Tricolor Over the Sahara: The Desert Battles of the Free French, 1940-1942

(Hardback)

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Details how the little-known battles of the Free French in remote areas of Africa contributed to the Allied victory in World War II. This is the story of the early struggles of an ill-equipped ragtag French force, among the first to pledge its loyalty to General de Gaulle. It fought a lonely, almost secret war against the numerically superior Italian troops deep in the wildest parts of the Sahara, hundreds of miles from the main campaigns along the African coast. These daring Free French raids with their long thirsty treks and small-scale oasis battles have been nearly forgotten, although their path is marked by the graves of many hundreds of French, Italian, and native soldiers. Bimberg details the exotic units that participated in this struggle, including the Tiralleurs Senegalaise du Chad (African Infantry), the Compagnies Sahariennes (Saharan Camel Companies), and the Group Nomade du Tibesti (a tribal milltia recruited in the Tibesti Mountain region of the great desert). Despite antiquated equipment and some of the world's worst terrain, the Free French were among the most dedicated soldiers in the Allied camp. The backdrop to their fierce fighting includes the barely surveyed Tibesti Mountains with their 10,000 foot volcanic peaks, interspersed with treacherous shifting sands-terrain which would prove to be an enormous challenge to the worn out, patched-together motor vehicles of the Free French. Much of the action takes place in the most remote areas of Italian Libya, the desert province of Fezzan with its fortified oases of Mourzouk and Kufra, each strongly defended by the Italians. While these skirmishes were a sideshow to the epic battles of North Africa, they were immortalized by heroic acts by the French and African troops alike, efforts that ultimately led to success in this far corner of the world.

Reviews

.,."for those who wish to know more about a relatively unknown aspect of World War II in the African desert (which deserves more attention than it heretofore recieved in English) of the Free French movement, the book is worthwhile, and libraries that deal with the subject might well acquire it."-History: Review of New Books
"Bimberg provides a spirited, racy acount of the French soldiers who from July 1940 opted to follow de Gaulle in "Free France..,." The work is useful for two main reasons. The first is simply a needed reminder that, before November 1942, there had been Frenchmen who from the outset rejected the Vichy regime and all that it stood for, and were prepared to fight on. The second is the excellent descriptions Bimberg offers of fighting a desert war on a shoestring, with all the difficulties of equipment shortage, health, climate, and ground.... Bimberg's sources are mostly English language and secondary but they serve well his presentation of adventurous patriotic Frenchmen, fighting far from home for the recovery not only of their homeland but for them even more important, their country's honour."-The Journal of Military History
...for those who wish to know more about a relatively unknown aspect of World War II in the African desert (which deserves more attention than it heretofore recieved in English) of the Free French movement, the book is worthwhile, and libraries that deal with the subject might well acquire it.-History: Review of New Books
[i]f you enjoy an adventure and prefer the Vol de Nuit or Pilote de Guerre of Antoine de Saint-Exupeery to his Petit Prince, then read Bimberg.-H-France Book Reviews
Bimberg provides a spirited, racy acount of the French soldiers who from July 1940 opted to follow de Gaulle in "Free France..,." The work is useful for two main reasons. The first is simply a needed reminder that, before November 1942, there had been Frenchmen who from the outset rejected the Vichy regime and all that it stood for, and were prepared to fight on. The second is the excellent descriptions Bimberg offers of fighting a desert war on a shoestring, with all the difficulties of equipment shortage, health, climate, and ground.... Bimberg's sources are mostly English language and secondary but they serve well his presentation of adventurous patriotic Frenchmen, fighting far from home for the recovery not only of their homeland but for them even more important, their country's honour.-The Journal of Military History
The book...is enriched by Bimberg's personal experience as a US veteran of the North African campaign...it is certainly an evocative tribute to the elan of the most renowned Free French and colonial regiments of the Second World War.-The International History Review
"if you enjoy an adventure and prefer the Vol de Nuit or Pilote de Guerre of Antoine de Saint-Exupeery to his Petit Prince, then read Bimberg."-H-France Book Reviews
..."for those who wish to know more about a relatively unknown aspect of World War II in the African desert (which deserves more attention than it heretofore recieved in English) of the Free French movement, the book is worthwhile, and libraries that deal with the subject might well acquire it."-History: Review of New Books
"[i]f you enjoy an adventure and prefer the Vol de Nuit or Pilote de Guerre of Antoine de Saint-Exupeery to his Petit Prince, then read Bimberg."-H-France Book Reviews
"The book...is enriched by Bimberg's personal experience as a US veteran of the North African campaign...it is certainly an evocative tribute to the elan of the most renowned Free French and colonial regiments of the Second World War."-The International History Review

Author Bio

Edward L. Bimberg is an independent researcher. He entered Federal service with the National Guard cavalry regiment just prior to World War II. Five years later, after serving overseas in North Africa, Corsica, and Italy, he returned to civilian life, working as an advertising copywriter and penning free-lance articles on military and equestrian subjects. For the past thirty years he has owned a series of riding schools in New Jersey, while continuing to pursue his writing. He is the author of The Moroccan Goums: Tribal Warriors in a Modern War (Greenwood, 1999).