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North-African soldiers. 1914-1918

"The Balcony", Chemin des Dames, Aisne, an injured infantryman. 23 October 1917. Photograph: Jacques Ridel. Source: ECPAD

The liberation of Lorraine

Des hommes de la 5e et de la 65e division d'infantrie US se serrent la main après avoir effectué leur jonction devant Metz, le 22 novembre 1944. Copyright US NARA

The liberation of Caen.

The first British troops in Caen pose with the residents in front of the devastated shops.

The Allies had predicted that the great Normandy city of Caen, a major crossroads, would be taken on D-Day. But at the beginning of July 1944, Caen still had not been liberated.

Canada in World War II

Canadian infantry landing at Juno Beach and marching toward Bernières-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944.

L'infanterie canadienne débarque sur la plage de Juno Beach et marche en direction de Bernières-sur-Mer, le 6 juin 1944. Source Archives Nationales du Canada.

On 7 September 1939, the Canadian Parliament met in a special session and two days later gave its support to Great Britain and France, which had been at war with Germany since 3 September.

Normandy - Falaise Pocket

Canadian soldiers entering the city of Falaise. Source: Basse-Normandie Regional Council / National Archives of Canada

Nearly surrounded and under pressure from all sides, two German armies organised their retreat during the Battle of the Falaise Pocket.

Arromanches harbour

Aerial view of Mulberry artificial harbour at Arromanches, September 1944. Source: Imperial War Museum

New Caledonia in the two World Wars

Noumea, departure for La Grange, 4 June 1916 © Noumea City Museum

As was the case for all of France and the French Empire, New Caledonia, one of France's principal possessions in the Pacific, played a role that remains mostly unknown in France today but was nonetheless important, or even crucial, at certain points during the World Wars, especially in the Pacific operations during World War II.

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny

Le général de Lattre acclamé par la population de Colmar. Source : ECPAD

At the beginning of the Second World War (1939-45), Jean de Lattre de Tassigny was France's youngest general.

After the signing of the armistice, on 22 June 1940, he set about planning to overcome the Nazi occupier, under the motto Ne pas subir ('Never give in'). His rallying to General de Gaulle's Free France took him to Algiers, which he left with his army in 1944 to liberate France, from Provence to the Rhine.

On 9 May 1945, de Lattre was present in Berlin, alongside the Allies, to sign, on behalf of France, the official act of surrender of Nazi Germany.

Battles of Saint-Marcel

Operation zones of the SAS and the resistance movements (maquis) in Brittany. Source: GNU Free Documentation License.

The battles in Saint-Marcel marked an important turn of events in Brittany's Resistance movement.

Le Vercors

Flag of the Vercors Free Republic (June-July 1944). Source: Creative Commons Licence

In 1940, Le Vercors, a genuine natural fortress, sixty kilometres long and 30 wide, at an altitude of over 2,340 m between L'Isère and La Drôme, was a place of refuge especially for victims of the Vichy Government's political and racial discrimination measures.

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