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130-540: On 17 June 1940, five days before the signing of the Franco-German Armistice , the first exodus of 10 airmen took flight from Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport to England. Others rallied to General Charles de Gaulle from France and French North Africa between June 1940 and November 1942. A contingent of volunteers from South American countries such as Uruguay , Argentina and Chile was also created, as Free French officials recruited there personally. From

260-484: A Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur . Although they were devout Catholics, Hauteclocque and Thérèse subscribed to Action Française , the journal of a far-right political organisation of the same name, despite a papal interdict against it, and continued to do so even after Thérèse was refused absolution . In contrast, his cousin Xavier de Hauteclocque  [ fr ] was an award-winning journalist who covered

390-513: A German Eagle impaled by a sword) was also destroyed and all evidence of the site was obliterated, except notably the statue of Ferdinand Foch ; Hitler ordered it to be left intact, so that it would be honoring only a wasteland. The railway carriage was later exhibited in Berlin, and then taken to Crawinkel in Thuringia in 1945, where it was destroyed by SS troops and the remains buried. After

520-651: A Moroccan Goumier unit at M'Zizel in the Atlas Mountains . He saw action in the fighting against the Ait Hammou guerrillas. In one action, two horses were shot out from under him. Afterwards, he was posted to the 1er Régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique  [ fr ] , the senior cavalry regiment of the Armée d'Afrique , based at Rabat . In February 1931, Hauteclocque went back to Saint-Cyr as an instructor, but wanted to return to active service. During

650-455: A tank destroyer regiment. Leclerc had to weld the various units, some of whom had recently been fighting against the Allies, into a team. This was no easy task. When two men from the 501e RCC upset a former Vichy officer by singing a disrespectful song about Général d'armée Henri Giraud, resulting in a fight, he told the officer concerned that respect had to be earned. In April 1944, 2e DB

780-507: A French government in place would relieve Germany of the considerable burden of administering French territory, particularly as he turned his attentions towards Britain. Finally, as Germany lacked a navy sufficient to occupy France's overseas territories, Hitler's only practical recourse to deny the British use of them was to maintain a formally independent and neutral French rump state. According to William Shirer 's book Rise and Fall of

910-522: A German command post, where he secretly destroyed the receipt. He convinced a German colonel that he had been wounded in Morocco, suffered from malaria , and had six children, all of which was true, and he was thus exempted from military service, which was false. The Germans let him go. He then made his way to the Crozat Canal , swam across, and encountered a French patrol. Hauteclocque reported to

1040-675: A German occupation zone in Northern and Western France that encompassed about three-fifths of France's European territory , including all English Channel and Atlantic Ocean ports. The remainder of the country was to be left unoccupied, although the new regime that replaced the Third Republic was mutually recognised as the legitimate government of all of Metropolitan France except Alsace–Lorraine . The French were also permitted to retain control of all of their non-European territories. Adolf Hitler deliberately chose Compiègne Forest as

1170-590: A complete lack of understanding of what the air force could actually do. When he wanted to bomb the Italian-held airfield at Koufra in Libya , he was told, matter-of-factly, that the squadrons could not carry out such a major mission, especially given their lack of experience in navigating over vast desert territory. Leclerc's reaction, based on his fury at the lack of air support during the German invasion of France,

1300-708: A day. A minimal French Army would be permitted. As one of Hitler's few concessions, the French Navy was to be disarmed but not surrendered, for Hitler realised that pushing France too far could result in France fighting on from the French colonial empire . An unoccupied region in the south, the Zone libre , was left relatively free to be governed by a rump French administration based in Vichy . The Vichy regime also administered

1430-638: A defiant group of a dozen captured Frenchmen of the SS Charlemagne Division . He asked them why they wore a German uniform, to which one of them replied by asking why Leclerc wore an American one. Leclerc told his men to get rid of them. That was taken as a death sentence. The group of French Waffen-SS men was summarily executed by the RMT without any form of military tribunal procedure, and their bodies left where they fell until an American burial team collected them three days later. On 2 June 1949

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1560-641: A few days before. The French considered the fighting a “civil war” that Free France was winning, since now Libreville had joined the Gaullist cause. This would be the only time when opposing factions within FEA territory would fight each other openly. Philippe de Hauteclocque , better known by his French resistance name of "Leclerc", later became one of the most famous French army generals in history, and had strong ambitions in North Africa. But he often revealed

1690-568: A first contingent of French soldiers on 5 October 1945. He was dependent on the British for equipment and shipping. He did not get along well with D'Argenlieu, whom de Gaulle had appointed French High Commissioner for Indochina. Leclerc heeded the advice he was given by United States General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to bring as many soldiers as possible. He broke the Vietminh blockade around Saigon, then drove through

1820-525: A much larger operation that captured Kufra . After the battle, he had his men swear an oath known today as the Serment de Koufra ("Oath of Kufra"): You shall not lay down arms, until the day when our colours, our beautiful colours, flutter over the Strasbourg Cathedral . Leclerc learnt a great deal about how to handle and supply a force advancing across the desert, and was rewarded with

1950-523: A scratch force of armoured and mechanised units that included Brigadier General Stanisław Maczek 's Polish 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade . The groupement launched a series of counter-attacks. Lacking a radio, Hauteclocque gave directions to the Char B1 tanks with his cane. On 15 June, he was wounded in the head during a German air attack, and was taken to a hospital in a convent in Avallon . There he

2080-661: A strength of 500 in July 1940, the ranks of the FAFL grew to 900 by 1941, including 200 flyers. A total of 276 of these flyers were stationed in England , and 604 were stationed in overseas theaters of operation. In the summer of 1940 General de Gaulle named then-Colonel Martial Henri Valin as commander-in-chief of the FAFL. Valin was at the French military mission in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil at

2210-712: A visa on the second attempt, being refused the first time for carrying too much money with him. Once in Spain he took a train to Madrid , and then to Lisbon , where he went to the British embassy, which arranged his passage to Britain on a merchant ship, the SS Hillary . Leclerc arrived in London on 25 July 1940, and met with de Gaulle, who announced that he was promoting him to Chef d'escadrons (major). He also encountered his cousin Pierre de Hauteclocque, Xavier's brother, who

