My great-grandfather

I am perhaps one of the few people to have a relative who fought on both sides of the war.

My great-grandfather was living in eastern France, on the border with Germany, when war was declared. Because he had done his military service in the navy, he had to go join the navy down in Toulon, in southern France, when war was declared. The entire French navy was stationed there. Then, one day, the Germans staged a surprise attack against Toulon, and Admiral Darlan, the head of the navy, ordered that all the ships in the navy be sunk so that the Germans couldn't get them.

After that, France quickly surrendered to Germany, and northern/eastern France was annexed by Germany. Then, all the men in that part of France (including my great-grandfather) were drafted into the German army and whisked away to the Russian front. As soon as my great-grandfather got to the front, his section of the army lost a battle, and was taken as prisoners by the Russians. My great-grandfather spent the rest of the war in a prison camp, and was later returned to France in 1945.