Forces Françaises Libres

From his base in London General Charles de Gaulle began to build up the Forces Françaises Libres. At first these consisted merely of French troops in England, volunteers from the French community resident in England since prewar times, and a few units of the French navy. In 1941 FFL participated in British-controlled operations against Italian forces in Libya and Egypt, and that same year they joined the British in defeating the Vichy forces in Syria and Lebanon. By the time of the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944-06, the FFL had swelled to more than 300,000 regular troops. They were almost wholly American-equipped and supplied.