2340-543: A wedding present, Adrien gave them a chateau in Tailly . They had six children: Henri (1926–1952), who was killed in the First Indochina War ; Hubert (1927–2015 ), who served as mayor of Tailly from 2001 to 2008; Charles (1929–); Jeanne (1931–2018); Michel (1933–2014); and Bénédicte (1936–). Philippe and Thérèse hired an Austrian governess, and spoke German in front of their children to improve their command of

2470-639: Is known in France simply as le maréchal Leclerc or just Leclerc . The son of an aristocratic family, Hauteclocque graduated from the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr , the French military academy, in 1924. After service with the French Occupation of the Ruhr and in Morocco, he returned to Saint-Cyr as an instructor. He was awarded the croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures for leading goumiers in an attack on caves and ravines on Bou Amdoun on 11 August 1933. During

2600-574: Is named after him. There is a monument to Leclerc in the Petit-Montrouge quarter of the 14th arrondissement in Paris, between Avenue de la Porte d'Orléans and Rue de la Légion Étrangère , and near the Square du Serment-de-Koufra . Two streets in Paris are named for him: Avenue du Général Leclerc in the 14th arrondissement and Rue du Maréchal Leclerc in the 12th arrondissement , between

2730-696: The Bois de Vincennes and the Marne River . For his promotion to Companion of the National Order of Liberation: Leader of the highest value, admirable in zeal and energy. Wounded during the Battle of France, escaped from the hands of the enemy and joined the Free French Forces; Took a decisive part in the rally of Cameroon, which he then knew, as governor, to organize for the war, and in

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2860-614: The 2e Division Française Libre (2e DFL). In June 1943, de Gaulle informed him the 2e DFL would be re-equipped by the Americans as an armoured division, the 2e Division Blindée (2 DB). It was often called La Division Leclerc . Although organised along American lines, its units had French titles. The non-white units were transferred elsewhere. The remainder of 2e DFL became the Regiment de Marche du Tchad (RMT), 2e DB's motorised infantry regiment. Free French armoured units serving with

2990-685: The Battle of the Falaise Pocket , which inflicted a major defeat on the German Army. Like most new division commanders, Leclerc also made errors, in his case by allowing 2e DB to use roads that had been earmarked for American units, thereby causing traffic jams and holding up the American advance. The next assignment for 2e DB, and the one that it had been brought from Africa for, was the liberation of Paris . Allied troops initially avoided

3120-509: The Canal de l'Escaut . From there the 4e DI retreated northward, becoming encircled in the Lille pocket on 28 May. Hauteclocque received permission to escape through German lines. He attempted to make his way back to the French lines by pretending to be a civilian refugee, but was apprehended by a German patrol and taken prisoner when they discovered an old military pay receipt. He was taken back to

3250-875: The Croix de la Libération , the Médaille militaire , the Croix de Guerre with six palmes ; from the USSR, it received the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of Alexander Nevsky , with eleven citations between the two orders. Second Armistice at Compi%C3%A8gne The Armistice of 22 June 1940 , sometimes referred to as the Second Armistice at Compiègne , was an agreement signed at 18:36 on 22 June 1940 near Compiègne , France by officials of Nazi Germany and

3380-509: The Cross of Lorraine - a cross with two parallel horizontal arms, with the lower arm slightly longer than the upper one - was the symbol of Free France chosen by Charles de Gaulle. The cross could be seen in the same places on FAFL aircraft where the roundels had been on all French military aircraft, that is, on the fuselage and upper and lower surfaces of the wings. The FAFL was formed with one “mixed” unit at RAF Odiham on August 29, 1940, under

3510-655: The Eighth Army 's inland flank during its advance into Tunisia, and participated in the attack on the Mareth Line . L Force was then transformed into the 2e Division Blindée , although it was often referred to as La Division Leclerc . It fought under Leclerc's command in the Battle of Normandy , and participated in the liberation of Paris and Strasbourg . After the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, he

3640-783: The Fifth Crusade against Egypt, and again in the Eighth Crusade of Saint Louis against Tunisia in 1270. They had also fought at the Battle of Saint-Omer in 1340 and the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. The family managed to survive the French Revolution . Three members of the family served in Napoleon's Grande Armée and a fourth, who suffered from weak health, served in the supply train. The third son, Constantin, who had served in Napoleon's Russian Campaign ,

3770-617: The Free French Forces led by Charles de Gaulle , the surrender of Metropolitan France ended any further attempts by the British to unite the two countries. By 22 June, the German Armed Forces ( Wehrmacht ) had losses of 27,000 dead, more than 111,000 wounded and 18,000 missing. French losses were 92,000 dead and more than 200,000 wounded. The British Expeditionary Force suffered 68,000 casualties, with around 10,000 killed. When Adolf Hitler received word from

3900-554: The French Third Republic . It became effective at midnight on 25 June. Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel , a senior military officer of the Wehrmacht (the German armed forces), while those on the French side held lower ranks, including general Charles Huntziger . Following the decisive German victory in the Battle of France (10 May – 25 June 1940) during World War II , this armistice established

4030-712: The French Union , a new name for the French empire broadly similar to the British Commonwealth , and that Ho would allow France to base 25,000 soldiers in Vietnam for five years. The Ho-Sainteny agreement was never confirmed because it disappointed people on both sides. Ho's immense prestige largely silenced Vietnamese dissent, but the agreement caused a serious split within the French side. French businessmen, planters, and officials in Saigon were "indignant at

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4160-573: The Groupe Bretagne did engage Italian forces towards the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, problems with both weapons and the aircraft themselves (mostly engine trouble resulting in forced-landings) dogged the efforts of the aircrews. January 23, 1943, witnessed the fall of Tripoli – and the end of the air war for the Groupe . The Anglo-American landing in North Africa in November 1942

4290-622: The Lafayette Escadrille in World War I. Operating from a forward base at Thelepte, Tunisia , the two squadrons of GCII/5 fought alongside American units in clearing North Africa of Axis forces in 1943. On July 1, 1943, the Algiers -based Armée de l'Air general staff (which received its orders from de Gaulle and General Giraud ) and the FAFL general staff were merged and placed under the command of General Bouscat. He conducted

