Free France
The Government of Free France (from French: Gouvernement de la France Libre), or simply Free France, is the given name to the French government in exile founded by Charles de Gaulle in 1940, and which had its capital in exile in London.
From July 13, 1942, Free France became known as the Government of Fighting France (Gouvernement de la France Combattante), or simply Fighting France, by the French National Committee, chaired by General De Gaulle. This new denomination marked the beginning of a stage in which "the groups that in the interior of the country actively participated in the resistance" united with Free France, officially recognizing its authority.
It was the political and military entity that became involved in the war against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. As part of the allied forces, he managed to secure the French overseas colonies, used part of his fleet and the Foreign Legion in military operations against the Axis, and reorganized the entire French armed forces under the Cross of Lorraine to win and liberate the French. France. Furthermore, on the home front, he unified the French resistance.
Free France was founded on June 18, 1940, the date on which General Charles de Gaulle directed the appeal to the French from the BBC in London to continue fighting the enemy under the promise of final victory and the liberation of France, both from the Vichy Government (at that time in the process of formation) and from the German invader.
The defeat of France
During World War I, where he acquired the rank of captain, Charles de Gaulle realized the importance that motorized units would acquire in subsequent warfare. However, during the interwar period, the French governments disdained this type of military equipment, which is why de Gaulle insisted to his superiors that these units be formed in anticipation of an upcoming conflict with Germany. Finally, and already in the run-up to the German invasion, known as the Battle of France, he managed to get some fully motorized units formed, which were placed under his command. However, this achievement drew great animosity against him from other military and civilian officials of the French Third Republic. The mechanized units performed outstandingly during the German invasion of French territory and delayed the German advance, giving de Gaulle great prestige.
Both the French and British high command believed that the military confrontation with Germany would be based on the same strategies and with the same weapons that were used in the First World War, which was a false calculation, since Germany used a highly mechanized force both at sea and on land and in the air, while the Franco-English allies prepared for a repeat of trench warfare; in this sense the bulwark was the failed Maginot Line.
The German military deployment was forceful when invading France and originated among the French military and politicians a series of measures that led to the armistice between France and Germany, with the consequent humiliation for the former, which at that time was the second superpower Europe, after England. De Gaulle used all his power of persuasion to avoid the armistice, which meant the abolition of the Republic and the democratic institutions and the loss of the sovereignty of the French State. For this he proposed the transfer to exile of the legitimate government to the colonies, especially to Algeria, but the defeatist mood favored the position of General Philippe Pétain.
World War I hero who openly promoted the signing of the surrender conditional on Germany recognizing an autonomous French government, which resulted in the Vichy government shrinking to southern France while it was recognized and legitimized German dominance of the country's Atlantic coast, he went on to lead the Vichy puppet regime. Despite the above, the Vichy Government was an active collaborator in Nazi atrocities and submitted to the dictates of Germany. The armistice was signed on June 22, 1940.
Free France is born
On June 17, 1940, De Gaulle left France with a mission to the British high command but, by the time he boarded the plane with which he traveled to London, events had already precipitated in favor of an armistice. The last government of the Third Republic, headed by Paul Reynaud, was preparing to hand over power to General Philippe Pétain, who headed the group of soldiers who were fighting for an armistice with Germany. The next day, as soon as he arrived in London, De Gaulle requested the BBC microphones to make an appeal to all the French, encouraging them not to give up.
It must be taken into account that Free France was the personal creation of General De Gaulle, against British coldness and the defeatism of his own compatriots, so it is possible to assume that Free France was born at the moment that De Gaulle decides form and direct it, which occurs on June 18, 1940. On the other hand, the patriotism of General De Gaulle would have prevented him from accepting that Free France was an English creation, as the Vichy Government propaganda would say.
Free France adopted the Cross of Lorraine as its emblem.
The Appeal
On June 18 at 6 pm, General De Gaulle gave the passionate speech from the BBC in London that proclaimed the birth of Free France and is to this day one of the fundamental political pieces of that nation.
