ew prefecture.
1940 July 3, Part of the French fleet of the Atlantic based at Mers el Kébir, is bombarded while at anchor by the British fleet coming from Gibraltar, causing the loss of three battleships: Dunkerque, Provence and Bretagne. One thousand two hundred French sailors perish. The British feared that if France totally capitulated to Hitler the French fleet could be taken over and used against them.
1942 November 8, as prelude to the invasion of Italy the British and the Americans land at Arzew and Oran capitulates on November 10.
1950, Oran has 256,661 inhabitants. Sixty-five percent of the total of Europeans is of Spanish origin more than the total number of Muslims in the city.
1957, Construction of the municipal stage named "Fouques-Duparc", with a capacity of forty-five thousand.
1958 June 6, visit by French president General Charles de Gaulle.
1960, First barricades.
1961 August, appearance of the Organisation de l'armée secrète. The census states the population of Oran 400,000 inhabitants: 220,000 Europeans and 180,000 Muslims.
1962, Recrudescence of the attacks. One of the chiefs of the OAS, Edmond Jouhaud, is arrested on March 25. In June he sets fire to port with ten million tons of fuel darkening the sky of the city. The Algerian reaction, later known as the Oran massacre of 1962, ended the French presence in the city.
In independent Algeria
Etymology
A mural depicting the slaying of the Terror of Oran
The word derives from the Berber root 'hr meaning lion (see also Tahert and Souk Ahras). The name is attested in multiple Berber languages, for instance as uharu and ahra. A locally popular legend tells that in the period around 900 BC, there were sightings
