section_path: History/Early 20th century
section_name: Early 20th century
paragraph_text: Early 20th century
  
  N'Djamena was founded as Fort-Lamy by French commander Émile Gentil on 29 May 1900, and named after Amédée-François Lamy, an army officer who had been killed in the Battle of Kousséri about a month earlier. It was a major trading city and became the capital of the region and nation.
  
  During the Second World War, the French relied upon the city's airport to move troops and supplies. On 21 January 1942, a lone German Heinkel He 111 of the Sonderkommando Blaich successfully bombed the airfield at Fort-Lamy, destroying oil supplies and ten aircraft.
  
  Fort-Lamy received its first bank branch in 1950, when the Paris-based Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale opened a branch there.