4420-617: The Mekong delta and up into the Central Highlands . This was possible because Ho feared Chinese domination far more than French colonialism, which he perceived to be in decline. Ho's first priority was getting rid of the Chinese, and for this he needed French help. Leclerc quickly perceived the necessity for a political solution to the conflict. The French government negotiator Jean Sainteny flew to Saigon to consult Leclerc, who

4550-705: The Soviet Union had not yet endorsed the Vietminh or the Vietnamese nationalist party ( VNQDD ), and the French Communist Party chose to support French rule in Vietnam. On 6 March 1946, a tentative agreement was reached at the last minute (with Leclerc's fleet already in the Gulf of Tonkin ) between Sainteny and Ho. The agreement stated that France would recognise Vietnam as a free state within

4680-480: The groupe , which had accumulated 72 aerial victories since joining the fighting. 1944 witnessed the expansion of the groupe to become a régiment , with a fourth escadrille joining its ranks. After training at Toula was completed on more advanced Yak-9D fighter planes, the new regiment rejoined the front line for its second campaign. This lasted until November 27 and took in the area between Doubrovka (in Russia) and Gross-Kalweitchen (in East Prussia, Germany). It

4810-454: The zone occupée into the zone libre where Thérèse and the children were, his sister Yvonne obtained an identity card for him in the name of "Leclerc". It was his first use of this name. He also told Yvonne that he intended to join Général de brigade Charles de Gaulle in Britain. He was reunited with his family in Saint-Germain-les-Vergnes on 30 June but stayed with them for only four days before setting out for Spain. He managed to obtain

4940-418: The 2e DB. Patton then gave Leclerc his next objective: the town of Baccarat and the bridge there over the Meurthe River . The bridge was captured before the Germans could destroy it. Haislip's XV Corps was transferred to the Seventh United States Army on 29 September, and Leclerc feared that 2e DB would be transferred to Général d'armée Jean de Lattre de Tassigny 's French First Army . Leclerc regarded

5070-400: The Afrika Korps at the Second Battle of El Alamein and the Anglo-American invasion of Morocco during Operation Torch . However, lack of co-operation between Leclerc's general staff based at Algiers and the Allies seemed to indicate a power struggle between him and de Gaulle since the latter was in charge of the Free French forces in London. Though FAFL airplanes from the “Rennes” squadron of

5200-572: The Allies (not just in North Africa, but also in Sicily and Corsica), there were nine FAFL fighter groups, three of which were designated as RAF fighter squadrons, namely No.326 (“ Nice ”), No.327 (“ Corse ”) and No.328 (“ Provence ”) Squadrons, with other units similarly named after regions in metropolitan France: Roussillon, Champagne, Navarre, Lafayette, Dauphiné and Ardennes. Similarly, there were six bomber groups (Bretagne, Maroc, Gascogne, Bourgogne, Sénégal and Franche-Comté), one reconnaissance group (Belfort) and one transport group (Anjou). Following

5330-402: The British Distinguished Service Order . He began planning a far more ambitious advance into Libya. This was delayed by a year due to Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel 's defeat of the British Eighth Army in the Battle of Gazala , and the subsequent German and Italian advance into Egypt. Leclerc was promoted to Général de brigade in August 1941, and pinned two metal stars captured from

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5460-447: The British designated the unit No.326 Squadron of the RAF, the French knew their squadron as GC 2/7, even though it was attached to No. 345 Wing of the Mediterranean Allied Coastal Air Force (MACAF). Its first mission as GC 2/7 was an armed reconnaissance mission on April 30, 1943, during the final phase of the war in North Africa, by which time the Luftwaffe had all but vanished, but ground-based Flak units still remained. By May 13,

5590-432: The Eighth Army became the 501e Régiment de chars de combat (501 RCC). The artillery and the other two armoured regiments of 2e DB, the 12e Régiment de Cuirassiers (12e RC) and the 12e Régiment de Chasseurs d'Afrique  [ fr ] (12e RCA), were drawn from the Vichy Armée d'Afrique . Perhaps the most unusual unit in the division was the Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers-Marins (RBFM), sailors who served as

5720-432: The FAFL by the 25th of April 1941. Any personnel making the transfer would be exempted from any wrongdoing. Not all French personnel complied with this ruling. Some that had left Syria and Lebanon had specifically done so to join the RAF, and opposed de Gaulle. The RAF considered granting British citizenship to these men, so as not to alienate them. Whilst the FAFL certainly had a number of aircrew (several of whom had flown to

5850-414: The FAFL took place on 6 November 1940, when two Vichy air force aircraft took on two FAFL Lysanders near Libreville . Both aircraft sustained damage but made it back to base. Two days later, the first FAFL airmen were shot down and taken prisoner. Two days after that, Libreville was taken by Free French army troops, so the FAFL aircraft could now operate from the air base that had been used by their opponents

5980-431: The First Army as being full of traitors who had supported Vichy France. Moreover, de Lattre had sacked Général de division Edgard de Larminat for Gaullist sentiments, and Leclerc had good reason to fear that he might meet a similar fate. On 22 November, Haislip gave Leclerc permission to advance on Strasbourg. Leclerc surprised the Germans by advancing over country roads and tracks to bypass their defences. Strasbourg

6110-399: The Free French took Koufra airfield, and the enemy garrison surrendered two days later. Leclerc, for his part, still regarded aviation as a kind of appendage, of such minor importance that it might as well not be there to support the ground forces at all. Following the Fall of France in 1940, there were French airmen who were determined to continue the fight against Nazi Germany. Some joined

6240-455: The French Army's staff college, as part of its 60th class. On graduating in July 1939, he was ordered to report to the 4e Division d'Infanterie  [ fr ] (4e DI) as its chief of staff. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded Luxembourg , the Netherlands , and Belgium . The 4e DI was ordered to hold the line of the Sambre river. Hauteclocque was placed in charge of three infantry battalions . To his dismay, orders came to pull back to

6370-407: The French during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Vichy regime had allowed the Japanese to use Indochina as a base from which to attack the Allies in Malaya, Burma and China. On 9 March 1945, the Japanese had deposed the French colonial government , taken direct control of Indochina, defeated the French army in several engagements, and imprisoned surviving French soldiers. With the end of

