1st Free French Division (1st DFL)

Infantry division

Equipment :French then British then American

Battles:

Dakar

Gabon

Eritrea

Syria

Bir Hakeim
The Alamein

Tunisia

Italy

Provence

Vosges

Alsace

Authion

Historical Commander

Raoul Magrin-Vernerey

Paul Gentleman

Marie Peter Kœnig

Edgard of Larminate

Diego Brosset

Pierre Garbay

The 1st Free French Division was the main unit of the Free French Forces during World War II.

Historical

The 1st DFL was officially formed on February 1, 1943 and disbanded on August 15, 1945, but, for its veterans, the history this infantry division begins as early as the summer of 1940 and under the name of Free French Expeditionary Corps, it participates in the attempted landing at Dakar in September 1940, then at the forced rallying of Gabon in October and November 1940.

Became the French Free Orient Brigade and commanded by Colonel Magrin Verneret dit Monclar, it campaigned in Eritrea and was victorious at Kub Kub on February 20, 1941, during the Battle of Keren and at Massaoua on April 8, 1941.

It was under the name of the Free French First Light Division and under the command of General Legentilhomme that it entered Syria in June 1941 and fought the French forces remaining loyal to the Vichy regime. She entered victorious in Damascus on 21 June 1941.

Disbanded after this campaign, it renamed in the form of two free French brigades. The 1st BFL with General Koenig at its command, appeared at Bir Hakeim from 26 May to 11 June 1942.

The 2nd Brigades and the Free French Flying Column form the French Western Desert Forces within the British 8th Army and the 1st Brigade participates in the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, as well as the 2nd Brigade which plays a further role modest.

These two brigades plus a third arrival from Djibouti, were mustered on 1 February 1943 into the 1st DFL commanded by General Larminat, and participated in the end of the Tunisian campaign at Takrouna in May 1943.

In June 1943, large numbers of deserters flocked to the African Army to join its ranks. She is then sent into the Libyan desert for two and a half months, at the request of General Giraud. General Leclerc's 2nd DFL suffered the same fate.

After the unification of the two French armies, on 1 August 1943, it is officially renamed the 1st Motorized Infantry Division then the 1st Infantry Marching Division (1st DMI). Still, for those who compose it and very often in the literature, it continues to bear the name of 1st DFL.

Commanded by General Diego Brosset, she was attached to the French Expeditionary Corps and participated in the Italian campaign in the spring of 1944.

With Army B, it landed in Provence on 15 August 1944 and moved up to the Vosges where General Brosset was accidentally killed on 20 November 1944. His successor, General Pierre Garbay, led his division into the Alsace campaign where she plays, in early January 1945, a prime role in the defense of Strasbourg, then in the Southern Alps or she fights until the last days of the war.

Forty-eight cemeteries, sheltering its 4,000 dead, punctuate its itinerary. Eight of his units were made Companions of the Liberation. Four of his dead representing the fighters in uniform rest on the Fighting France Memorial at Mont Valerien, under this epitaph:"We are here to testify before History that from 1939 to 1945 his sons fought for a free France" .

Units having belonged to the 1st DFL

Combat units

*1st Marine Rifle Regiment

* 1st Cie of tanks (then 501st RCC in the 2eDB)

* 1st Moroccan Spahis

* 11th Regiment of Cuirassiers

* 1st Regiment of Artillery

* 21st West Indies group of DCA

* 1st Battalion of the Genius

* 13th Foreign Legion

* 22nd North African Battalion

* 1

* Marching Battalion 2

* Marching Battalion 3

* 4

* 5

* 11

* Marine and Pacific Infantry Battalion

* 21

* 24

* 4th anti-tank company

Organic units

* Headquarters Company No. 50 (and 51, 52)

* 101st company auto (and 102nd, 103rd, 105th)

* 1st Transmission Battalion

* 9th Divisional Repair Company (and heavy workshops 1, 2 and 3)

* 1st Road Traffic Detachment

* Pre-voted

* Divisional Intendence

* Ambulance Hadfiels Spears

* Light surgical ambulation