On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 11:48:52 +0100, "Keith Willshaw"
wrote:

To be fair some French colonial forces joined the British
fighting the Germans and Italians long before Torch.

General LeClerc and his Free French Troops never stopped
fighting the Boche and the Vichy regime, having seized
control of Cameroon and Chad he and his men made
an epic journey through Chad and Southern Libya to
join up with the 8th Army in 1941

Indeed, and that was just the first chapter of Leclerc's epic. I had
the distinct pleasure of residing in Strasbourg for two years when I
was, ahem, younger, where I learned this story (one of the major
streets of the old town is named "Rue De La Division Leclerc"). On 1
March 1941, Leclerc vowed that he would not put down his weapons until
the colors which he had just raised over Koufra (in southeast Libya)
float over the cathedral of Strasbourg.* Leclerc went on to lead the
Allies into Paris in August 1944. In December 1944, Leclerc's second
armored division fulfilled his oath at Koufra, liberating
Strasbourg.**

*Jurez de ne déposer les armes que lorsque nos couleurs, nos belles
couleurs flotterons sur la cathédrale de Strasbourg ! I still have a
photo of that cathedral in my office.

**with a bit of help from the US Army. Whatever one thinks about the
current state of Franco-American relations, historically, we have
tended to do our best work when both nations were on the same side.

Regards,

George
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Dr. George O. Bizzigotti Telephone: (703) 610-2115
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