24 September 1941: regrouping of the Free French units of the Middle East into the 1st and 2nd Light Free French Divisions (divisions with two brigades each).
December 1941: the 1st Light Free French Division, reworked into the 1st Free French Brigade Group to adapt itself to the British military organization, deploys to the Western Desert.
1942: regrouping of the two independent Free French brigades of the Moyent-Orient (Middle East) into the French Forces of the Western Desert, following the departure of the 2nd Independent Free French Brigade from the Levant on April.
February 1943: recreated under the designation of 1st Free French Division - 1e DFL (division with three brigades 1re, 2e and 4e BFL).
August 1943: renamed 1st Motorized Infantry Division (1re DMI), but continued to be called 1re DFL.
15 August 1945: dissolution.
World War II
1940
The 1re DFL officially formed on 1 February 1943 and was dissolved on 15 August 1945. However, for the veterans of this unit, the history of the division began in the summer of 1940.
Under the designation of Free French Expeditionary Corps (French: Corps expéditionnaire français libre), the troops formed in London disembarked at Freetown in Sierra Leone and participated in the unsuccessful Battle of Dakar, before being directed, in October 1940, to Douala in the French Cameroons. In November 1940, the unit participated in the Battle of Gabon, before going to Durban in South Africa.
Under the designation of 1st Light Free French Division (French: Première Division Légère Française Libre) and under the command of General Paul Legentilhomme, the division joined the Syria–Lebanon Campaign in June 1941, where they fought against fellow Frenchmen, aligned with Vichy. The division entered into Damascus on 21 June 1941, then continued to Homs, Aleppo, Beirut and arrived at Cairo, where the division was dissolved.
The division is reconstituted under the form of two Free French brigades:
The 1st Independent Free French Brigade, 1e BFL, commanded by General Koenig
The 2nd Independent Free French Brigade, 2e BFL, commanded by General Cazaud
A 3rd Independent Free French Brigade remained in French Lebanon and Syria until the end of the war to ensure the protection of these two countries.
The two brigades and the Free French Flying Column formed the French Forces of the Western Desert (French: Forces françaises du Western Desert), part of the British Eighth Army.
1943
These two brigades (plus a third coming from Djibouti), are united on 1 February 1943 in the 1st Free French Division, 1re DFL, commanded by General Edgard de Larminat and participate in the Tunisian Campaign.
In June 1943, various troops of the Army of Africa (French: l'Armée d'Afrique) joined the ranks of the division. Accordingly, the division was sent to the desert of Libya during two and a half months, at the request of Henri Giraud. The 2e DFL of General Leclerc would follow the same procedure.
After the reunification of the two French forces, on 1 August 1943, the division was officially designated as 1st Motorized Infantry Division (French: 1re Division Motorisée d'Infanterie, 1re DMI) due to its integration in the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy. In 1944, the 1st Motorized Infantry Division became the 1st Marching Infantry Division (French: 1re Division de Marche d'Infanterie, 1re DMI). Nevertheless, the unit remained known as the 1re DFL.
1944
Commanded by General Diego Brosset and now part of the French Expeditionary Corps, the division participated in the Italian Campaign since April 1944.
In autumn 1944, the French Forces of the Interior joined the First Army, replacing the 6000 Africans of the division in what was referred during that period as blanchiment (whitening).
General Brosset accidentally died on 20 November 1944 and was succeeded by General Pierre Garbay.
1945
The division made its way to the Vosges where it faced Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive on the Western Front. Afterwards it joined the battles for the Colmar Pocket. In March 1945, the division participated in the Battle of Authion. It then took Tende and La Brigue. When it was about to march on Turin the German Army in Italy surrendered on 2 May 1945.
Marine Infantry and Pacific Battalion (grouping of the 1st Marine Infantry Battalion and the Pacific Battalion nº 1 following the Battle of Bir Hakeim).
Units disbanded before 1944
Marching Battalion nº 1, BM 1. With the 1e DFL, the battalion participated to the campaigns of Gabon, East Africa and Syria. The battalion then participated in the Tunisian Campaign with the 2nd Armored Division before being disbanded 1943.
Marching Battalion nº 2, BM 2. Attached to the 3rd Independent Free French Brigade, in Syria, in July 1942, it was then sent to Madagascar and to the French Equatorial Africa.
The division was cited 4 times at the orders of the armed forces (26 June 1942, following the battle of Bir Hakeim; 27 January 1945, for Italy, the Vosges; 16 March 1945, for combats in Alsace; 7 July 1945, for the campaign of Authion) and the principal forming regiments were awarded the French Fourragere for 2 citations at the orders of the armed forces.
Fourragere with olive colors of the Médaille militaire and Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (4–5 citations at the orders of the armed forces)
Forty-eight cemeteries, are the resting places of the more than 3600 members of the division. Eight of the division's units were made Compagnons de la Libération. Four members of the division represent the combatants in uniform resting at the Mémorial de la France combattante at au Mont Valérien, Nous sommes ici pour témoigner devant l'Histoire que de 1939 à 1945 ses fils ont lutté pour que la France vive libre:
Maboulkede (1921–1944) – Soldier of the 24th Marching Battalion, BM 24
Marius Duport (1919–1944) – Sous-lieutenant of the 22nd North African Marching Battalion 22e BMNA
Antonin Mourgues (1919–1942) – Caporal-chef au Marine Infantry and Pacific Battalion, BIMP
Casualties
The division endured the loss of 3619 killed in action (out of which 1126 Colonial Indigenous (French: Indigènes Coloniaux)) with 67% killed in the period of April 1944 to May 1945.[2]