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1re Division Française Libre
1re Division Française Libre
	; Badge of the 1st Free French Division. The divisional badge features the Cross of Lorraine
Active	1 August 1940 - 15 August 1945
Country	France
Allegiance	French Army; Free French Forces
Type	Infantry Division
Engagements	Dakar; Gabon; Eritrea; Syria; Bir Hakeim; El Alamein; Tunisia; Italy; Provence; Vosges; Alsace; Authion
Commanders
Notable; commanders	Raoul Magrin-Vernerey; Paul Legentilhomme; Marie Pierre Kœnig; Edgard de Larminat; Diego Brosset; Pierre Garbay

The 1st Free French Division (French: 1re Division Française Libre, 1re DFL) 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.^[1]

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,^[2] 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^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

[edit] Divisional Order of Battle

August 15, 1944:^[6]

1st Brigade^[7]

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

[edit] References and Footnotes

^ Foreign Volunteers, p. 21
^ Foreign Volunteers, p. 22
^ 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.
^ French Army, pp. 18-19
^ 1re DFL, p. 203
^ GUF Vol. V, Part 2, page 17
^ 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.

[edit] 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.

[0] Foreign Volunteers, p. 21

[1] Foreign Volunteers, p. 22

[2] 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.

[3] French Army, pp. 18-19

[4] 1re DFL, p. 203

[5] GUF Vol. V, Part 2, page 17

[6] 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.

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