France France France (), officially the French Republic (, ), is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral
Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France The "Reichskommissariat" of Belgium and Northern France was a German civil administration ("Zivilverwaltung") which governed German-occupied Belgium during World War II. The "Reichskommissariat" replaced an earlier military government, the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France, established in the same territory in 1940. On 18 July 1944, the first Gauleiter, Josef Grohé, was named the first "Reichskommissar" of the territory, known as the "Reichskommissariat Belgien und Nordfrankreich" or "Reichskommissariat für die besetzten Gebiete von Belgien und Nordfrankreich". The territory was mostly liberated by the Allies in September 1944, in the aftermath of the Normandy