6500-407: The French government that it wished to negotiate an armistice , he selected Compiègne Forest as the place for the negotiations. Compiègne had been the site of the 1918 Armistice , which ended World War I with Germany's surrender. As an act of revenge Hitler held the signing in the Compiègne Wagon , the same rail carriage where the Germans had signed the 1918 Armistice. In the last sentence of

6630-490: The French military academy. Each class has a name; his was Metz et Strasbourg after towns in Alsace and Lorraine returned to France by the Treaty of Versailles . He graduated on 1 October 1924, and was commissioned as a sous lieutenant in the French Army . Having chosen the cavalry branch, he then had to attend the Cavalry School in Saumur , from which he graduated first in his class on 8 August 1925. Hauteclocque's older brother Guy had married Madeleine de Gargan,

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6760-466: The Germans had surrendered in North Africa, and GC 2/7 had by then flown 42 missions, accumulating 296 sorties. On June 18, the squadron replaced its Mk.Vb Spitfires with the more capable Mk.IX variant, built originally to combat the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 , an example of which had been credited to GC 2/7 just seven days earlier. September 1943 witnessed the participation of GC 2/7 in the liberation of Corsica , claiming seven enemy aircraft destroyed for

6890-423: The Italians on his kepi . De Gaulle ordered the plan for an advance into Libya to be put in motion in the wake of the Eighth Army's victory in the Second Battle of El Alamein in November 1942. Leclerc set out from Fort Lamy on 16 December 1942 with 500 European and 2,700 African troops in 350 vehicles. He captured Sebha on 12 January 1943, and Mizdah on 22 January. He reached Tripoli on 26 January, where he

7020-428: The Japanese Empire in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. On 28 November 1945, he legally changed his name to Jacques-Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, incorporating his Free French pseudonym. Although he had never before served in the Far East, as CEFEO commander, Leclerc was charged with recovering French Indochina . This territory, comprising the present day states of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, had been conquered by

7150-452: The Lysanders close-support missions and the Potez liaison and transport missions. Yet it was not until March 3 that the first operational missions were carried out from Uigh el-Kébir, which had only been captured the previous day. The very next day, however, a Lysander crashed on landing, injuring its pilot, who had to be evacuated to hospital. On March 7, the FAFL had some success when some Lysanders successfully destroyed three enemy aircraft on

7280-414: The RAF, whereas others joined the FAFL. Those who joined the RAF were fighting in the armed forces of a foreign nation, and technically breaking French civil law. They could have been considered mercenaries or filibusters , or charged with desertion in a court martial. On 15 April 1941, de Gaulle issued a formal declaration, requesting that French nationals in the RAF were to apply to be reincorporated in

7410-421: 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 Equatorial Africa , where he rallied local leaders to

7540-601: The Third Reich , French General Charles Huntziger complained that the armistice terms imposed on France were harsher than those imposed on Germany in 1918. They provided for German occupation of three-fifths of metropolitan France north and west of a line through Geneva and Tours and extending to the Spanish border, so as to give Nazi Germany 's Kriegsmarine access to all French Channel and Atlantic ports. All people who had been granted political asylum had to be surrendered and high occupation costs were demanded of France by Germany, approximately 400 million French francs

7670-414: The Vietnamese. In July 1946, Leclerc was replaced as commander of the French forces by Jean-Étienne Valluy . At the time many French and American politicians were willing to believe that Ho was part of a Soviet plan to dominate the world, but Leclerc warned that "anti-communism will be a useless tool unless the problem of nationalism is resolved." His advice was simple: "Negotiate at all costs!" Leclerc

7800-482: The Yakovlev Yak-1 fighter plane, lasted until 5 October, and encompassed the area of Russia between Polotniani-Zavod and Sloboda/Monostirtchina. From an initial aerial victory over an Fw 190 on 5 April the tally rose dramatically and the squadron became the focus of much Soviet propaganda, so much so that Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (who was executed in 1946 after the Nuremberg trials ) decreed that any French pilot captured would be executed. Tragedy struck

7930-526: The allies), it was weakened by its lack of ground crew, and a lack of spare parts for their French-built machines. While the aircrew of GRB 1 were all French, the ground crew were initially British airmen. The arrival in the Middle East of the former Aéronavale ground crew from Tahiti in July 1941 was seen as a boost to the FAFL's maintenance personnel. The Groupe Bretagne was formed on 1 January 1942, with certain objectives in mind: U.S.-built Maryland aircraft would carry out long-range reconnaissance missions,

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8060-407: The award up for three years. Others felt differently, and Hauteclocque was given early admission to the course for promotion to capitaine . He placed fourth in the class, and was promoted on 25 December 1934. Promotion was slow in the inter-war French Army, especially in the cavalry, and he was only the second in his Saint-Cyr class to reach that rank. Most had to wait until 1936. He was also made

8190-415: The bodies were exhumed and buried in the St. Zeno cemetery in Bad Reichenhall. For his services leading the 2e DB, Leclerc was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour . At the end of the Second World War in Europe in May 1945, Leclerc received command of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps ( Corps expéditionnaire français en Extrême-Orient , CEFEO). He represented France at the surrender of

8320-406: The brief intervention by No. 151 Wing RAF when introducing Hawker Hurricanes to Russia) to participate in the war on the Eastern Front. Its flag bore the testimony of its battle experience with names such as Bryansk, Orel, Ielnia, Smolensk, Koenigsberg (later renamed Kaliningrad by the Soviets), and Pillau. It received the following decorations: from France, the Companion of the Légion d'Honneur ,

8450-438: The children again on 6 September 1944. His oldest sons, Henri and Hubert, now 18 and 17 years old respectively, lied about their ages to volunteer for service with 2e DB. Henri went on to serve with the RMT, while Hubert became a Sherman tank gunner with the 12e RCA. Other relatives also served with the division, including two nephews. The fighting in Paris cost 2e DB 97 killed and 238 wounded; nearly twice that number were lost in

8580-421: The colonial campaigns, including fighting Samory in the Sudan. Both were killed in the early fighting of the First World War . The second son was Adrien, who enlisted in August 1914 as a trooper in the 11e Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval  [ fr ] , the regiment in which his son Guy was a cornet . Adrien was later commissioned, and was twice awarded the Croix de Guerre for gallantry. He survived

