Memorial Day

Celebrating French Riviera's Day

The American G.I.s, from the point of view of a grateful France

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The Second World War was raging. In Europe, Hitler invaded Poland on Sept. 3, 1939. France and Britain declared war on Nazi Germany and they engaged in a bloody conflict. 

At the other end of the world, in 1941, Japan refused to withdraw from French Indochina and decided to invade a large part of China. In response, the United States imposed an embargo on oil on the Japanese. In response to that, Emperor Hirohito launched the greater East Asian war and authorized the attack on Pearl Harbor. The conflict became global and opposed the "allies” led by the United States, to the "Forces of the Axis” — Rome-Berlin-Tokyo. France, which was deemed the best Army in the world since 1918, collapsed in a few weeks against the German offensives. 

Meanwhile, Italy attacked the French Riviera on June 10, 1940 and hoped to recover Nice — considered lost since 1860. The blast tipped France, which signed the armistice with the Germans on June 22 and then with the Italians on June 24. The fighting stopped in the South of France and the French Riviera was part of the free zone. 

Following on Operation Torch, the allied landed in North Africa and the French Riviera was occupied by Fascist Italy from November 1942 until the Italian capitulation on September 8, 1943. The next day, the Germans replaced transalpine. The situation of the Jews became a great concern; an estimated 6,000 of them were deported by the Gestapo from Nice and its surroundings. 

Meanwhile, the US Army approached the coast and bombarded enemy positions. The Americans landed in Provence on August 15, 1944. They were first on the ground of the French Riviera, in Cannes, on August 25 — and it sounded like a wind of freedom for the people. Nothing would stop most GIs who saved every city in that territory. Allied soldiers came into Nice, acclaimed by the crowd, on August 30.

French Riviera’s Day

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