The 5th North African Infantry Division was a French Army formation during World War II.
During the Battle of France in May 1940 the division was made up of the following units:
The Division was created in September 1939 and was dissolved in June 1940 following the invasion of France. The Division was commanded by Generals Ferdinand Vieillard (to April 1940) and Augustin Agliany.
- 6 Moroccan Tirailleurs Regiment
- 14 Zouaves Regiment
- 24 Tunsian Tirailleurs Regiment
- 95 Reconnaissance Battalion
- 22 Colonial Artillery Regiments
- 222 Colonial Artillery Regiment.
It was an active division which existed during peacetime. The Tirailleurs Regiments were made up of native troops from North Africa. The Zouaves Regiment was made up from European settlers in North Africa and some recruited from France.
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“When the Somalians were merely another hungry third world people, we sent them guns. Now that they are falling down dead from starvation, we send them troops. Some may see in this a tidy metaphor for the entire relationship between north and south. But it would make a whole lot more sense nutritionally—as well as providing infinitely more vivid viewing—if the Somalians could be persuaded to eat the troops.”
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“A tanned skin is something more than respectable, and perhaps olive is a fitter color than white for a man,—a denizen of the woods. “The pale white man!” I do not wonder that the African pitied him.”
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“O, if you raise this house against this house
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)