Editing Free France (section)

==Battle of Bir Hakeim==
[[File:Map of siege of Tobruk 1942.jpg|thumb|right|The FFF's tenacious defence at [[Battle of Bir Hakeim|Bir Hakeim]] prevented [[Rommel]]'s attempted [[flanking manoeuvre]] at El Alamein from succeeding.]]
[[File:Free French Foreign Legionnairs.jpg|thumb|Free French [[French Foreign Legion|Foreign Legionnaires]] "leap up from the desert to rush an enemy strong point", [[Bir Hakeim|Bir Hacheim]], 12 June 1942.]]

Throughout 1942 in [[North African campaign|North Africa]], British Empire forces fought a desperate land campaign against the Germans and Italians to prevent the loss of Egypt and the vital [[Suez canal]]. Here, fighting in the harsh Libyan desert, Free French soldiers distinguished themselves. General [[Marie Pierre Koenig]] and his unit—the [[1st Free French Infantry Brigade]]—resisted the ''[[Afrika Korps]]'' at the [[Battle of Bir Hakeim]] in June 1942, although they were eventually obliged to withdraw, as Allied forces retreated to [[El Alamein]], their lowest ebb in the North African campaign.<ref>Hastings, Max, p.136</ref> Koenig defended Bir Hakeim from 26 May to 11 June against superior German and Italian forces led by Generaloberst [[Erwin Rommel]], proving that the FFF could be taken seriously by the Allies as a fighting force. British General [[Claude Auchinleck]] said on 12 June 1942, of the battle: "The United Nations need to be filled with admiration and gratitude, in respect of these French troops and their brave General Koenig".<ref>Charles de Gaulle, ''Mémoires de guerre'', édition La Pléiade, p. 260.</ref> Even Hitler was impressed, announcing to the journalist Lutz Koch, recently returned from Bir Hakeim:

<blockquote>You hear, Gentlemen? It is a new evidence that I have always been right! The French are, after us, the best soldiers! Even with its current birthrate, France will always be able to mobilise a hundred divisions! After this war, we will have to find allies able to contain a country which is capable of military exploits that astonish the world like they are doing right now in Bir-Hakeim!<ref>Koch, Lutz, ''Rommel'', (1950) {{ASIN|B008DHD4LY}}</ref></blockquote>[[Generalmajor]] [[Friedrich von Mellenthin]] wrote in his mémoirs ''[[Panzer Battles (book)|Panzer Battles]]'',<blockquote>[I]n the whole course of the desert war, we never encountered a more heroic and well-sustained defence.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mellenthin|first=F. W. von|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14816982|title=Panzer battles : a study of the employment of armor in the Second World War|date=1971|publisher=Ballantine|isbn=0-345-32158-8|location=New York|pages=79|oclc=14816982}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Forczyk|first=Robert|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1002657539|title=Case Red: The Collapse of France, 1940|date=2017|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-2442-4|location=Oxford|pages=417|oclc=1002657539}}</ref></blockquote>