1st Free French Division

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=1re Division Française Libre (1re DFL)


caption=Badge of the 1st Free French Division. The divisional badge features the Cross of Lorraine
dates=1 Aug 1940 - 15 Aug 1945
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type=Infantry Division
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battles=Dakar Gabon Eritrea Syria Bir Hakeim El Alamein Tunisia Italy Provence Vosges Alsace Authion
notable_commanders= Raoul Magrin-Vernerey Paul Legentilhomme Marie Pierre Kœnig Edgard de Larminat Diego Brosset Pierre Garbay
anniversaries=

The 1st Free French Division ( _fr. 1re Division Française Libre) was one of the principal units of the Free French Forces during World War II, and the first Free French unit of divisional size.

Units that eventually formed the division were engaged in combat as early as September 1940 at Dakar in an unsuccessful attempt to bring the Vichy troops there over to the side of the Allies. Other elements fought in Gabon and Eritrea before the various units were organized under British sponsorship as the 1st Free French Light Division in May 1941 near Tel Aviv. From June 8 until July 11, 1941, the division fought with British forces to remove the Vichy authorities from power in the Levant. The division was then disbanded in August 1941, but the component units continued to serve with the Allied forces. [Foreign Volunteers, p. 21]

In action as separate brigades, units of the 1st Division became famous for their hard fighting at Bir Hakeim and El Alamein. The division was reformed as the 1st Free French Division on 1 February 1943, [Foreign Volunteers, p. 22] and subsequently fought in the Tunisian Campaign during April and May, 1943.

For a few months, the 1st Division garrisoned Libya, and then fought in the Italian Campaign from April through July 1944. The division was equipped with U.S. weapons and supplies in January 1944. During the course of the war, the division would be officially renamed the 1st Motorized Infantry Division and finally the 1st March [The name "March" here refers to the ad-hoc origin of the division's subordinate units and connotates units without an existing military tradition. Despite their lack of long tradition, the March battalions of the 1st DFL were very effective in combat.] Infantry Division.

In August 1944, the division landed in southern France as part of the follow-on troops of Operation Dragoon, and fought with the French First Army through Provence and the Vosges Mountains, and into Alsace. [French Army, pp. 18-19] In January 1945, the division defended the area south of Strasbourg at heavy cost, losing the 24th March Battalion during desperate fighting against a German Nineteenth Army offensive. Shortly thereafter, the 1st Division fought as part of the II Corps in the battle of the Colmar Pocket.

In March 1945, the 1st Division was withdrawn from Alsace and sent to spearhead the French offensive into the Alps, recovering French territory taken by Italy in 1940 and claiming part of Italy for France. The final extent of the 1st Division's advance into the Alps became a point of contention between France on the one hand and the United States and Great Britain on the other, with the French finally withdrawing to the prewar border after an acrimonious dispute.

Over the course of the war, the 1st Free French Division lost over 4,000 men killed in action. [1re DFL, p. 203]

Divisional Order of Battle

August 15, 1944: [GUF Vol. V, Part 2, page 17] : 1st Brigade [Reflecting the organization of the division under British sponsorship, the 1st DFL used a brigade structure while later Free French divisions were formed with regiments in the traditional French method.] :: 1st Battalion of the French Foreign Legion:: 2nd Battalion of the French Foreign Legion:: 22nd North African March Battalion: 2nd Brigade:: 4th March Battalion:: 5th March Battalion:: 11th March Battalion: 4th Brigade:: 21st March Battalion:: 24th March Battalion:: Infantry Battalion of the Navy and the Pacific: 1st Regiment of Naval Fusiliers (Reconnaissance Battalion): 1st Artillery Regiment: 21st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group: 1st Engineer Combat Battalion: 1st Transmissions Battalion: 101st, 102nd, and 103rd Transportation Companies: 1st Traffic Control Detachment: 9th Quartermaster Company: 1st Maintenance Group: Light Surgical Ambulance: 1st Medical Battalion: Naval Female Medical Evacuation Section: Hadfield-Spears Ambulance

References and Footnotes

Article Sources

* Foreign Volunteers of the Allied Forces 1939-45. Nigel Thomas. London: Osprey Publishing, 1991.
* GUF - Guerre 1939 - 1945. Les Grandes Unités Françaises (Volume V-2). Armée de Terre, Service Historique. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1975.
* La 1re D.F.L.. Boussard, Leon. Bobigny: L'Imprimerie de Bobigny (Seine), 1946.
* The French Army 1939-45 (2). Ian Sumner. London: Osprey Publishing, 1998.