Allied Military currency for France, 100 franc note

Second issue Allied Military currency (AMC), valued at 100 francs, distributed for use in France by the Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories (AMGOT), from June 1945 to July 1946. During and immediately after World War II, the Allied powers worked cooperatively to issue special currency for Allied troops in countries they had liberated or occupied. The goal of the joint currency issues was to protect local economies from inflation or weakening of their currency, and to present a united front. The currency was produced for Italy, France, Germany, Austria, and Japan. All of the production was carried out in secret, and the printing effort for each country was given its own code name. The printing of the Allied Military (AM) francs for France was known as Operation Tom Cat, and notes were issued two different times. The first issue included a French flag on the back, and was called the supplemental franc. The second issue replaced the flag with the word France, and was called the provisional franc. Both issues were printed under strict security measures by the Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company in Boston, Massachusetts. Allied forces brought the first notes with them on D-Day, June 6, 1944, when they stormed the beaches of Normandy to liberate France from the Germans. The notes were distributed under the orders of General Eisenhower, but the leader of the French Resistance, General Charles de Gaulle, called the AM francs counterfeit money and protested their use. The provisional notes replaced the supplemental notes in June of 1945, but quickly faded out of use.