the First Light Division at Toulon. On 19 October 1934 the First Light was reduced in size by the formation of the Third Light Division with Foch, and . On 1 March 1936 she was replaced by in the 3rd Division then assigned to the First Light Division. She was in attendance for a Fleet Inspection in the Bay of Douranenez on 27 June 1935. On 12 April 1937 the First Light Division was renamed as the First Cruiser Division and consisted of , Foch, and . Wartime service Foch was at Toulon on the outbreak of War in September 1939. She sailed for Dakar, Senegal in November arriving on 16 November becoming a member of Force X. On 7 December she sailed with the cruiser Dupleix, the British cruiser , the British carrier and two contre torpilleurs, and . The ships were informed of the engagement off the River Plate when they were 850 nm from Pernambuco. They returned to Dakar to refuel so they could better place themselves if escaped to the sea. Force X again sortied from Dakar on 30 December returning on 5 January 1940. She departed Dakar for the last time on 23 January with the cruiser Dupleix to escort a convoy from Bermuda to Morocco. Both ships then returned to Toulon. On the night of 13/14 June she participated in Operation Vado, the bombardment of Genoa and Vado, Italy by the Third Squadron. The Vado Group included the cruisers Foch and Algérie and the Genoa Group included the cruisers Dupleix and Colbert.The bombardment cause little damage as Group Genoa fired at the wrong target and half of Group Vado shells fell into the sea. The squadron returned to Toulon by mid-day on 14 June. Foch suffered a steering malfunction but returned safely. On 25 June the Franco-German Armistice took effect and La Marine National ceased all offensive operations. On 3 July with the ill-conceived British attack on Mers-el-Kébir, the battleship had escaped undamaged, the Fourth Cruiser Division had sailed from Algiers to Oran. The Fourth failed to link up with Strasbourg so they sailed for Toulon. Algérie, Foch and Colbert with twelve contre-torpilleurs sailed from Toulon to rendezvous with the French forces sailing north to France. They linked up with the Fourth in the early morning of 4 July and returned to Toulon. Strasbourg arrived later that evening. With continued British action around Dakar,