fme_872627 - FRANCE LIBRE Médaille, Colonel Jean Colonna d’Ornano

FRANCE LIBRE

(06/18/1940 - 08/01/1943)

Free France is the name given to the external resistance organization founded in London by General de Gaulle, following his appeal on June 18, 1940, and made up of French people (officers, soldiers or simple citizens) wishing to continue the fight against Germany alongside the British allies. But it was not until September 24, 1941 to see the emergence of the French National Committee, which really acted as the government of Free France.. Armed forces rallied to Free France, called Free French Forces (FFL), take part in fighting in Africa. During the Allied landing in North Africa, four hundred civilian volunteers arrested June and Darlan and, by the putsch of November 8, 1942, neutralized the XIX Army Corps of the Vichy Government for fifteen hours, thus allowing the Allies to land and encircle Algiers without opposition, before obtaining the same evening the capitulation of this city with its port intact. On June 3, 1943, the French National Committee in London and the Civil and Military Command of Algiers merged, under the co-presidency of Generals de Gaulle and Giraud, into the French Committee for National Liberation (CFLN), based in Algiers.. The closing of engagements within the Free French Forces (FFL) takes place on July 31, 1943.