8710-457: The colonial empire and the fleet, and, by avoiding full occupation and disarmament, the remaining French rump state in the unoccupied zone could enforce a certain de facto independence and neutrality vis-à-vis the Axis. The Armistice site was demolished by the Germans on Hitler's orders three days later. The carriage itself was taken to Berlin as a trophy of war, along with pieces of a large stone tablet. The Alsace-Lorraine Monument (depicting

8840-430: The command of Commandant (Major) Lionel de Marmier . One of its first jobs was to try to persuade the governors-general of colonies in French West Africa to not submit to the orders of the Vichy government , and instead join the Free French in their fight against the Axis Powers . Operation Menace was an Allied plan to either persuade Dakar to join the Allied cause, or capture it by force. De Gaulle believed this

8970-421: The daughter of the Baron de Gargan. Philippe became a frequent visitor to the Gargan household, and became enchanted by Madeleine's youngest sister Thérèse. The two courted while he was at Saint-Cyr. In the tradition of old noble families, Count Adrien asked Baron de Gargan for permission for Philippe to marry Thérèse. The wedding ceremony took place in the Church of St Joan of Arc in Rouen on 10 August 1925. For

9100-410: The day after VE Day in western Europe. By that day, the regiment had shot down 273 enemy aircraft and had received many citations and decorations. Stalin expressed his gratitude to the regiment by offering the unit's Yak-3s to France, to which the pilots returned to a hero's welcome in Paris on 20 June 1945. Thus, the regiment became the only air combat group from a western European country (apart from

9230-467: The dissolution of the Vichy French naval aviation arm, the second escadrille of the combat fighter group GC II/7 accepted several navy pilots into its ranks. In March 1943, it received its first British aircraft; Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb fighters. When GC II/7 was broken up in August, the squadron received two designations – one of which was French, the other British – by virtue of the fact that its complement included both French and British pilots. While

9360-586: The families of Free Frenchmen. When Louis-Michel-François Tardy , the Bishop of Libreville , refused to conduct a mass to celebrate the victory, Leclerc had him arrested. Capitaine de corvette Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu conducted the service in his capacity as a Carmelite priest. With Gabon in hand, de Gaulle sent Leclerc to Chad , the only Free French territory that shared a border with territory controlled by Axis Powers , along its Sahara Desert border with Italian-controlled Libya . Leclerc's attention

9490-577: The fighting in surrounding areas. These were replaced by men and women who, like Leclerc's sons, offered themselves at a recruitment office the 2e DB established near the Bois de Boulogne . After Paris, 2e DB returned to XV Corps at Leclerc's request. He won a notable victory on 12–16 September 1944 at the Battle of Dompaire against the Panzer IVs and Panther tanks of the German 112th Panzer Brigade by using manoeuvre and air power to compensate for

9620-412: The front line advanced eastwards towards Reich territory, GC 2/7 went to Luxeuil, from where missions flown in early October resulted in four enemy aircraft being confirmed destroyed and another one counted as a “probable”. Christmas Eve saw GC 2/7 escorting B-26 bombers. "Around 20" enemy fighters attacked the formation, and GC 2/7 claimed four of them destroyed, but the French lost one of their pilots in

9750-471: The ground at Um el-Aranel; one of them was chased by an Italian fighter plane, but it managed to get back to base, albeit sustaining considerable damage. For most of 1942, the Groupe Bretagne concentrated mostly on liaison and training flights, yet, in late autumn, Leclerc wanted to count on the FAFL to support ground offensives against the Italians in the wake of the victory of the British 8th Army against

9880-529: The headquarters of Général d'armée Aubert Frère , the commander of the Seventh Army , who gave him permission to visit his home at Tailly, which was still behind French lines. When he got there, however, he found that Thérèse had fled to Sainte-Foy-la-Grande in the southwest of France, where she had relatives. On returning to the Seventh Army, he was ordered to join the 2ème groupement cuirassé,

10010-498: The historic city, moving around it to minimise the danger of destruction if the Germans sought to defend it. When Parisians rose against the Germans, de Gaulle and Leclerc persuaded General Dwight D. Eisenhower to help. Leclerc's men had to fight their way into Paris, and when they got there they found German infantry and tanks still holding parts of the city. The German commander, General der Infanterie Dietrich von Choltitz ,

10140-575: The island, protection of Allied convoys traversing the Mediterranean, attacks against German shipping berthed in Italian ports, and, from January 1944, the escort of USAAF bombers attacking targets in Italy. From the spring of 1944, GC 2/7 would involve itself both in strafing and dive-bombing attacks against ground targets in coastal regions of western Italy as well as the island of Elba , famous as

10270-519: The language. Having graduated from Saumur, Hauteclocque joined his regiment, the 5e Régiment de Cuirassiers  [ fr ] , which was then on occupation duty in Trier as part of the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr . Garrison duty was not to his liking, so he volunteered for service with the 8e Régiment de Spahis Marocains  [ fr ] , based at Taza in Morocco. He

10400-507: The loss of two of its pilots. On the 27th, the squadron, alongside GC 1/3, had the distinction of becoming the first Armée de l'Air unit to be stationed on French soil, since the dissolution of the Vichy French air force the previous December, when it occupied the airfield at Ajaccio-Campo dell’Oro. Now part of No.332 Wing, the squadron's duties encompassed patrols over the island of Corsica itself, interception of German bombers attacking

10530-409: The military situation that France was in, Huntziger had "no choice" but to accede to the armistice terms. The cease-fire went into effect at 00:35 on 25 June 1940, more than two days later, only after another armistice was signed between France and Italy , the main German ally in Europe. The armistice did have some relative advantages for the French, compared to worse possible outcomes, such as keeping

10660-628: The numerical and technical inferiority of his tanks. American historian Hugh M. Cole wrote that "this fight, characterised warmly by the XV Corps commander as a 'brilliant example' of perfect air-ground co-ordination, not only was an outstanding feat of arms but also dealt a crippling blow to Hitler's plans for an armoured thrust into the Third Army flank." Patton personally pinned a Silver Star on Leclerc, and brought with him another six Silver Stars and 25 Bronze Star Medals for other members of

10790-423: The occupied zones (other than Alsace-Lorraine ) to some extent, albeit under severe restrictions. This was envisaged as a temporary treaty until a final peace treaty was negotiated. At the time, both French and Germans thought the occupation would be a provisional state of affairs and last only until Britain came to terms, which they both thought was imminent. For instance, none of the French delegation objected to

