18th June 1940, a Great Date in French History

Dears,

Yesterday, France commemorated the “Appel du 18 Juin”, (The Appeal of 18th June), the first broadcast made by General De Gaulle to his countrymen, asking them not to give up the fight against the Germans. This was at the time something of a non-event, and the BBC didn’t even record it. However, the “Appel” started a process which allowed defeated France to emerge as one of the victors of World War II. I am enclosing links to Wikipedia and youtube:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_of_18_June

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxnpDfxntGU

What is important to understand is that De Gaulle was virtually unknown at the time and had no legal legitimacy. He was only a colonel “temporarily promoted to the rank of brigadier general” and Under Secretary of Defence in the Government of Paul Reynaud. It is said that when General Spears escorted him to London, he was asked “Why did you bring him (De Gaulle)”? … to which the reply was “Because nobody else wanted to come”.

Indeed, the other senior French politicians, civil servants or military commanders either decided to surrender and eventually collaborate; or were confused and sat down and did nothing; or were interned before they could escape; or only opposed the Germans much later, when it was clear that the Allies were going to win. De Gaulle was an exception. What he did was right but it was also illegal, since he rebelled against France’s legitimate government, which asked for an Armistice.

The events of 1940-44 are still politically charged and you will get many different versions, from the romantic vision of the whole of France joining the resistance, to the critical vision of most of France rallying to the collaborationist Vichy “Etat Fran?ais” of Marshal Petain. The truth is very much in the middle. Many fought against the Germans, many collaborated actively, most sat down and waited the end of the war if this was possible.

De Gaulle understood that “who dares wins”. Unlike Winston Churchill, who was a cousin of the Duke of Marlborough and the son of Lord Randolph Churchill (an important political figure), he was not a member of the ruling classes. He was an ordinary man, one of the many army officers. When nobody else wanted to continue the fight, he stood up and others rallied around him. Churchill supported him but found him infuriating. De Gaulle was indeed difficult, but one of the reasons why he had to be difficult, was that he needed to avoid being labelled as a British puppet. Roosevelt, on the contrary, loathed him. The American president initially favoured other men as France’s leaders (Darlan, Giraud) and even considered placing France under an Allied Military Administration following the liberation. In the end, in 1944 France was allowed her own Government, under De Gaulle.

This month, the French historical channels have been giving much air time to their country’s defeat in 1940. It was indeed her greatest disaster. In a matter of weeks, the French army, considered the best in Europe, collapsed. Yet, these documentaries argue that the French inflicted significant casualties on the Germans. If the Germans stopped for a number of days before pushing on to Dunkirk, it was because their armour was exhausted and the supply lines extended. This was partly the result of operations against the retreating French, which had been costly. This respite allowed the evacuation of 338,226 Allied soldiers, mostly British but also more than 100,000 French (France had not yet surrendered). Something that is seldom mentioned is that, according to these documentaries, it was the French army which held out the Germans during the last stages of the evacuation, thus allowing most of the British Expeditionary Force to return home and fight another day.

De Gaulle and his “Free French” (later re-styled as “Fighting French”) gained more and more legitimacy as the war went on. The emerging French resistance, which was always fragmented, ended up accepting his leadership, thanks to the activities of his agent Jean Moulin and others. In 1942, the Allies liberated French North Africa and this allowed the creation of a significant pro-allied French army. Until then, De Gaulle’s forces had been small. The French took no part in the Normandy landings, but were a large part of the invasion of southern France which took place later in the year. The American and French forces which landed in the Provence liberated much of the country in 1944-1945. The Free French also distinguished themselves in North Africa and Italy. A French unit, the 2nd Armoured Division of General Leclerc, was the first Allied unit to enter Paris, but this was a symbolic gesture: it was attached to the American army. The Resistance had risen against the Germans shortly before, a fact which allowed French propaganda to claim that the capital had liberated itself, but this is very much a myth. The French made a contribution (often ignored), but the war in the west was largely won by the Anglo-Americans.

It was thanks to De Gaulle and the process he started with his Appeal of 18th June 1940 that France emerged not only as a victor, but as one of the “Big Four”. Although weaker than the United States, the Soviet Union and Great Britain, France was given a Permanent Seat in the United Nations Security Council, an Occupation Zone in Germany and a sector in Berlin. Thus, the 18th of June should be remembered as a very significant date in French and European History.

(Might) be seeing you.

E.