WWII Provence landings: The crucial role played by combatants from former French overseas colonies

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00:00A victory for the French, only possible with the support of its colonies.

00:04A quarter of a million soldiers from countries like Algeria and Morocco

00:07joined Allied forces for the Provence landings,

00:10including the Senegalese Tireurs,

00:12an infantry in the French army recruited from primarily West Africa.

00:16Some who've travelled to the Riviera to commemorate 1944.

00:19If France has been able to write liberty, equality, fraternity under its flag,

00:33it is partly thanks to the Senegalese infantrymen who made sacrifices

00:37that were very important for France's freedom.

00:41Code named Operation Dragoon,

00:43the beach landings in the Var region led to the recapture of key port cities

00:47like Marseille and Toulon from the German occupiers.

00:51But it took decades for post-war France to highlight the role of soldiers from its colonies.

00:58France had forgotten about us, but they're making up for that now.

01:05So we hope that this will continue for our children in the future.

01:10President Macron is expected to single out the contribution of the soldiers

01:14often forcibly recruited from the French colonies.

01:17Remembering and talking about France's colonial history should really be public policy

01:22and should be accompanied by major commemorations

01:25like those for the 80th anniversary of the Provence landings.

01:29But also by events, conferences,

01:31symposiums that will enable the French society as a whole to better understand this history.

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