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This article studies the singular historiography of the Forces Françaises de l’Ouest (French Forces in the West), based on a paradox: these forces, made up of French volunteers engaged after September 1944 against the German garrisons entrenched on the French Atlantic coast, are commonly overlooked. It first examines how the expression « Forces françaises oubliées » (the forgotten French Forces) appeared during the winter of 1944-1945. It then analyses the transmission of this term in the passage of time, in the historiography of the low-intensity fronts of the Atlantic coast.