Free France was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by General Charles de Gaulle, Free France was established as a government-in-exile in London in June 1940 after the Fall of France during World War II and fought the Axis as an Allied nation with its Free French Forces. Free France also supported the resistance in Nazi-occupied France, known as the French Forces of the Interior, as well as gained strategic footholds in several French colonies in Africa.
A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are regarded by some as the first aircraft carriers and appeared just before the First World War.
Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a 20-knot warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships.
The Battle of Gabon, also called the Gabon Campaign, occurred in November 1940 during World War II. The battle resulted in forces under the orders of General de Gaulle taking the colony of Gabon and its capital, Libreville, from Vichy France, and the rallying of French Equatorial Africa to Free France.
The Free French Naval Forces were the naval arm of the Free French Forces during the Second World War. They were commanded by Admiral Émile Muselier.
The French submarine Curie was a British-built U-class submarine, a member of the third group of that class to be built. Laid down as HMS Vox for the Royal Navy she was transferred to the Free French Naval Forces on the day she was commissioned, where she served as Curie from 1943 to 1946, but retaining her pennant number of P67. When P67 returned to the Royal Navy in July 1946 she re-assumed the name Vox.
Jean Stanislas Rémy, commonly known as Jean Rémy, was a French colonel, a member of the Free French, and a Companion of the Liberation.
1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos was a Fusiliers Marins commando unit of the Free French Navy, raised in 1942, which served during the Second World War. Its initial Commandant was then-Lieutenant de Vaisseau (Captain) Philippe Kieffer of the Free French Navy, under whose command they participated in the Normandy landings in 1944.
The 1st Spahi Regiment is an armored regiment of the modern French Army, previously called the 1st Moroccan Spahi Regiment. It was established in 1914 as a mounted cavalry unit recruited primarily from indigenous Moroccan horsemen. The regiment saw service in the First World War, and in the Second World War as part of the Forces Françaises Libres, as well as post-war service in the French-Indochina War and elsewhere. The modern regiment continues the traditions of all former Spahi regiments in the French Army of Africa.
French Flower-class corvettes were those ships of the Flower class built for, or operated by, the French Navy and Free French Naval Forces in World War II. At the outbreak of the war, four anti-submarine warfare ships were ordered from a British shipyard, and a further 18 ships were later ordered from several British and French shipyards. Following the Fall of France in June 1940, the ships in Britain were taken over by the Royal Navy, while those in France fell into German hands. Eight other Flowers were later transferred to the Free French Naval Forces.
The Chamois class were French minesweeping sloops ordered between 1935 and 1939. They were similar in design to the Élan class, and like them classed as minesweepers, but were actually used as anti-submarine ships, convoy escorts and patrol vessels.
The 1st Moroccan Division created on 27 October 1939, was an infantry division of the Army of Africa which participated in the Battle of France during World War II.
The 2nd Parachute Chasseur Regiment or 2e RCP, is one of the most decorated French units of the Second World War, the only land unit awarded the red fourragère in that war, including six citations at the orders of the armed forces. The French Navy 1500-ton class submarine Casabianca also accumulated six citations at the orders of the armed forces and therefore its crewmen were entitled to wear the same fourragère.
