Editing Djibouti Armed Forces (section)

===Second World War===
[[File:British Military Parade in Djibouti City 1942.jpg|thumbnail|British Military Parade in Presidential Palace, [[Djibouti City]] 1942]]
During the [[Italian Empire|Italian invasion]] and occupation of [[Ethiopia]] in the mid-1930s and during the early stages of [[World War II]], constant border skirmishes occurred between the forces in [[French Somaliland]] and the forces in [[Italian East Africa]]. After the fall of France in 1940, [[French Somaliland]] declared loyalty to Vichy France. The colony remained loyal to Vichy France during the [[East African Campaign (World War II)|East African Campaign]] but stayed out of that conflict. British forces in Ethiopia begin dropping leaflets calling on the French Somaliland to rally to [[Free France]]. The newspaper Djibouti Libre published in [[Dire Dawa]] is also air dropped into the Vichy controlled colony and a 15-minute newscast is broadcast over the radio. In '''1942''': Vichy recalls Governor Pierre Nouailhetas after his superiors decide that he is in too close contact with the British. Nouailhetas delegates his authority to the military commander General Truffert. Two battalions, accompanied by civilians, leave Djibouti to join the British forces in [[British Somaliland]]. General Truffert is forced to resign and cede power to his adjutant General Dupont after a great majority of Djibouti's military and civil administrators threaten to leave for British held Somaliland. This lasted until December 1942. By that time, the Italians had been defeated and the French colony was isolated by a British blockade. Free French and Allied forces recaptured the colony's capital of [[Djibouti city|Djibouti]] at the end of 1942. A local battalion of Somali skirmishers to participate in the battles for the [[liberation of France]], it participated in particular in the fighting at [[Pointe de Grave]] in April 1945. On April 22, 1945, [[General de Gaulle]] awarded the Somali battalion a citation to the army and decorated the battalion's pennant in [[Soulac-sur-Mer]]. The Somali battalion was dissolved on June 25, 1946.