France in World War II

France.

While Petain was collaborating with the Germans, on the other side, de Gaulle was in England for safety, leading the (Provisional Government of the French Republic) from England. He returned with the Allies, June 1944 when the huge Allied forces invasion of Normandy and the south of France. Later GPRF led by de Gaulle was recognized as the legitimate government of France by all of the allies the October 23, 1944. With the Allied invasion the Vichy regime collapsed.

The third entity,French resistance helped behind the scenes from within France and aided the Allies' in the rapid advance through France. It supplied intelligence to the Allies, attacking the Germans when possible, assisting escape of Allied airmen, executing acts of sabotage on the electrical, transportation, and telecommunications. These were the opposite of what the Vichy government was doing, composed of middle to lower middle class from 220,000 to 400,000 people.

France.

(1939 to 1940) France was losing the war against Germany.

10 June 1940, the French military capitulated. The government fell, (1940-1944), left the city of Paris during the German invasion for Vichy, France. Vichy French government was a 4 year period of working with the Nazis through June, 1944 doing their evil work. Two Holocaust camps were established in Vichy France: see Holocaust Project: Gurs camp

1944 the Allies came to the rescue of France. The Allies and United States, Great Britain invaded France from Normandy and other spots and managed to expel those conquerors, the overbearing Germans.

1944 the Allies (United States, Great Britain invaded France from Normandy and S. France and managed to expel the overbearing Germans as well as Vichy government. (D-Day)

Normandy, English Channel.

TIMELINE:

• Sept, 1939 - France and Great Britain declared war on Germany after Germany invaded Poland,
• Allied success in North Africa.
• May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
• May 15, 1940 - Holland surrenders to the Nazis.

• May 26, 1940 - Germany invade, defeat France as well as forcing the British out of France. Evacuation of Allied troops and de Gaulle from Dunkirk begins.

• May 28, 1940 - Belgium surrenders to the Nazis

• June 3, 1940 - Germans bomb Paris; Dunkirk evacuation ends

• June 10, 1940 - Norway surrenders to the Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France.

• June 14, 1940 - Germans enter Paris

Germans enter Paris

• June 22, 1940 - France surrenders to Germany, signs an armistice with Nazi Germany.

• June 23, 1940 - Hitler tours Paris.

• June 28, 1940 - Britain recognizes General Charles de Gaulle as the Free French leader who stays in England a while. De Gaule's speech from London , saying " they had lost the battle, but not the war."

• July 5, 1940 - French Vichy government forced to break off relations with Britain

French fighter plane.

• September 15, 1940 - Massive German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester, Coventry, England.
• Vichy France governing France, and collaborating with Nazi with arrests.
• Greece and Yugoslavia surrenders to Nazis

• June 14, 1941 - United States freezes German and Italian assets in America

Tunisian campaign.

• June - Nazi SS - begin mass murder.

• Nov. 11, 1942 - Germans and Italians invade unoccupied Vichy France.

• June 6, 1944 - D-Day landings on the northern coast of France. Invasion of Normandy: Allies, U.S., British invaded Normandy to free France.

D Day.

Normandy.

• June 27, 1944 - U.S. troops liberate Cherbourg, France.

• July 9, 1944 - British and Canadian troops capture Caen, France.

• July 18, 1944 - U.S. troops reach St. Lô, France.

• July 25-30 - Operation Cobra (U.S. troops break out west of St. Lô).
• Aug. 15, 1944 - Operation Dragoon begins (the Allied invasion of Southern France).
• Aug. 19, 1944 - Resistance uprising in Paris.

• Aug. 25, 1944 - Liberation of Paris:

• Sept. 1-4, 1944 - Verdun, Dieppe, Artois, Rouen, Abbeville, Antwerp and Brussels liberated by Allies.

• Oct 23, 1944 - Britain, Allies, United States, Soviet Union recognized de Gaulle's group as replacement of the exiled Vichy French State. New regime was called Provisional Government of the French Republic. This enlarged the French armies.

• Nov. 24, 1944 - French capture Strasbourg

• Dec. 16-27 - Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.
• May 8, 1945 - V-E (Victory in Europe) Day. Charles de Gaulle announced the end of World War II in France on May 8, 1945. [1]

DIVISIONS/ REGIMENTS:

• French Resistance

At the end of the War, May, 1945 the French army was composed of 1,250,000 troops .

• 10 divisions of troops fought in Germany.
• 92,000 troops killed by the end of 1940
• 1942, 12,884 Jewish arrested, 3 sweeps, deported to Germany by Vichy police, 12 March 1942.
• 1.5 million prisoners of war
• 75,000 Jewish people were in France 1940-1944, did not hold French citizenship.
  • 24,999 lost in French resistance

LaClerc and troops.

• Light Cavalry division- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th 6th light Cavalry,
• Cuirassier (armoured) divisions
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Armoured Division,
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd Moroccan Division
• 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th 7th North African Light Infantry Division, 83rd, 84th, 85th, 86th, 87th, 88th, 191st, 192nd Infantry Division
• 1st , 2nd Polish Infantry Division.
• 1st, 2nd, 2rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 83rd, colonial Infantry African Infantry, Colonial Infantry Infantry
• 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd Motorized, 4th Motorized, 5th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th 16th, 17th, 18th, `9th, 20th 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th Infantry division
• motorized Infantry Divisions. 45th. 52nd, 53rd, 60th, 63rd, 65th Mountain, 66th Infantry Division
• 1st & 2nd Chasseurs Divisions for Scandanavia
• Light Infantry- 1st, 3rd, 17th, 18th, 59th, 235th, 236th, 237th, 238th, 239th, 240th Light infantry divisions.

Vichy French helping Germany- 7th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 15th, 16th, 17th Military Division each headquartered in different areas of France

Gurs France internment camp, Creative Commons, GNU license by Etxeko.

SOURCES

• BBC.co.uk
• History Learning site.co.uk
• Jewish Virtual Library Vichy Regime
• Vichy Regime
• History Learning site.co.uk - Resistance-movements special-operations executive
• Biography.com - Charles de Gaulle
• Wikipedia - Military History of France during World War II
• Holocaust
• Wikipedia - French Resistance
• Wikipedia - Cavalry and Armoured Divisions
• Wikipedia - French Divisions
• World War 2 History - France
• BBC News -
• US Holocaust Library Vichy
• Normandie
• Wikipedia -History of France during World War II
• Wikipedia List_of_French_divisions_in_World_War_II
• Yad Vashem Photo Archives

WikiTree Resources:

• Gurs camp