The speech runs essentially in these terms:
The chiefs who have been at the head of the French Army for many years have formed a government." "This government alleging the defeat of our Army has contacted the enemy to stop the struggle." "It is true that we have been and continue to be submerged by the land and air force of the enemy." "But has the last word been said? Should hope be lost? Is defeat definitive? No!" "Believe me that I speak to you with cause knowledge and tell you that nothing is lost to France. The same means that have overcome us can bring victory one day. Because France is not alone! She's not alone! It has a vast empire behind it..." This war is not only limited to the misleading territory of our country. This war has not been decided by the battle of France. This war is a world war. All faults, all delays, all sufferings, do not prevent the existence in the universe of all means to crush our enemies one day. Fulfilled by mechanical force, we can overcome in the future by a superior mechanical force: the destiny of the world goes on." "Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not be quenched and will not be quenched.
Free French Organization
The Free French Forces (FFL)
The Free French forces are formed from the response to General de Gaulle's call for the French who choose to continue fighting Nazi Germany alongside the British allies. In a first time the adhesions are individual: officers, soldiers or simple citizens join De Gaulle. On June 28, 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill recognized Charles de Gaulle as "chief of the French who are continuing the war".
In the early summer of 1940, many French servicemen were in the UK after being evacuated after the Battle of Dunkirk or from the Norwegian Expeditionary Force, but few joined the Free French. Most chose to be repatriated to France.
The armed forces that gradually merged with the Free French were called the Free French Forces (FFL). On July 1, 1940, a first land legion was created with 1,300 members of the Norwegian expeditionary force and spontaneous adhesions: on August 15, it had 2,721 men, including 123 officers. Within the framework of the FFL, the Forces aériennes françaises libres (Free French Air Force, FAFL) were also created, which had about 300 aviators in Great Britain and a hundred in the Middle East at the end of 1940., and the Forces navales françaises libres (Free French Naval Forces, FNFL) that since July 15 have 882 men, including 30 active officers. Admiral Émile Muselier is appointed commander of the naval forces and provisional commander of the air forces.
On the other hand, on July 1, 1940, De Gaulle created an authentic network of espionage and sabotage, the Central Bureau of renseignements et d'action (BCRA), which, under the orders of Colonel Passy, established then clandestine networks in the territory of France.
Establishment of a governmental authority
On August 7, 1940, by an agreement signed with De Gaulle, the United Kingdom undertakes to safeguard the integrity of all French possessions and to fully restore the independence of France. The British government further undertook to defray the costs of maintaining Free France, but de Gaulle insisted that these amounts be repayable advances at the end of the war, and not mere donations of funds, which might have raised doubts about independence. of your organization. Such sums of money were actually paid by the French government before the end of the war.
In fact, the rental of French merchant ships to British services, the income from the fishing fleet that fished off the coast of Wales, and the sale of goods produced in the colonial territories that were allied with Free France, allowed to feed the funds of the Free French organization. De Gaulle was always very strict on these issues of principle, and even did not hide his public disagreement with some decisions of the British government, as he was aware that the Vichy French propaganda (run by Gestapo agents) tried to portray de Gaulle and his followers as vulgar adventurers serving the interests of the United Kingdom.
General de Gaulle quickly creates institutions that demonstrate that the Free French would not depend solely on his personal power. With René Cassin, De Gaulle establishes the legal bases of his government in an official bulletin, the Bulletin officiel des Forces françaises libres, which is published for the first time on August 15, 1940, clarifying the «provisionality » of his administration until France is freed from enemy occupation. Starting in January 1941, the Journal officiel de la France libre published monthly in London the laws and decrees defining the organization of Free France.
Occupation by the French Colonial Empire
Unlike the other countries defeated by Germany, France retained a very vast colonial empire in the remaining four continents on the date of the armistice with the Third Reich and from the first moments De Gaulle warned that the war effort of France Free should win the accession of the colonial territories that were still inaccessible to the German occupation. However, this plan was made difficult in the first moments when all the colonial territories close to the metropolis (specifically, the colonies of North Africa and the Middle East) declared their obedience to the Vichy regime as it was the only "government" #3. 4; French with authority over metropolitan France.
The territorial base of the Free French in its beginnings must have been based on "adhesion to the movement" from other colonial territories, although these were the furthest from the European theater of war (and therefore the least decisive). Thus, the French settlements in India were the first to join, in July 1940, followed by the New Hebrides, French Polynesia and New Caledonia. Félix Éboué, Governor of Chad, joined the Free French on 26 August of 1940. The few French colonies thus adhered, however, give Free France a state dimension and not just a military one, since there were specific territories over which Free France could exercise effective authority. However, French West Africa resists and remains on the side of the Vichy government after the failure of the Battle of Dakar in August 1940.
