Ooops! Forgot this wasn’t the Pit! I hope the powers that be will forgive me! I am sorry for useing a 4 letter word! Please forgive me! I will be more careful in the future.
This wasn’t an issue for the invasion of Europe; the region the Allied forces attacked was part of the territory occupied and controlled by Germany. So from a legal standpoint it could be viewed as an attack against Germany not France.
However, earlier in the war, there were attacks by the British and Americans against unoccupied French territory. There were major political concerns about invading a country which we were not at war with. The issue was later resolved by various agreements which gave us French permission after the fact.
Another interesting situation arose earlier in the war during the battle in North Africa. The Germans and Italians were fighting against the British and their allies for control of Egypt. Egypt however was still a neutral country at this time and was not at war with any of the countries fighting in its territory.
It was 1966. I think we could have gotten out before then if we had wanted to.
What in God’s name are you talking about?
The Llandovery Castle case (Supreme Court of Leipzig, 1920) firmly established that war crimes committed under superior orders were the responsibility of the superior officer, unless the soldier carrying out the orders knows them to be illegal.
Treaty obligations, as a rule, adhere to land and name, rather than people. In other words, if you lead a coup and seize power in Country X, whatever treaties Country X was a signatory to are usually going to be held against you. If you were to change the name of your State and institute an entirely new form of government, you could probably get away with it.
If you are a State which wins independence, and your territory is “carved out” of another, you normally begin with a clean slate.
Usually, the only people who can be relied upon to argue that a revolutionary change in government means a blank slate of treaties are, well, revolutionaries.
I’m talking about when American troops left France. It was June 1966. Charles de Gaulle rescinded permission for NATO troops (including American) to be stationed in France.
Technically France had asked for an armistice not a surrender. There was never any treaty formally ending the state of war between Germany and France (the Germans wanted to wait until the war ended to write up the final surrender terms).
The Petain government based in Vichy was a legal government and was recognized as such by the United States among other countries.