10920-471: The papers. He quickly secured the Free French grip on Cameroon. He then led a force consisting of the 13e DBLE and Senegalese Tirailleurs against Gabon , whose local leader supported Vichy France . The Battle of Gabon lasted from 12 October to 12 November 1940, and ended with 20 dead and Gabon in Free French hands. Vichy prisoners were held as hostages in case Vichy France tried to retaliate against

11050-695: The place of temporary exile of Napoleon in 1814 prior to his escape. Finally, in September 1944, GC 2/7 found itself based in metropolitan France itself and was assigned to the same kind of missions that it had conducted over Italy. However, its commanding officer, Captain Georges Valentin, was shot down by flak over Dijon on the 8th, while another, Captain Gauthier, was shot down a week later, only he managed to reach Switzerland from where, having been interned, he “escaped” to rejoin his unit. As

11180-413: The preamble, the drafters inserted: "However, Germany does not have the intention to use the armistice conditions and armistice negotiations as a form of humiliation against such a valiant opponent", referring to the French forces. In Article 3, Clause 2, the drafters said that Germany did not intend to heavily occupy north-west France after the cessation of hostilities with Britain . William Shirer , who

11310-457: The process. GC 2/7 frequently clashed with the enemy as the Allies advanced farther into Nazi Germany – including a sighting of two Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters on March 22, 1945, which were just too fast for the piston-engined Spitfires. On April 14, sixteen of the squadron's aircraft were escorting Lockheed F-5s when they were intercepted by a mixed formation of Bf 109s and Fw 190s, two of which were claimed by GC 2/7 pilots, yet one pilot

11440-517: The prospect of losing their colonial privileges." D'Argenlieu bluntly denounced Leclerc. "I am amazed – yes, that is the word, amazed", he said, "that France's fine expeditionary corps in Indochina is commanded by officers who would rather negotiate than fight". D'Argenlieu stated that a higher level meeting in Paris would be required. He then unilaterally declared a French-controlled Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina without asking either Paris or

11570-611: The rebel Free French cause, and led a force against Gabon , whose leaders supported the French Government . From Chad he led raids into Italian Libya . After his forces captured Kufra , he had his men swear an oath known today as the Serment de Koufra , in which they pledged to fight on until their flag flew over the Strasbourg Cathedral . The forces under his command, known as L Force, campaigned in Libya in 1943, covered

11700-670: The regiment was itself based in Reich territory. By the end of the year, Pouyade had been released from his command of the regiment and he, along with other veteran pilots, returned to France. 14 January 1945, saw the Normandie-Niemen regiment start its third campaign (from Dopenen to Heiligenbeil), concentrating in the East Prussian part of the German Reich , until victory in the east was formally announced on May 9,

11830-472: The reorganization of the French Air Force, incorporating all elements coming from the ex-Vichy French Army in North Africa and the FAFL. Those forces included about twenty various Groups equipped mainly with Dewoitine D.520s, LeO 45s, Glenn Martin bombers, Bloch MB.175 reconnaissance aircraft, and an assortment of Amiots, Farmans, and Potez 540 transport aircraft. Altogether, under the umbrella of

11960-573: The representatives of the defeated German Empire . After listening to the reading of the preamble, Hitler—in a calculated gesture of disdain for the French delegates—exited the carriage, as Foch had done in 1918, leaving the negotiations to the chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (High Command of the Armed Forces), General Wilhelm Keitel . The negotiations lasted one day, until the evening of 22 June 1940: General Huntziger had to discuss

12090-735: The rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, visited the concentration camp at Dachau , and wrote about the Night of Long Knives . Xavier died in April 1935, convinced that he had been poisoned by the Nazis. After the Second World War , Hauteclocque destroyed his copies of Action Française . Hauteclocque broke his leg in two places in a fall from his horse in 1936. He told his company that it

12220-538: The site to sign the armistice because of its symbolic role as the site of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that signaled the end of World War I with Germany's surrender. The best, most modernised French armies had been sent north and lost in the resulting encirclement; the French had lost their best heavy weaponry and their best armored formations. Between May and June, French forces were in general retreat and Germany threatened to occupy Paris . The French government

12350-457: The squadron when the much-decorated Tulasne was reported missing in action after combat on 17 July requiring Commandant Pierre Pouyade to take command. In spite of the loss, GC 3 started to receive many Soviet unit citations and decorations as well as French ones. On October 11, de Gaulle accorded the groupe the title of Compagnon de la Libération . By the time GC 3 relocated to Toula on 6 November 1943, there were only six surviving pilots from

12480-477: The stipulation that French soldiers would remain prisoners of war until the cessation of all hostilities. Nearly 1,000,000 Frenchmen were thus forced to spend the next five years in German POW camps. About a third of the initial 1,500,000 prisoners taken were released or exchanged as part of the Germans' Service du Travail Obligatoire forced labour programme by the time the war ended. A final peace treaty

12610-536: The summer break in 1933, he flew south to Africa, where he reported to Général de brigade Henri Giraud on 11 July. Giraud sent him into the field as a liaison officer with a goum . He was awarded the croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures for leading goumiers in an attack on caves and ravines on Bou Amdoun on 11 August. The Commander in Chief in Morocco, Général de division Antoine Huré , felt that Hauteclocque should not have been there, and held

12740-473: The terms by phone with the French government representatives, who had fled to Bordeaux, mainly with the newly nominated defence minister, General Maxime Weygand . Adolf Hitler had a number of reasons for agreeing to an armistice. He wanted to ensure that France did not continue to fight from French North Africa , and he wanted to ensure that the French Navy was taken out of the war. In addition, leaving

12870-485: The time of his appointment and he had to complete his assignment there by February 1941. It took him 45 days to get to London to see de Gaulle and it was not until 9 July that Valin formally took office, taking over from the caretaker commander, Admiral Emile Muselier . All FAFL aircraft were identified differently from those of the Vichy French air force, which continued to use the pre-war tricolor roundel. In order to distinguish their allegiance from that of Vichy France,

