Julian Jackson : " Once Vichy-ite Algeria had been conquered by the Allies , de Gaulle was finally allowed to go there , in May 1943 . Now Algiers replaced London and Brazzaville as the capital of the Free French . Even more important was the fact that Algeria contained an important reservoir of North African troops . At the end of 1942 de Gaulle 's total forces never numbered more than 50,000 , but now , in 1943 , thanks to Algeria , he had an army of about half a million men . This multi-racial army was first thrown into battle in Italy in 1943 - it fought at the Battle of Monte Cassino - then landed with Americans in southern France in August 1944 . But the Americans and British were agreed that for symbolic reasons the French should also be involved in operations in Normandy - for this reason the 2nd Armored Division of Leclerc was sent over to Britain from northern France , - in the words of one senior American general it was , ' the only French division which could be made 100 % white ' ... Even if it was not at de Gaulle 's instigation , it does n't seem he particularly objected to this white-washing of the last stages of the Free French epic . The French were quick to forget that it was thanks to their colonial soldiers that they had any claim to have re-entered the war in 1944 as a great power . " Jamel Debbouze , Samy Naceri , Roschdy Zem , Sami Bouajila and Bernard Blancan won the '' Prix d'interprétation masculine '' at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Cannes Film Festival
2006 Cannes Film Festival
Days of Glory (2006 film)