Time period: 1944-1945. The liberation of Italy, Provence, the
Alps, the Rhone Valley, the Vosges and Alsace marked vital
stages in the Allied victory. And, in the place that France was
able to take among the Allies following the Armistice. This
victorious and bloody march on Germany was carried out by the
1st French Army, recruited in Africa to sidestep the German
occupiers and the officials of the Vichy regime: 200,000 men,
including 130,000 "natives" comprising 110,000 North Africans
and 20,000 Black African. The rest of the force was made up of
French North Africans and of young Frenchmen who had fled the
Occupation. This is the forgotten story of the so-called
"native" soldiers. Bernard Blancan, Sami Bouajila, Jamel
Debbouze, Aurelie Eltvedt, Benoit Giros, Mathieu Simonet, Samy
Naceri, Roschdy Zem