Editing Free France (section)

=== Normandy and Provence landings ===
<!-- this section target for [[Liberation of France]] and [[Liberation of continental France]] -->
[[File:HD-SN-99-02715.JPEG|thumb|right|Charles de Gaulle speaks as president of [[GPRF|interim government]] to the population of [[Cherbourg]] from the city hall's balcony on 20 August 1944.]]

Opening a "Second Front" was a top priority for the Allies, and especially for the Soviets to relieve their burden on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]]. While Italy had been [[armistice of Cassibile|knocked out of the war]] in the Italian campaign in September 1943, the easily defensible terrain of the narrow peninsula required only a relatively limited number of German troops to protect and occupy their [[Italian Social Republic|new puppet state]] in northern Italy. However, as the [[Dieppe raid]] had shown, assaulting the [[Atlantic Wall]] was not an endeavour to be taken lightly. It required extensive preparations such as the construction of artificial ports ([[Operation Mulberry]]) and an underwater pipeline across the [[English Channel]] ([[Operation Pluto]]), intensive bombardment of railways and German logistics in France (the [[Transportation Plan]]), and the wide-ranging [[deception|military deception]] such as creating entire [[military dummy|dummy]] armies like [[First United States Army Group|FUSAG]] ([[Operation Bodyguard]]) to make the Germans believe the invasion would take place where the Channel was at its narrowest.

By the time of the [[Normandy Invasion]], the Free French forces numbered around 500,000 strong.<ref name="axelrod">{{cite book |last1 = Axelrod |first1 = Alan |last2 = Kingston |first2 = Jack A.|title = Encyclopedia of World War II, Volume 1 |date = 2007 |publisher = Facts on File Inc |isbn = 978-0-8160-6022-1 |page = 363}}</ref> 900 Free French [[paratrooper]]s landed as part of the British [[Special Air Service]]'s (SAS) [[Special Air Service Troops|SAS Brigade]]; the [[French 2nd Division (World War II)|2e Division Blindée]] (2nd Armoured Division or 2e DB)—under General Leclerc—landed at [[Utah Beach]] in Normandy on 1 August 1944 together with other follow-on Free French forces, and eventually led the drive toward Paris.

[[File:Persuit to the West Wall.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]] in 1944]]
In the [[battle for Caen]], bitter fighting led to the almost total destruction of the city, and stalemated the Allies. They had more success in the western American sector of the front, where after the [[Operation Cobra]] breakthrough in late July they caught 50,000 Germans in the [[Falaise pocket]].

The invasion was preceded by weeks of intense resistance activity. Coordinated with the massive bombardments of the [[Transportation Plan]] and supported by the [[Special Operation Executive|SOE]] and the [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]], partisans systematically sabotaged railway lines, destroyed bridges, cut German [[supply lines]], and provided general intelligence to the allied forces. The constant harassment took its toll on the German troops. Large remote areas were no-go zones for them and free zones for the [[maquis (World War II)|maquisards]] so-called after the [[maquis shrubland]] that provided ideal terrain for [[guerrilla warfare]]. For instance, a large number of German units were required to clear the [[maquis du Vercors]], which they [[battle of Vercors|eventually succeeded with]], but this and numerous other actions behind German lines contributed to a much faster advance following the Provence landings than the Allied leadership had anticipated.

The main part of [[French Expeditionary Corps in Italy]] which had been fighting there was withdrawn from the Italian front, and added to the [[French First Army]]—under General [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny]]—and joined the [[US 7th Army]] to form the [[US 6th Army Group]]. That was the force that conducted [[Operation Dragoon]] (also known as Operation Anvil), the Allied invasion of southern France. The objective of the French 2nd Corps was to capture ports at [[Toulon]] (France's largest naval port) and [[Marseille]] (France's largest commercial port) in order to secure a vital supply line for the incoming troops. Most of the German troops there were second-line, consisting mainly of static and occupation units with a large number of ''[[Osttruppen]]'' volunteers, and with a single armoured division, the [[11th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|''11. Panzer-Division'']]. The Allies sustained only relatively light casualties during the amphibious assault, and were soon in an all-out pursuit of a German army in full retreat along the [[Rhône]] valley and the [[Route Napoleon]]. Within 12 days the French forces were able to secure both ports, destroying two German Divisions in the process. Then on 12 September, French forces were able to connect to General [[George Patton]]'s [[United States Army Central|Third Army]]. Toulon and Marseille were soon providing supplies not only to the 6th Army Group but also to General [[Omar Bradley]]'s 12th Army Group, which included Patton's Army. For its part, troops from de Lattre's French First Army were the first Allied troops to reach the Rhine.

While on the right flank the [[French liberation army]] was covering Alsace-Lorraine (and the Alpine front against [[Italian Campaign (World War II)#Allied advance into Northern Italy|German-occupied Italy]]), the centre was made up of US forces in the south ([[12th Army Group]]) and British and Commonwealth forces in the north ([[21st Army Group]]). On the left flank, Canadian forces [[Clearing the Channel Coast|cleared the Channel coast]], taking [[Antwerp]] on 4 September 1944.