Editing Free France (section)

==First successes==
From 23 October to 4 November 1942, Allied forces under general [[Bernard Montgomery]], including the FFI, won the [[Second battle of El Alamein]], driving Rommel's Afrika Korps out of Egypt and back into Libya. This was the first major success of a Western Allied army against the Axis powers, and marked a key turning point in the war.

===Operation Torch===
[[File:OPERATION-TORCH-OVERVIEW.png|thumb|upright=1.8|[[Operation Torch]] landings in Morocco and Algeria]]
Soon afterwards in November 1942, the Allies launched [[Operation Torch]] in the west, an invasion of Vichy-controlled [[French North Africa]]. An Anglo-American force of 63,000 men landed in French Morocco and Algeria.<ref name="Hastings, Max, p.375">Hastings, Max, p.375</ref> The long-term goal was to clear German and Italian troops from North Africa, enhance naval control of the Mediterranean, and prepare an invasion of Italy in 1943. The Allies had hoped that Vichy forces would offer only token resistance to the Allies, but instead they fought hard, incurring heavy casualties.<ref name="Hastings, Max, p.376">Hastings, Max, p.376</ref> As a French foreign legionnaire put it after seeing his comrades die in an American bombing raid: "Ever since the fall of France, we had dreamed of deliverance, but we did not want it that way".<ref name="Hastings, Max, p.376" />

After 8 November 1942 [[Coup d'état|putsch]] by the French resistance that prevented the [[19th Army Corps (France)|19th Corps]] from responding effectively to the allied landings around Algiers the same day, most Vichy figures were arrested (including General [[Alphonse Juin]], chief commander in North Africa, and Vichy admiral [[François Darlan]]). However, Darlan was released and U.S. General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] finally accepted his self-nomination as high commissioner of North Africa and [[French West Africa]], a move that enraged {{nowrap|de Gaulle}}, who refused to recognise his status.

[[Henri Giraud]], a general who had escaped from [[French prisoners of war in World War II|military captivity in Germany]] in April 1942, had negotiated with the Americans for leadership in the invasion. He arrived in Algiers on 10 November, and agreed to subordinate himself to Admiral Darlan as the commander of the French African army.<ref>Martin Thomas, "The Discarded Leader: General Henri Giraud and the Foundation of the French Committee of National Liberation", French History (1996) 10#12 pp. 86–111.</ref>

Later that day Darlan ordered a ceasefire and Vichy French forces began, en masse, to join the Free French cause. Initially at least the effectiveness of these new recruits was hampered by a scarcity of weaponry and, among some of the officer class, a lack of conviction in their new cause.<ref name="Hastings, Max, p.376" />

After the signing of the cease-fire, the Germans lost faith in the Vichy regime, and on 11 November 1942 German and Italian forces occupied Vichy France (Case Anton), violating the 1940 armistice, and triggering the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon on 27 November 1942. In response, the Vichy [[Army of Africa (France)|Army of Africa]] joined the Allied side. They [[Tunisian campaign|fought in Tunisia for six months]] until April 1943, when they joined [[Italian campaign (World War II)|the campaign in Italy]] as part of the [[French Expeditionary Corps (1943–44)|French Expeditionary Corps in Italy]] (FEC).

Admiral Darlan was assassinated on 24 December 1942 in Algiers by the young monarchist [[Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle|Bonnier de La Chapelle]]. Although de la Chapelle had been a member of the resistance group led by [[Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie|Henri d'Astier de La Vigerie]], it is believed he was acting as an individual.

On 28 December, after a prolonged blockade, the Vichy forces in [[French Somaliland in World War II|French Somaliland were ousted]].

After these successes, [[Guadeloupe]] and Martinique in the [[West Indies]]—as well as [[French Guiana]] on the northern coast of South America—finally joined Free France in the first months of 1943. In November 1943, the French forces received enough military equipment through Lend-Lease to re-equip eight divisions and allow the return of borrowed British equipment.

===Creation of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN)===
{{Further|French Committee of National Liberation}}
[[File:Degaulle-freefrench.png|thumb|[[Henri Giraud]] and [[Charles de Gaulle|{{nowrap|de Gaulle}}]] during the [[Casablanca Conference (1943)|Casablanca Conference]] in January 1943. Churchill and Roosevelt are in the background.]]

