Var (department) France into the Zone libre, which included the Var department. The French Fleet was sabotaged in Toulon Harbour to keep it from falling into German hands. The Maquis Vallier, a group of maquis resistance fighters, was active. On 15 August 1944 American and Free French forces land at Saint-Tropez, Sainte-Maxime and Saint-Raphaël. The Free French fleet arrived at Toulon on 13 September. In the 1960s about one hundred thousand French citizens were repatriated from Algeria following the Algerian War of Independence and settled in the Var department. The department of Var has a surface area of 6,032 km, and 420
Saint-Tropez internationally renowned as the setting for such films as "And God Created Woman", which starred French actress Brigitte Bardot. In May 1965, an Aérospatiale Super Frelon pre-production aircraft crashed in the gulf, killing its pilot. On March 4, 1970, the French submarine Eurydice, whose home port was Saint-Tropez, disappeared in the Mediterranean with 57 crew aboard, after a mysterious explosion. The English rock band Pink Floyd wrote a song named "San Tropez" after the town. Saint-Tropez was also mentioned in David Gates's 1978 hit "Took the Last Train", and in Aerosmith's "Permanent Vacation". Rappers including Diddy, Jay-Z and 50 Cent