A rapid military campaign by the Free French, led by General Georges Catroux, attacked French Equatorial Africa at the beginning of October 1940 and in a few weeks achieved the adhesion of the entire colony. This coup extended his influence to the French colony of Cameroon, which also joined Free France in November 1940. De Gaulle then moved to Brazzaville (now the Republic of Congo) where he created, on October 27, the Conseil de défense de l'Empire (Council for the Defense of the Empire), the decision-making body of Free France, with the advantage of establishing a nucleus of effective authority over a French colony that gives &# 34;physical basis" and geographical to Free France.
The first members of the Conseil were General Catroux, Vice Admiral Muselier, General De Larminat, Félix Éboué (Governor of Chad), Governor Sautot (of the New Hebrides), General of the medical service Cisé, René Cassin, and the captain of the ship d'Argenlieu, and colonel Philippe Leclerc. In November 1940, after the Battle of Gabon, this territory became part of Free France.
On November 16, De Gaulle published in the Journal Officiel de la France libre, in Brazzaville (now the official capital of Free France, although the administration of the movement was still in London), an official statement challenging the constitutionality and legitimacy of the Vichy regime. The official gazette of Free France then published a series of ordinances and decrees invalidating Pétain's exclusion laws, thus creating a legal basis on a territory under the control of the Free French, endowed with a civil and military administration that recognized De Gaulle as head.
These initiatives irritated Winston Churchill, who did not like the establishment of a new French power that far exceeded the initial framework of a simple union of military volunteers, since in the United Kingdom there was still opposition to considering Free France as the legitimate government of France while neither de Gaulle nor his followers had formal titles to consider themselves a government. Exiled governments installed on British soil (such as those of Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, or Norway) were usually made up of individuals who, at the time of the Nazi invasion, were effective rulers of those countries, a situation that was not the case with De Gaulle: he had barely commanded a tank division at the time of fleeing from the Germans, no authority from the previous French Government had seconded him, and the British government doubted that in such circumstances De Gaulle and his Conseil claimed to represent some forty million French people who had never been elected to any office.
After the adoption of the Atlantic Charter by Churchill and Roosevelt, which proclaimed the right of self-determination of peoples, De Gaulle took them literally and finally created in London a true "government of the Free France", integrating there heads of the French Resistance who had managed to escape to the United Kingdom, including leaders of unions, anti-Nazi political parties, and various professional unions, thus presenting a more representative character of French society opposed to Nazism. This group took the name of Comité national français (French National Committee) and was established on September 24, 1941. De Gaulle then reiterated to Churchill the "provisionality" of this Committee, admitted that elections would be held when France was liberated, but warned that in the meantime it was impossible to count on the legitimate French authorities, since they had agreed to surrender to the Third Reich and De Gaulle denied them all legitimacy with the phrase &# 34;a chief subjected to the captivity of the enemy has no right to give orders".
Fighting France
On July 13, 1942, the name «Combatant France» was adopted instead of «France Libre». It is officially defined as the "group of French citizens regardless of where they are and from all French territories who come together to collaborate with the United Nations in the war against their common enemies". This new denomination made clear the incorporation of the internal Resistance to Free France, united in the same combat: Free France and "captive France" were from that moment on "the two constituent elements of a single France, namely the Fighting France. Within this framework, everything that had to do with both Free France and the internal Resistance changed its name: the Official Journal of Free France was renamed the Official Journal of Fighting France, the Free French delegates were renamed delegates of the French National Committee (CNF) and the letterheads of the official stationery as well as the postage stamps were replaced as the previous ones ran out. However, everything referring only to Free France retained its initial name (Free French Territories, Free French Forces, Free French Central Fund and banknotes).
The fusion of 1943
Finally, on June 3, 1943, the Comité national français (CNF) in London and the civil and military command in Algiers, under General Giraud, merged to form the Comité français de la Libération nationale (CFLN) (French Committee of National Liberation). Based in Algiers, de Gaulle and Giraud jointly assumed its presidency.
Starting on August 1, 1943, General Giraud's French troops from North Africa (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) merged with the Free French Forces to form the Armée française de la Libération (French Liberation Army).
In common parlance, the terms "Free France" and "Free French Forces" are often used to refer to the political leadership and military forces of France that fought alongside the Allies until the end of World War II.. The first denomination, however, ceased to exist in 1942 and the second in 1943, and there is no documentary evidence from the time that shows that they have continued to be used officially.
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