FRENCH ARMOURED DIVISIONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 15 August 1944, Page 5

FRENCH ARMOURED DIVISIONS

" 1 | NOW FIGHTING IN FRANCE The Second French Armoured Divi--1! sion under the command of General * 1 Leclerc is now fighting in France. This • | is the first announcement that troops 13 , of this kind are being used. The I Second French Armorj ed Division. y which is fighting alongside the Ameri- >•) cans, was formed in North Africa soon r j after the final liberation ot Tunisia in I I May, 1943. It was made up largely of • men who had participated in the ex- : pedition across Fezzan and the Libyan - desert from Fort Lamy in Chad to 1 i Tripoli, then fought on beside the 4 British Eighth Army to Tunis. The t; division, after its formation and re- >■ ! equipment in North Africa underwent ■ 1 training which was completed in EngI ! land. Many now forming the division o | are young Frenchmen who completed s- j their military training in the Free | French camp in England in 1940 soon ! after the French armistice, and who ! are now war-tempered troops who have already won legendary fame as the j “Leclerc Column.” General Leclerc's ' forces on 23rd January. 1943. stormed 5 Pommel's garrison at Misda and on ■ f 23th January entered Tripoli. They • fought in Tunisia under General Mont- i • gotVicry's command. General Leclerc's' ® I mo orised columns entered Gabes bee , side the New Zealanders and had a 1 , great welcome in Tunis. > NAVAL LOSSES n London, Aug. 13. e The Admiralty announced the folII lowing losses in Allied operations for r the liberation of Europe: The destroyy ! ers Isisi and Quorn. the minesweepers d Magic. Cato. Flyades. the trawler "1 Ganilly. and the anti-submarine trawler Lord Wakefield.