Abdelilah Benkirane, the head of the Moroccan government, as well as an important delegation including Abdellatif Loudiyi, Delegate Minister in charge of the Administration of National Defense, Mohamed Laghmari, Vice Admiral Inspector of the Royal Navy and Chakib Benmoussa, Morocco’s ambassador to France, besides tens of Moroccan veterans are participating today in the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Southern landings in France.
On August 15, 1944, 450,000 fighters, more than half of which are from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Senegal decisively fought for the liberation of Provence from the back-then Nazi-Germany.
The North African fighters at that time joined the war hoping that France will give them their independence, yet independence came years after the end of the war.
Morocco got its independence 11 years afterwards, while Algeria got its independence 17 years after the sad war.
“This is the darkest day of my life,” Hitler said back then after the veterans broke through, following the defeat of the Nazis.
The Moroccan Times.
