The 4th Moroccan Mountain Division (french: 4^e Division marocaine de montagne, 4^e DMM) was an infantry division of the Army of Africa (french: Armée d'Afrique) which participated in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Created in Morocco following the liberation of French North Africa, the division fought in Corsica, Italy, metropolitan France, and Germany. It particularly distinguished itself in Italy in 1944 as part of the

French Expeditionary Corps There have been several French Expeditionary Corps (French ''Corps expéditionnaire'' 'français'': * Expeditionary Corps of the Orient 'Corps expéditionnaire d'Orient'', CEO(1915), during World War I * Expeditionary Corps of the Dardanelles 'Co ...

led by General

Alphonse Juin Alphonse Pierre Juin (16 December 1888 – 27 January 1967) was a senior French Army Army general (France), general who became Marshal of France. A graduate of the École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, École Spéciale Militaire class of 1912, ...

, and later in the

liberation of France The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers of World War II, Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French R ...

as part of the

French 1st Army The First Army (french: 1re Armée) was a field army of France that fought during World War I and World War II. It was also active during the Cold War. First World War On mobilization in August 1914, General Auguste Dubail was put in the ch ...

under General

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny (2 February 1889 – 11 January 1952) was a French général d'armée during World War II and the First Indochina War. He was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1952. As ...

World War II

Italian campaign

Formed at

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

, Morocco as the 3rd Moroccan Division in March 1943, it was renamed 4th Moroccan Mountain Division on 1 June 1943. In Spring 1943 the 4th DMM went to Algeria and trained in the mountainous area near Tlemcen and Oran. On 15 September 1943, it formed a combat group, the ''Louchet group'', which participated alongside the shock battalion and the Moroccan Goumiers in reconquering the island of Corsica from 22 September to 4 October 1943. On 18 February 1944, the 4th DMM landed in Naples, where it joined the 2nd Moroccan Infantry Division and 3rd Algerian Infantry Division as part of the

, fighting in the Italian Campaign. It was engaged in the Monte-Cassino in the

Apennine Mountains The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

, and crossed the

Aurunci Mountains The Monti Aurunci (or Aurunci Mountains) is a mountain range of southern Lazio, in central Italy. It is part of the Antiappennini, a group running from the Apennines chain to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where it forms the promontory of Gaeta. It is bound ...

in May, opening up the road to Rome. Pursuing the Germans, it captured

San Gimignano San Gimignano () is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of ...

on 13 July,

Certaldo Certaldo is a town and ''comune'' of Tuscany, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Florence, in the middle of Valdelsa. It is about southwest of the Florence Duomo. It is 50 minutes by rail and 35 minutes by car southwest of Florence, and it is 40 m ...

on 19 July and

Castelfiorentino Castelfiorentino is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, central-northern Italy, halfway between Florence (distance 30 km), Pisa (45 km) and Siena (55 km). The population is approximate ...

on 22 July, before regrouping around Sessa Aurunca. The division had lost 74 officers and 1,538 soldiers killed during this campaign.

French & German campaign (1944-1945)

The division didn't participate in the Invasion of Southern France, but landed there at on 8 September 1944. One part of the Division headed towards the Thann valley in Alsace, while the rest of the Division relieved the 2nd DIM in the Alps against the ''Gebirgsjäger''. By the end of November, the 4th DMM had moved to

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

in Alsace, where it was engaged in fierce combat to liberate the city. At the height of winter, it then participated in the reduction of the

Colmar Pocket The Colmar Pocket (french: Poche de Colmar; de , Brückenkopf Elsass) was the area held in central Alsace, France, by the German Nineteenth Army from November 1944 to February 1945, against the U.S. 6th Army Group (6th AG) during World War II. ...

by advancing on the Thann-Cernay-Soultz-Rouffach axis from 20 January to 5 February 1945. Once Alsace was completely liberated, the division was entrusted with the defense of the Rhine between Basel and Sélestat. After some weeks of rest, the Division was directed towards Strasbourg, and crossed the Rhine, entering Germany on 16 April 1945. Its mission was to bypass the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

by its eastern edge, and reach the northern border of Switzerland as quickly as possible. Jostling the last resistances of the Wehrmacht, it reached

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three Body of water, bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, ca ...

after passing through

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt ( Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to the eas ...

, Schwenningen and

Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar '' Kreis''. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river Da ...

. 4 DMM then entered Austria on 2 May 1945 and ended the war in

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label=Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is ...

. Since the landing in Provence, its losses amounted to 28 officers and 565 soldiers. After a few months of occupation of Austria, the division returned to France, where it was dissolved on 15 January 1946 in the Lyon region.

Composition

*1st Regiment of Moroccan Tirailleurs *2nd Regiment of Moroccan Tirailleurs, replaced by 1st Regiment of Algerian Tirailleurs in August 1944 *6th Regiment of Moroccan Tirailleurs *27th Infantry Regiment : replaced the 1st Regiment of Algerian Tirailleurs in February 1945 *4e régiment de spahis marocains

Division Commanders

* June - September 1943: Général Henry Martin. * September 1943 - December 1944: Général François Sevez * December 1944 - 1945: Général André Navereau * 1945 - January 1946 : Général René de Hesdin

Sources

*Avec la 4e division marocaine de montagne, Braun & Cie, 1945. *De Lattre de Tassigny, Histoire de la première armée française - Plon - 1949. *Paul Gaujac, Le Corps expéditionnaire français en Italie, Histoire et collections, 2003

References

{{Liberation of France Infantry divisions of France Moroccan Mountain Division, 4th