The Vichy forces in North Africa had been under Darlan's command and had surrendered on his orders. The Allies recognised his self-nomination as High Commissioner of France (French military and civilian commander-in-chief, {{lang|fr|Commandement en chef français civil et militaire}}) for North and West Africa. He ordered them to cease resisting and co-operate with the Allies, which they did. By the time the Tunisia Campaign was fought, the ex-Vichy French forces in North Africa had been merged with the FFF.<ref>Arthur L. Funk, "Negotiating the 'Deal with Darlan,'" ''Journal of Contemporary History'' (1973) 8#2 pp. 81–117. {{JSTOR|259995}}</ref><ref>Arthur L. Funk, ''The Politics of Torch'' (1974)</ref>

After Admiral Darlan's assassination, Giraud became his ''de facto'' successor in French Africa with Allied support. This occurred through a series of consultations between Giraud and {{nowrap|de Gaulle}}. The latter wanted to pursue a political position in France and agreed to have Giraud as commander in chief, as the more qualified military person of the two. It is questionable that he ordered that many French resistance leaders who had helped Eisenhower's troops be arrested, without any protest by Roosevelt's representative, [[Robert Daniel Murphy|Robert Murphy]].

Later, the Americans sent [[Jean Monnet]] to counsel Giraud and to press him into repeal the Vichy laws. The [[Crémieux Decree|Cremieux decree]], which granted French citizenship to Jews in Algeria and which had been repealed by Vichy, was immediately restored by General {{nowrap|de Gaulle}}. Democratic rule was restored in French Algeria, and the Communists and Jews liberated from the concentration camps.<ref name=LDHNorthAfrica>[http://www.ldh-toulon.net/spip.php?article285 Extraits de l'entretien d'Annie Rey-Goldzeiguer [1, avec Christian Makarian et Dominique Simonnet, publié dans ''l'Express'' du 14 mars 2002] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131001080355/http://www.ldh-toulon.net/spip.php?article285 |date=1 October 2013 }}, on the [[Ligue des droits de l'homme|LDH]] website {{in lang|fr}}</ref>

Giraud took part in the [[Casablanca Conference|Casablanca conference]] in January 1943 with Roosevelt, Churchill and {{nowrap|de Gaulle}}. The Allies discussed their general strategy for the war, and recognised joint leadership of North Africa by Giraud and {{nowrap|de Gaulle}}. Henri Giraud and Charles {{nowrap|de Gaulle}} then became co-presidents of the [[French Committee of National Liberation]] ({{lang|fr|Comité Français de Libération Nationale}}, CFLN), which unified the territories controlled by them and was officially founded on 3 June 1943.

The CFLN set up a temporary French government in Algiers, raised more troops and re-organised, re-trained and re-equipped the Free French military, in co-operation with Allied forces in preparation of future operations [[Allied invasion of Sicily|against Italy]] and the [[Operation Overlord|German Atlantic wall]].

===Eastern Front===
[[File:Yak 3 Le Bourget 01.JPG|thumb|FAFL ''Normandie-Niemen'' Yak-3 preserved at the Paris [[Le Bourget]] [[French Air and Space Museum|museum]]]]

The [[Normandie-Niemen|Normandie-Niemen Regiment]], founded at the suggestion of Charles {{nowrap|de Gaulle}}, was a fighter regiment of the Free French Air Force that served on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] of the [[European Theatre of World War II]] with the [[1st Air Army]]. The regiment is notable for being the only air combat unit from an Allied western country to participate on the Eastern Front during World War II (except brief interventions from RAF and [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]] units) and the only one to fight together with the Soviets until the end of the war in Europe.{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}}

The unit was the GC3 ({{lang|fr|Groupe de Chasse 3}} or 3rd Fighter Group) in the Free French Air Force, first commanded by Jean Tulasne. The unit originated in mid-1943 during World War II. Initially the {{lang|fr|groupe}} comprised a group of French fighter pilots sent to aid Soviet forces at the suggestion of Charles {{nowrap|de Gaulle}}, leader of the Free French Forces, who felt it important that French servicemen serve on all fronts in the war. The regiment fought in three campaigns on behalf of the [[Soviet Union]] between 22 March 1943, and 9 May 1945, during which time it destroyed 273 enemy aircraft and received numerous orders, citations and decorations from both France and the Soviet Union, including the French {{lang|fr|Légion d'Honneur}} and the Soviet [[Order of the Red Banner]]. [[Joseph Stalin]] awarded the unit the name [[Neman River|Niemen]] for its participation in the [[Vilnius offensive|Battle of the Niemen River]].{{Citation needed|date=July 2016}}