the most modern french battle tank is named in honor of this world war ii general.

At 1,300,000 they eventually became the fourth largest Allied army in Europe. Their numbers grew to exceed 400,000 by mid-1944, and the forces participated in the Normandy landings and the invasion of southern France. The Armée d’Afrique formally united with Free French Forces to create Armée française de la Liberation in 1943. The Royal Air Force, Soviet Air Force and British SAS also saw help from the Free French until a larger, unified commands were established. The Free French Navy acted as a supplemental force to the Royal Navy in the North Atlanctic and to the Royal Canadian Navy. Along with their campaign against Axis forces, they fought against the Vichy regime (Nazi occupied territories in French regions), and served on battlefronts from the Middle East, Indochina and North Africa.

The Free French Forces began in London in June 1940 and supported the French Resistance in occupied France. By Office of War Information, Overseas Picture Division. Led by Charles de Gaulle (a French general who rejected the armistice) and effectively a government-in-exile, they continued to fight against Axis powers as part of the Allied forces.Ĭharles de Gaulle. The Free French Forces (known as France Libre and Forces françaises libres) formed during World War II. They earned 2734 bravery awards, but suffered around 32,000 total casualties. 250, 280 Gurkhas served across 40 battalions, as well as eight Nepalese Army battalions, Parachute, training, garrisons, and porter units in close to every theatre of war. Gurkhas also fought in Syria, North Africa, Italy, Greece they fought against the Japanese in the Burmese jungles, northeast India and Singapore.Ī large number of men were recruited for non-Gurkha units such as paratroopers, signals, engineers, and military police. These were established across India to help maintain peace and defend rear areas. In 1940, after the Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force, the Nepalese government increased the Gurkha battalions’ collaboration with the British to 35. There were ten Gurkha regiments during World War II, consisting of two battalions that totaled twenty pre-war battalions.

The most modern french battle tank is named in honor of this world war ii general.