8 May 1945: Sarkozy...s particular tribute to the African soldiers

The French president Nicolas Sarkozy has made a ...tribute... to the soldiers of the Army of Africa that participated in the Allied landings in (Provence), on the occasion of the commemoration of the victory of 8 May 1945.

•     “The landing troops are American and French. Among them, there were Spahis, Tabors, and Senegalese riflemen. I want to pay special tribute,” said the Head of State on the beach in St. Nartelle Maxime (southeast).
  
      The landing on the beaches of Provence, including the Nartelle, 15 August 1944, had opened a second front in France after the Allied landings on 6 June 1944 in Normandy.
  
      Of the 250,000 French soldiers committed alongside the Americans, said Sarkozy, the colonial troops showed admirable courage.
  
      All the time they participate in the epic of the 1st Army, they fight for France as they fought for their motherland. France will never forget their sacrifice, he assured.
  
      From June 1940 to May 1945, 55,000 Algerians, Tunisians, Moroccans, and soldiers from black Africa were killed, including 25,000 in the Army of Africa.
  
      The Army of Africa had some 400,000 soldiers.
  
      France will not forget the American soldiers fell to their sides on these beaches. She will not forget the Allied soldiers lying on the earth of Normandy, said Sarkozy.
  
      The head of state should commemorate the Allied landings on the beaches of Normandy, June 6, in the presence of U.S. President Barack Obama.
  
      After a military ceremony and his speech on the beach of Nartelle, Mr Sarkozy visited Le Mistral, a building for projection and command, to attend a naval and fly review, off the coast.
      
  Ennaharonline / AFP