13000-539: The unit, but its commander, Colonel Raoul Magrin-Vernerey , rejected his offer on the grounds that he was high-born, over-qualified and a cavalryman. Instead, in August 1940, de Gaulle ordered Leclerc to French Equatorial Africa , where the local leaders had declared themselves for Free France, as the governor of French Cameroon . At this time he adopted Leclerc as his nom de guerre , so that Thérèse and their children would not be put at risk if his name appeared in

13130-523: The use of his troops in the attack on Royan in April 1945. As a result, only part of 2e DB was employed. The division rejoined Seventh Army, crossing the Rhine on 25 April, and joining the pursuit into Bavaria . Leclerc visited Dachau concentration camp after its liberation by the Americans. In an incident that took place on 8 May 1945 at Karlstein near Bad Reichenhall in Bavaria, he was presented with

13260-406: The war", a euphemism for Jews, and especially German Jews who until then had enjoyed asylum in France. Keitel also made one other concession, that French aircraft need not be handed over to the Germans. The French delegation—led by General Charles Huntziger —tried to soften the harsher terms of the armistice, but Keitel replied that they would have to accept or reject the armistice as it was. Given

13390-454: The war, Indochina was divided in two, with the area north of the 16th parallel occupied by 150,000 Nationalist Chinese troops, while the part to the south was occupied by 20,000 British and Indian troops of Major General Douglas Gracey 's 20th Infantry Division . Meanwhile, the Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh had declared Vietnamese independence . Leclerc arrived in Saigon with

13520-597: The war, and inherited the family title and estate in Belloy-Saint-Léonard. Philippe de Hauteclocque was homeschooled until he was 13, when he was sent to L'école de la Providence , a Jesuit school in Amiens . In 1920, at the age of 17, he went to Lycée privé Sainte-Geneviève , known as Ginette , a preparatory school in Versailles . He then entered the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr ,

13650-422: The war, the site and memorials were restored by German POW labour . 49°25′39″N 02°54′22″E  /  49.42750°N 2.90611°E  / 49.42750; 2.90611 Philippe de Hauteclocque Philippe François Marie Leclerc de Hauteclocque (22 November 1902 – 28 November 1947) was a Free-French general during World War II . He became Marshal of France posthumously in 1952, and

13780-403: Was acting as high commissioner in the absence of d'Argenlieu. Leclerc approved Sainteny's proposal to negotiate with Ho because he preferred a diplomatic solution to a larger conflict, but he still dispatched a flotilla with shiploads of French soldiers to northern Vietnam ready to attack if the talks failed. At that time, Ho felt that negotiations with the French constituted his best option because

13910-444: Was again taken prisoner when the area was overrun by the Germans. This time, Hauteclocque escaped by jumping out a window. After the armistice was signed on 22 June, French soldiers who had not been captured were simply allowed to go home, and the Germans were friendly towards Hauteclocque, especially when they discovered that he spoke fluent German. He made his way to rejoin his family by car and bicycle. So that he could cross from

14040-476: Was appointed Inspector of Land Forces in North Africa. On 28 November 1947, his North American B-25 Mitchell , Tailly II , carrying Leclerc and his staff, crashed near Colomb-Béchar in French Algeria , killing everyone on board. His body was returned to France, where it was taken to Paris along the route that 2e DB had followed in August 1944. A funeral service was held at Notre Dame de Paris , and he

14170-484: Was created a chevalier by King Louis XVIII , and a Papal count by Pope Pius IX in 1857. Constantin had two sons. The older, Alfred François Marie (1822–1902), died childless. The younger, Gustave François Marie Joseph (1829–1914), became a noted Egyptologist . Gustave, in turn, had three sons. The first, Henry (1862–1914), and third, Wallerand (1866–1914), became officers in the French Army, serving during

14300-775: Was damaged. However, French forces in Cameroon and Chad in French Equatorial Africa , rallied to the Gaullist cause. Three detachments of French air force units based at Fort-Lamy (now N’Djamena in Chad), Douala in Cameroon, and Pointe-Noire in the Congo , operating a mixed bag of Potez and Bloch aircraft, which became part of the FAFL. But Gabon remained loyal to Vichy, so, in mid- to late October 1940, FAFL squadrons set out on photo-reconnaissance and leaflet-dropping missions. The first combat between Vichy and

14430-602: Was drawn to two Italian outposts in the desert, Murzuk in southwestern Libya and Kufra in the southeast. Both were over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from his base at Fort Lamy in Chad. He started with a small raid on Murzuk by eleven men of the Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais du Tchad (RTST) and two troops of the British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) on 11 January 1941. In February, he led

14560-400: Was during this campaign that Joseph Stalin allowed the regiment to style itself Normandie-Niemen in recognition of its participation in the battles to liberate the river of that name. On October 16, the first day of a new offensive against East Prussia , the easternmost part of the Reich home territory, the regiment's pilots destroyed 29 enemy aircraft without loss. By the following month,

14690-696: Was forced to relocate to Bordeaux on 10 June to avoid capture and declared Paris to be an open city the same day. The proposal of a Franco-British Union to shore up support for Paul Reynaud 's government following the fall of Paris split support. With many pro-Armistice ministers in the cabinet, such as the Deputy Prime Minister Philippe Pétain , and the commander-in-chief of the French Army General Weygand, Reynaud resigned on 16 June. Pétain became prime minister. While French resistance continued with

14820-621: Was given command of the French Far East Expeditionary Corps ( Corps expéditionnaire français en Extrême-Orient , CEFEO). He represented France at the surrender of the Japanese Empire in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945. He quickly perceived the necessity for a political solution to the nascent conflict in Indochina , but once again was ahead of his countrymen, and was recalled to France in 1946. He

14950-569: Was greeted by the Eighth Army's commander, General Bernard Montgomery . Leclerc's command, now reinforced by the Greek Sacred Squadron , and known as L Force, covered the Eighth Army's inland flank during its advance into Tunisia. L Force beat off a German counterattack on 10 March, and participated in the attack on the Mareth Line . After the fighting in North Africa ended, Leclerc's L Force, now about 4,000 strong, became

15080-400: Was his own fault for riding on the shoulder of the road. Thereafter he frequently walked with a cane. After another mishap involving losing his way during a tactical exercise and getting stuck in a field cordoned off with barbed wire, he told them that when you have done something really stupid, it is best to admit it. In November 1938, Hauteclocque entered the École supérieure de guerre ,

