# French Colonies in WWII **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 16, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629 "2008-04-16T19:14:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/1 "2008-04-16T19:14:21Z")
What happened to France’s colonial possessions after the surrender to Germany? Were they administered by Vichy France? Did they “break away” from Vichy France to become temporarily free? Or did they stay loyal to the free French? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/2 "2008-04-16T19:42:01Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] What happened to France’s colonial possessions after the surrender to Germany? Were they administered by Vichy France? Did they “break away” from Vichy France to become temporarily free? Or did they stay loyal to the free French? [/QUOTE] Everything I know on this subject comes from _Casablanca_, which seemed to indicate that the colonies were administered by Vichy. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/3 "2008-04-16T19:46:00Z")
[Wikipedia: Vichy French Colonies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vichy_France#Vichy_French_colonies) ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/4 "2008-04-16T20:29:24Z")
I should have known there would be a wiki article. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/5 "2008-04-16T21:05:08Z")
They were governed by colonial governors, all of whom were Vichy appointees – and the local governments and people basically followed the _droit administratif_ in allegiance to Vichy. But there were exceptions. Felix Eboue was a native of,IIRC, Martinique who was named governor of, well, originally the French Congo (now Congo-Brazzaville) and by playing his cards right ended up in authority over what became French Equatorial Africa – Gabon, French Congo, Moyen-Congo (now CAR), French Cameroons, and Chad (then Tchad). His declaring for the Free French gave them essentially their first _pied à terre_. That Free French forces were headed for Freetown (now Libreville, Gabon) after failing to take Dakar probably contributed to his decision, but it was still a courageous move. Free French forces also took French Somaliland (Djibouti) and St. Pierre et Miquelon (over Cordell Hull’s vehement objections). After the Reich seized Vichy France, of course, loyalties magically changed. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2008, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/6 "2008-04-16T22:44:09Z")
[Operation Torch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Torch) was the invasion of Vichy French Morocco and Algeria in 1942. It wasn’t much of a fight, but the Allies weren’t universally greeted with rose petals either… ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/7 "2008-04-17T00:06:24Z")
[Here](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:World_War_II_1940_07.png) is a map of the world in July 1940, after the French surrender. Vichy territories are colored alongside the Axis ones- it looks like French Equatorial Africa and the French Pacific territories were the only territories that did not join the Vichy regime and remained loyal to the Free French. (French Indochina was occupied by Japan.) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/8 "2008-04-17T00:09:08Z")
An aside: some of the coolest coins I ever found were in an open air market in Mali. A vendor had a cup full of coins stashed at the back of a shelf, and when he dumped them out on the table they turned out to be bronze 5F coins (in mint condition) manufactured for French Algeria in 1938, 1939 and 1940. I bought them all for about $.30 each, only to find out they were worth much more. Well, I thought they were cool. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/9 "2008-04-17T00:33:54Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] An aside: some of the coolest coins I ever found were in an open air market in Mali. A vendor had a cup full of coins stashed at the back of a shelf, and when he dumped them out on the table they turned out to be bronze 5F coins (in mint condition) manufactured for French Algeria in 1938, 1939 and 1940. I bought them all for about $.30 each, only to find out they were worth much more. Well, I thought they were cool. [/QUOTE] And as soon as you left, the vendor went into the back room and brought out another cup full of counterfeit mint coins for the next sucker to “find”… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/10 "2008-04-18T05:00:59Z")
**mobo85,** thank you very much for that mapsite! Ignorance successfully fought! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/11 "2008-04-18T13:25:58Z")
I also like th at site. It’s cool to go switching back and forth between images to watch the progress of the war. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/12 "2008-04-18T13:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] Everything I know on this subject comes from _Casablanca_, which seemed to indicate that the colonies were administered by Vichy. [/QUOTE] You could broaden your research by watching [_To Have and Have Not_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Have_and_Have_Not_(film))! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/13 "2008-04-18T14:57:17Z")
[QUOTE=Musicat] And as soon as you left, the vendor went into the back room and brought out another cup full of counterfeit mint coins for the next sucker to “find”… 😉 [/QUOTE] Har. If I had been in Nigeria, I wouldn’t have touched them, but these are certainly real enough. If they were going to counterfeit coins, I’m pretty sure it would have been the Napoleanic coins I also found there, which were so worn they were barely identifiable as such. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/14 "2008-04-18T21:28:33Z")
[QUOTE=Hypno-Toad] It’s cool to go switching back and forth between images to watch the progress of the war. [/QUOTE] I know. Aren’t maps great? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/15 "2008-04-18T22:51:51Z")
The fight over the French colonial empire seems tailor-made for a book-length study, but I’m not aware of any. It was a fascinating conflict, fought in places like Cameroon, Syria, Madagascar, and St. Pierre that we don’t think of as World War II battle fronts. When generals argued with Winston Churchill, not wishing to attack without months of preparation, he would tell how “Duala, and with it the French Cameroons, were taken by twenty-five Frenchmen.” The side show in Indochina was critical to the United States, as it was in retaliation for Japanese penetration of Vichy-run Indochina that the US imposed the trade embargo that led to Pearl Harbor. (Not to mention that we fought another war there later.) The fact that two Bogart movies were set in the wartime French Empire indicates that our forebears were perhaps more attuned to the drama in this struggle then we are. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2008, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-colonies-in-wwii/445629/16 "2008-04-19T01:47:39Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] Felix Eboue was a native of,IIRC, Martinique [/quote] You recall incorrectly – he was born in [French Guiana.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Eboue). He did later serve in Martinique. > [@](#): > > who was named governor of, well, originally the French Congo (now Congo-Brazzaville) His first administrative appointment was to Oubangui-Chari, now the Central African Republic. He became the first black governor of a French colony when he was appointed to the position in Guadeloupe. > [@](#): > > and by playing his cards right ended up in authority over what became French Equatorial Africa – Gabon, French Congo, Moyen-Congo (now CAR), French Cameroons, and Chad (then Tchad). All French Equatorial Africa was divided into four territories. French Congo and Moyen-Congo (Middle Congo) are the same place, which is now officially the Republic of the Congo, and is indeed sometimes referred to as Congo-Brazzaville in order to distinguish it from the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Belgian Congo, later Zaire, informally Congo-Kinshasa [or Congo-Leopoldville, as it was known before the capital changed its name]). As I said before, the CAR (once Central African Empire) was the colony of Oubangui-Chari. Gabon and Chad completed the list of constituent territories. [More info here.](http://www.asnom.org/en/153_aef.html#b) While Cameroun was originally incorporated into French Equatorial Africa around the end of the nineteenth century, parts of that territory were ceded to Germany in 1911. After World War I, portions of that German protectorate were ceded to Britain, while France got the rest. The French Cameroons [were not re-integrated to French Equatorial Africa,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Cameroons) but rather administered separately as a _Comissariat de la République autonome_.