Military history of France during World War II the end of the war in Europe (May 1945), the Free French forces comprised 1,250,000, including seven infantry and three armoured divisions fighting in Germany. Other Free French units were directly attached to Allied forces including the British SAS, RAF and the Soviet air force. The "Forces Expéditionnaires Françaises d'Extrême-Orient" (FEFEO) was a French expeditionary corps created on 4 October 1943 to fight in the Asian theatre of World War II and liberate French Indochina which was still occupied by the Japanese since 1940. Recruiting posters of the FEFEO depicted a US-built M4 Sherman tank of general Leclerc's Free French
Tanks in the Cold War at long range. The World War II concept of heavy tanks, armed with the most powerful guns and heaviest armour, became obsolete since they were just as vulnerable as other vehicles to the new medium tanks. Likewise, World War II had shown that lightly armed, lightly armoured tanks were of little value in most roles. Even reconnaissance vehicles shown a trend towards heavier weight and greater firepower during World War II; speed was not a substitute for armor and firepower. An increasing variety of anti-tank weapons and the perceived threat of a nuclear war prioritized the need for additional armor.