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Colored troops in the French Army: a report from the Department of State relating to the colored troops in the French Army and the number of French colonial troops in the occupied territory, Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1921. Ministère de la guerre.,Troupes coloniales. Organisation génerale, Paris: Charles-Lavauzelle & cie., 1937.
French and British troops sharing Christmas drinks at Kedange-sur-Canner, near Metz, 21 December 1939 Internment of French troops in Switzerland, June 1940. France had lots of armed forces in World War II, in part due to the German occupation. In 1940, General Maurice Gamelin commanded the French Army, headquartered in Vincennes on the ...
Call-up ad inviting citizens to enlist in French colonial forces, after the North African colonies of Algeria and Tunisia had been reconquered by the Allies in World War II. Colonial troops or colonial army refers to various military units recruited from, or used as garrison troops in, colonial territories.
The Colonial Army Corps, originally the Army Corps of Colonial Troops, is a unit of the French Army established by decree on June 11, 1901. It was composed of units from the Colonial Troops stationed in mainland France.
In World War II, Charles de Gaulle and the Free French took control of the overseas colonies one-by-one and used them as a base from which they prepared to liberate France. Historian Tony Chafer argues that: "In an effort to restore its world-power status after the humiliation of defeat and occupation, France was eager to maintain its overseas ...
After the Americans landed in Algiers in 1942 during Operation Torch, the colonial troops of the French Army of Africa, until then under the orders of the pro-Nazi republic of Vichy. General Charles De Gaulle , head of the French government in exile , drew on this military personnel to create the CEF (Corp Expeditionnaire Français).
Hundreds of West African soldiers who fought for France during World War II were likely killed by the French army on Dec. 1, 1944, after demanding unpaid wages.
The regular French troops consisted of four battalions of the 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment 6 e REI (according to Dentz, these were the best troops available to the Vichy French command) and three battalions of the 24th Colonial Infantry Regiment (French regulars enlisted for overseas service).