of World War II. It went on to join the Western Allied invasion of Germany. History The French Liberation Army was created in January 1943 when the Army of Africa () led by General Giraud was combined with the Free French Forces of General de Gaulle. The AFL participated in the campaigns of Tunisia and Italy; during the Italian campaign the AFL was known as the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy ( ''en Italie or CEFI)'' making a quarter of the troops deployed. The AFL was key in the liberation of Corsica, the first French metropolitan department to be liberated. The troops that landed 2 months after D-Day were the 2nd A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1943
Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – WWII: Greek-Polish athlete and saboteur Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz is executed by the Germans at Kaisariani. * January 10 – WWII: Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces of the 2nd Marine Division and the 25th Infantry Division begin their assaults on the Galloping Horse and Sea Horse on Guadalcanal. Meanwhile, the Japanese 17th Army makes plans to abandon the island and after fierce resistance withdraws to the west coast of Guadalcanal. * January 11 ** The United States and United Kingdom revise previously unequal treaty relationships with the Republic of China. ** Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City. * January 12 – WWII: Landing at Amchitka: American forces make an unopposed landing on A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armée D'Afrique
The Army of Africa ( ) was an unofficial but commonly used term for those portions of the French Army stationed in French North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) from 1830 until the end of the Algerian War in 1962, including units made up of indigenous recruits. Composition The Army of Africa included indigenous Arab or Berber volunteers; (spahis, Goumiers and tirailleurs); regiments largely made up of pied-noir French settlers doing their military service ( zouaves and chasseurs d'Afrique); and non-French volunteers (Légion étrangère). The divisions were not absolute and (for example) volunteers or conscripts from mainland France might choose to serve with the Muslim rank and file of the spahis and tirailleurs, while Arab volunteers might appear amongst the ranks of the zouaves. Prior to World War I, one battalion of each of the four zouave regiments then in existence, was recruited in France. These battalions' bases were thereby providing a framework that could be exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon has a population of 176,198 people (2018), making it France's 13th-largest city. It is the centre of an urban unit with 580,281 inhabitants (2018), the ninth largest in France by population. Toulon is the second largest French city by urban area on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille. Toulon is an important centre for naval construction, fishing, wine making, and the manufacture of aeronautical equipment, armaments, maps, paper, tobacco, printing, shoes, and electronic equipment. The military port of Toulon is the major navy, naval centre on France's Mediterranean coast, home of the French aircraft carrier ''French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, Charles de Gaulle'' and her battle group. The French Mediterranean Fleet is based in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commando Kieffer
The Commandos Marine, nicknamed ''Bérets Verts'' (Green Berets), are the special operation forces (SOF) of the French Navy, headquartered in Lorient, Brittany in western France. They operate under the Special Operations Command (COS), FORFUSCO, one of the four main forces of the French Navy or any operational command designated by the French Army staff. They specialize in offshore operations; operations from sea to land and special operations on land. One of the major characteristics of marine commando units is to be perfectly interoperable with all the resources and units of the navy (vessels, aircraft, submarines). Comprising seven operational units of around 90 men and around 160 in specialized support, their missions include: hostage rescue, evacuation operations, intelligence within enemy lines, (assault on high-value targets), Navy missions (assault at sea, remote support and destruction, reconnaissance, underwater action) as well as certain missions in support of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippe Leclerc De Hauteclocque
Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947) was a Free France, Free-French general during World War II. He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and is known in France simply as or just Leclerc. The son of an aristocratic family, Hauteclocque graduated from the , the French military academy, in 1924. After service with the French occupation of the Ruhr and in French protectorate in Morocco, Morocco, he returned to Saint-Cyr as an instructor. He was awarded the for leading goumiers in an attack on caves and ravines on Bou Amdoun on 11 August 1933. During the Second World War he fought in the Battle of France. He was one of the first who defied his government's Armistice to make his way to Britain to fight with the Free French under General Charles de Gaulle, adopting the ''nom de guerre'' of Leclerc so that his wife and children would not be put at risk if his name appeared in the papers. He was sent to French Equator ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2nd Armored Division (France)
The French 2nd Armored Division (), commanded by General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Philippe Leclerc, fought during the final phases of World War II in the Western Front (World War II), Western Front for the liberation of France. The division was formed around a core of units that had fought in the North African campaign, and re-organized into a light armored division in 1943. The division embarked in April 1944 and shipped to various ports in Britain. On 29 July 1944, bound for France, the division embarked at Southampton. During combat in 1944, the division liberated Paris, defeated a Panzer brigade during the armored clashes in Lorraine, forced the Saverne Gap and liberated Strasbourg. After taking part in the Battle of the Colmar Pocket, the division was moved west and assaulted the German-held Atlantic port of Royan, before recrossing France in April 1945 and participating in the final fighting in southern Germany, even going first into Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" (America ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corsica
Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metropolitan France#Hexagon, French mainland, west of the Italian Peninsula and immediately north of the Italian island of Sardinia, the nearest land mass. A single chain of mountains makes up two-thirds of the island. , it had a population of 355,528. The island is a Single territorial collectivity, territorial collectivity of France, and is expected to achieve "a form of autonomy" in the near future. The regional capital is Ajaccio. Although the region is divided into two administrative Departments of France, departments, Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud, their respective regional and departmental Territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities were merged on 1 January 2018 to form the single territorial collectivity of Corsica. Corsican aut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French Expeditionary Corps (1943–44)
The French Expeditionary Corps (FEC) (), also known as the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy (FECI) (), was an expeditionary force of the French Liberation Army formed in 1943. The corps participated in the Italian Campaign of World War II under the command of General Alphonse Juin. Comprising approximately 112,000 men organized into four divisions, the force was largely made up of colonial units drawn from the Army of Africa, with Moroccan and Algerian troops led by French officers; overall, colonial personnel constituted about 60% of its strength. The corps demonstrated considerable operational mobility, advancing across mountainous terrain during its engagements. However, its record was also marked by numerous incidents of rape, murder, and looting against the local Italian population. In August 1944, the corps was withdrawn from Italy and its units were incorporated into the French First Army under General de Lattre de Tassigny in preparation for the invasion of Southern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General De Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. In 1958, amid the May 1958 crisis in France, Algiers putsch, he came out of retirement when appointed Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister by President René Coty. He rewrote the Constitution of France and founded the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic after approval by 1958 French constitutional referendum, referendum. He was elected President of France later that year, a position he held until his resignation in 1969. Born in Lille, he was a decorated officer of World War I, wounded several times and taken prisoner of war (POW) by the Germans. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured divisi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Allied Invasion Of Germany
The Western Allied invasion of Germany was coordinated by the Allies of World War II, Western Allies during the final months of hostilities in the European theatre of World War II, European theatre of World War II. In preparation for the Allied invasion of Nazi Germany, Germany east of the Rhine River, Rhine, a series of offensive operations were designed to seize and capture its east and west banks: Operation Veritable and Operation Grenade in February 1945, and Operation Lumberjack and Operation Undertone in March 1945; these are considered separate from the main invasion operation. The Allied invasion of Germany east of the Rhine started with the Western Allies crossing the river on 22 March 1945 before fanning out and overrunning all of western Germany from the Baltic Sea, Baltic in the north to the Principal passes of the Alps, Alpine passes in the south, where they linked up with troops of the United States Army North, U.S. Fifth Army in Italy.Wallace, Linnel, Lt. Col., Comm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allies Of World War II
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international Coalition#Military, military coalition formed during World War II (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers. Its principal members were the "Four Policemen, Big Four" – the United Kingdom, United States, Soviet Union, and Republic of China (1912–1949), China. Membership in the Allies varied during the course of the war. When the conflict broke out on 1 September 1939, the Allied coalition consisted of the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Second Polish Republic, Poland, as well as their respective Dependent territory, dependencies, such as British Raj, British India. They were joined by the independent dominions of the British Commonwealth: Canada, Australia, Dominion of New Zealand, New Zealand and Union of South Africa, South Africa. Consequently, the initial alliance resembled Allies of World War I, that of the First World War. As Axis forces began German invasion of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberation Of France
The liberation of France () in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance. Nazi Germany invaded France in May 1940. Their rapid advance through the almost undefended Ardennes caused a crisis in the French government; the French Third Republic dissolved itself in July, and handed over absolute power to Marshal Philippe Pétain, an elderly hero of World War I. Pétain signed an armistice with Germany with the north and west of France under German military occupation. Pétain, charged with calling a Constitutional Authority, instead established an authoritarian government in the spa town of Vichy, in the southern ''zone libre'' ("free zone"). Though nominally independent, Vichy France became a collaborationist regime and was little more than a Nazi client state that actively participated in Jewish deportations and aided German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
