Bastille Day
Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In French, it is formally called ' (; "The National Celebration") and commonly and legally ' (; "the 14th of July").
French Resistance
As various cities, towns and villages were liberated in France, the Resistance was usually the most organized force that took over. Many "résistants" were disgusted by the mass influx of new members in the dying days of the struggle, contemptuously calling them the FFS ("Forces Françaises de Septembre"-French Forces of September) or the "Septemberists" for short, as all these people had conveniently only discovered their French patriotism in September 1944. In the middle of 1944, Chaban-Delmas had reported to de Gaulle that the FFI numbered 15, 000 in Paris, but the time of the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944, between 50, 000-60, 000 people were wearing FFI armbands. The liberation of France began with D-Day on 6 June 1944, but different areas of France were liberated at different times. Strasbourg was not liberated until November 1944, and some of the coastal towns on the English Channel and the Atlantic like Dunkirk were still in German hands when the war ended on 8 May 1945. Ousby observed: "There was no national day for Liberation. Each town and village still celebrates a different day, the gaps between them marking advances that often looked bogged down, pockets of German defense that often turned out to be unexpectedly tough. It proved the bitterest of ends to a bitter war." As France was liberated, many "résistants" enlisted in the French Army, with 75, 000 "résistants" fighting as regular soldiers by November 1944, and by the end of the war, 135, 000 "résistants" were serving with the French forces advancing into Germany. For many resistance leaders who gave themselves the title of captain or colonel, it was quite a comedown to be reduced to a private.