Toulon Sunshine -- A Kid's Guide To Toulon, France

Toulon, France has a large military harbor and is home to a major French naval base. In 1486 Provence became part of France. Soon after, in the year 1494, Charles VIII of France, intending to make France a major Meditrranean sea power, and to support his military campaign in Italy, began construction of a military port at Toulon. The Italian campaign failed, and in 1497, the rulers of Genoa, who controlled commerce on that part of the Mediterranean, blockaded the new port. There were many battles after that, that included Toulon. During World War II, after the Allied landings in North Africa, the German Army occupied southern France. This led to scuttling of the French Fleet at Toulon on November 27, 1942. The city was bombed by the Allies in November the following year, and a lot of the port was destroyed. Toulon was liberated by the Free French Forces of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny on August 28, 1944 in the Battle of Toulon. Toulon is now a beautiful, peaceful place that you can see as you turn the pages of this 'learn to read book by the award winning author, Penelope Dyan, and photographer, John D. Weigand. To see even more of Toulon, watch the free music video that goes with this book on Bellissimavideo's YouTube channel.