carved out of the Prussian Rhine Province and was supplemented by two Bavarian districts (Homburg and St. Ingbert) taken from the Rhenish Palatinate. This was sanctioned by a 15-year League of Nations mandate which stationed League of Nations troops from Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in the Saar until 1935. The Saar's coal industry, the dominant industry in the region at the time, was nationalized and directly administered by France, in compensation for the destruction of French mines by the retreating Germans in 1918. Plebiscite On 13 January 1935, a plebiscite held in the territory at the end of the 15-year term, resulted in 90.7% of voters casting their ballot in favour of a return to Germany, and 0.4% voting for union with France. Others (8.9%) favoured the third option of a continued British–French occupation government. After political agitation and manoeuvring by Chancellor Adolf Hitler for the re-union of the Saarland with the German Reich () it was reincorporated in 1935. Its area was not redivided among the Prussian Rhine Province and the Bavarian Palatinate, but united with the latter as the Gau of Saar-Palatinate (). In 1942 it was renamed (Western March), as it was planned to be expanded to incorporate parts of German-occupied French Lorraine which, however, did not materialise. Post-World War II In July 1945, two months after World War II had ended in Europe, the Allied forces were redeploying from the areas they had conquered into their respective zones of occupation. On 10 July 1945, US forces left the Saar and French troops established their occupational administration. On 16 February 1946, France disentangled the Saar from the Allied zones of occupation and established the separate Saar Protectorate, which was de facto no longer under the joint Allied jurisdiction by the Allied Control Council for Germany. French officials deported a total of 1,820 people from the Saar in 1946 and 1947, most of whom ultimately were allowed to return. However, France had not agreed to the expulsions approved (without input from France) in the Potsdam agreement by the Allies, so France refused to accept war refugees or expellees from the eastern annexed territories in the Saar protectorate or the French zone. However, native Sarrois returning from Nazi-imposed removals (e.g. political and Jewish refugees) and war-related relocations (e.g. evacuation from air raids) were allowed to return to the areas under French control. France aimed at winning over