Allied administration of Libya European possessions in Africa to gain independence. Allied administration of Libya The Allied administration of Libya was the control of the ex-Italian colony of Libya by the Allies from 1943 until Libyan independence was granted in 1951. It was divided into the following: The Allied administration was done by the United Kingdom in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, and by France in Fezzan. Officially Libya remained "Italian Libya" until February 1947, when Italy signed the Peace Treaty losing all the colonies and possessions of the defeated former Italian Empire. The British administered it as the British Military Administration of Libya. The French
History of Africa about one-third of the eligible white men). As early as 1857, the French established volunteer units of black soldiers in sub- Sahara Africa, termed the "tirailleurs senegalais." They served in military operations throughout the Empire, including 171,000 soldiers in World War I and 160,000 in World War II. About 90,000 became POWs in Germany. The veterans played a central role in the postwar independence movement in French Africa. authorities in West Africa declared allegiance to the Vichy regime, as did the colony of French Gabon Vichy forces defeated an Free French Forces invasion of French West Africa in the two