15210-869: Was inclined to surrender, and did so to Leclerc and Henri Rol-Tanguy of the French Forces of the Interior at the Gare Montparnasse on 25 August 1944. Leclerc arranged for Ensign Philippe de Gaulle , who was serving in the RBFM, to be in attendance, but the elder de Gaulle was annoyed that Leclerc had allowed the communist Rol to co-sign the surrender. The next day de Gaulle held a triumphal parade, accompanied by senior military figures including Leclerc, Alphonse Juin , Marie-Pierre Kœnig and Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu. Montgomery's troops liberated Tailly, allowing Leclerc to return home to see Thérèse and

15340-571: Was interred in a crypt at Les Invalides . Leclerc was posthumously created a Marshal of France on 23 August 1952, the anniversary of the day that 2e DB had entered Paris. Today his marshal's baton is displayed in the Leclerc room of the Musée de l'Armée at Invalides , as is his battered képi with the Italian stars that he wore at Kufra. The Leclerc tank built by GIAT Industries ( Groupement Industriel des Armements Terrestres ) of France

15470-631: Was killed in an air crash in Algeria in 1947. Philippe François Marie de Hauteclocque was born on 22 November 1902 at Belloy-Saint-Léonard in the department of Somme , France . He was the fifth of six children of Adrien de Hauteclocque, comte de Hauteclocque (1864–1945), and Marie-Thérèse van der Cruisse de Waziers (1870–1956). Philippe was named in honour of an ancestor killed by Croatian soldiers in service of Habsburg monarchy during Thirty Years' War in 1635. Hauteclocque came from an old line of country nobility . His direct ancestors had served in

15600-659: Was never negotiated, and the free zone ( zone libre ) was invaded by Germany and its ally Italy in Case Anton following the invasion of French North Africa by the Allies in November 1942. Article 19 of the Franco-German armistice required the French state to turn over to German authorities any German national on French territory, who would then frequently face deportation to a concentration camp (the "Surrender on Demand" clause). Keitel gave verbal assurances that this would apply mainly to those refugees who had "fomented

15730-523: Was officially promulgated by de Gaulle on 1 September 1942, with Commandant Pouliquen in command. Mechanics, pilots and hardware were transported by rail and air via Tehran to Baku (now the capital of Azerbaijan ). A period of training on the Yakovlev Yak-7 was completed by mid-February 1943 when Commandant Jean Tulasne took command of the groupe , which finally headed for the front on 22 March 1943. The first campaign of GC 3, equipped with

15860-478: Was possible. Among the units taking part was the newly formed FAFL Groupe de Combat Mixte (GMC) 1, code-named "Jam", consisting of four squadrons composed of Bristol Blenheim bombers and Westland Lysander liaison/observation aircraft. The Battle of Dakar was a failure, however. The port remained in Vichy hands, the FAFL envoys were arrested and imprisoned at Dakar by the Vichy authorities, and de Gaulle's standing

15990-462: Was present on that day, reported, "I am but fifty yards from him. [...] I have seen that face many times at the great moments of his life. But today! It is afire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph." Then, on 21 June 1940, in the same railway carriage in which the 1918 Armistice had been signed (removed from a museum building and placed exactly where it was in 1918), Hitler sat in the same chair in which Marshal Ferdinand Foch had sat when he faced

16120-518: Was promoted to lieutenant in October 1926. In 1927, he was posted as an instructor at the Military School of Dar El-Beida at Meknes , the military academy of French Morocco. Here, he met Paul de Langlade  [ fr ] , a First World War veteran eight years his senior, who would later volunteer to serve under his command. In 1929, he was attached to the 38e Goum Mixte Marocains ,

16250-848: Was reached on 25 November, and that afternoon the Tricolour flew over the Strasbourg Cathedral. The German offensive in the Ardennes in December and in Alsace in January led Eisenhower to consider abandoning Strasbourg, but strong opposition to the idea from the French caused him to back down. As a result, the 2e DB was transferred to de Lattre's command to assist in the reduction of the Colmar Pocket . Leclerc objected to

16380-816: Was serving with the 13e Demi-Brigade de Légion Étrangère (13e DBLE, an infantry regiment of the French Foreign Legion ). This was the largest unit that had joined the Free French Forces . After participating in the Battles of Narvik , it had found itself in Britain when France surrendered. Formed after the war began, it contained many men who had fought for the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War , and many refugees from Nazi and Fascist countries. Leclerc then offered his own services to

16510-989: Was shipped to Britain to participate in Operation Overlord , the Allied invasion of northern France. Leclerc and his staff travelled by air in a converted B-24 Liberator bomber. The division moved to training areas in Yorkshire , where Leclerc established his headquarters on the estate of Henry Frederick Hotham, 7th Baron Hotham , at Dalton Hall , Beverley . Training was conducted in concert with Maczek's 1st Polish Armoured Division . On 1 August 1944, 2e DB landed at Utah Beach in Normandy as part of Major General Wade Haislip 's United States XV Corps of Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr. 's United States Third Army . Both of these American generals spoke French fluently. Later that month, 2e DB participated in

16640-565: Was shot down and became – for the brief duration that the war in Europe yet had to run – a prisoner. By the time the war did end on May 8, GC 2/7 had, since its formation two years earlier, accomplished just over 7,900 sorties. Six months after the Germans invaded the USSR, talks aimed at closer co-operation between Free France and the Soviet Union resulted in a squadron being especially created, with an initial core of twelve fighter pilots being sent east. The Groupe de Chasse GC 3 Normandie

16770-491: Was the starting point for the rebirth of the French Air Force, thanks to the commitment by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt , of 1,000 planes, and the French began to receive U.S.-built aircraft to replenish its squadrons. GCII/5 was the first unit organized, at first consisting of a single squadron of P-40 Tomahawk fighters acquired from the United States Army Air Forces , because of its ties to

16900-410: Was ugly, and relations between him and the FAFL deteriorated rapidly. A mission carried out by the recently formed Groupe de Bombardement (GRB) 1 ( Lorraine ), 1941, ended disastrously on February 4, 1942 when, out of four Blenheims sent to bomb Koufra, only a single one returned – and, even then, it was because of engine trouble. (One of the other three planes wasn't found until 1959.) On February 27,

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