page_title: Military history of France during World War II
section_title: Mediterranean, Middle East and African
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of France during World War II / Theatres of World War II / Mediterranean, Middle East and African
caption_attribution_description: English: Anti-aircraft guns at action stations during an alert on board a Free French Destroyer, part of the Free French Navy.
context_page_description: From 1939 until 1940, the French Third Republic was at war with Germany. The period from 1940 until 1945 saw competition between Vichy France and the Free French Forces under General Charles de Gaulle for control of the overseas empire. In 1944, after the landings of the Allies in France, they expelled the German Army, putting an end to the Vichy Regime.
  France and Britain declared war on Germany when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. After the Phoney War from 1939 to 1940, within seven weeks, the Germans invaded and defeated France and forced the British off the continent. France formally surrendered to Germany.
  In August 1943, the de Gaulle and Giraud forces merged in a single chain of command subordinated to Anglo-American leadership, meanwhile opposing French forces on the Eastern Front were subordinated to Soviet or German leaderships. This in-exile French force together with the French Forces of the Interior played a variable-scale role in the eventual liberation of France by the Western Allies and the defeat of Vichy France, Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Japanese empire.
caption: Anti-aircraft guns at action stations during an alert on board a Free French Destroyer, part of the Free French Navy. circa 1940–1941
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