1918-1939 History of India 1945-1954





French India 1939-1945



In 1939, when Hitler-Germany invaded Poland, both France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. In May 1940 Germany launched the invasion of France; the commander in chief of the French forces, Marshall Petain, surrendered in June and went on to form a new government, the so-called Vichy administration, recognized as legitimate by most of France's colonies.
The situation of French India, however, was peculiar. A combination of a few scattered territories, it was undefendable. So when the administration of British India suggested to the administration of French India that the latter would transfer her allegiance to the Free French administration formed by Charles de Gaulle in Brazzaville, she complied, French India belonging to the first French colonies which recognized the Free French administration.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		History of Pondicherry, from pondicherry.com, from pondicherry.net, from pondy.com
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Article : French India, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.901-902 [G]
Article : French India, in : Americana Annual 1940 pp.322-323, 1943 pp.307-308, 1944 p.295, 1945 p.304, 1946 p.306 [G]
Article : French India, in : New International Year Book Events of 1940 p.290, 1941 p.223, 1942 p.267, 1943 pp.227-228, 1944 p.239, 1945 p.223 [G]
Article : French Colonial Empire, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1945 pp.301-302 [G]
Article : French India, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1940 p.250 [G]



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First posted on May 26th 2002, last revised on August 25th 2007

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