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French infantry pushing through enemy barbed wire, 1915. During World War I, France was one of the Triple Entente powers allied against the Central Powers.Although fighting occurred worldwide, the bulk of the French Army's operations occurred in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Alsace-Lorraine along what came to be known as the Western Front, which consisted mainly of trench warfare.
The 1st Army Corps (French: 1 er Corps d'Armée) was first formed before World War I.During World War II it fought in the Campaign for France in 1940, on the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Elba in 1943 - 1944 and in the campaigns to liberate France in 1944 and invade Germany in 1945.
The First Army was mainly composed of North African troops (Maghrebis, French Pied-Noirs and a significant number of escapees from occupied France) drawn from the Army of Africa. These troops had played a major role in the liberation of Corsica (September–October 1943) and the Italian Campaign (1943–44), with about 130,000 men engaged.
The Second Army (French: IIe Armée) was a field army of the French Army during World War I and World War II. [1] The Army became famous for fighting the Battle of Verdun in 1916 under Generals Philippe Pétain and Robert Nivelle.
The 2nd Army Corps (French: 2 e Corps d'Armée) was first formed before World War I. During World War II it fought in the Campaign for France in 1940 and during the 1944–45 campaigns in southern France, the Vosges Mountains, Alsace, and southwestern Germany. It was active under the First Army for many years after World War II.
The regular French troops consisted of four battalions of the 6th Foreign Infantry Regiment 6 e REI (according to Dentz, these were the best troops available to the Vichy French command) and three battalions of the 24th Colonial Infantry Regiment (French regulars enlisted for overseas service).
French defeats in the early stages of World War II, however, forced the British to attack the French fleet moored at Mers-el-Kebir in order to prevent the threat she fall to the Germans, the remaining of French fleet scuttled herself at Toulon for prevent the 7th Panzer Division to capture the fleet, two years later .
The siege of Lille or Lille pocket (28–31 May 1940) took place during the Battle of France in the Second World War.The siege of the French IV Corps and V Corps (about 40,000 men) of the First Army (General René Prioux) was conducted by four German infantry divisions supported by three panzer divisions.