The French Civil and Military High Command was an administrative and military governing body in Algiers that was created in connection with the Allied landings in French North Africa on 7 and 8 November 1942 as part of Operation Torch. It came about as a result of negotiations between the Americans and two military figures from Vichy France whom the Americans believed could assure safe passage for the landing forces, namely Henri Giraud and François Darlan.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Henri Giraud saluting the flags of both nations at Allied headquarters (1943)
Liberation of France
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The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance.
Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle speaking from the balcony at Cherbourg City Hall, 20 August 1944
Philippe Pétain meeting Hitler on 24 October 1940. Ribbentrop on the right.
Poster of the 18 June appeal distributed in Occupied France through underground means as pamphlets and plastered on walls as posters by supporters of the Résistance.
Generals Eisenhower and Bradley with a young member of the French resistance during the liberation of Lower Normandy in summer 1944