Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a government-in-exile in London in June 1940 after the Fall of France to Nazi Germany. It joined the Allied nations in fighting Axis forces with the () ("Free French Forces"; FFF), supported the Resistance in Nazi-occupied France, known as the French Forces of the Interior, and gained strategic footholds in several French colonies in Africa.
Following the defeat of the Third Republic by Nazi Germany, Marshal Philippe Pétain negotiated an armistice and established a German client state known as Vichy France. Opposed to the idea of an armistice, de Gaulle fled to Britain and from there broadcast the Appeal of 18 June () exhorting the French people to resist the Nazis and join the Free French Forces. On 27 October 1940, the Empire Defense Council ()—later the French National Committee ( or CNF)—formed to govern French territories in central Africa, Asia, and Oceania that had heeded the 18 June call.
Initially, with the exception of French possessions in the Pacific, India, and Equatorial Africa,August–September 1940 all the territories of the French colonial empire rejected 's appeal and declared their loyalty to Marshal Pétain and the Vichy government.French India, New Caledonia/New Hebrides and French Polynesia, were totally dependent economically and for their communication on British and Australian goodwill and support for Vichy was not a realistic option. Jean-Marc Regnault and Ismet Kurtovitch, "Les ralliements du Pacifique en 1940. Entre légende gaulliste, enjeux stratégiques mondiaux et rivalités Londres/Vichy", Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, vol. 49, No. 4 (Oct. – Dec., 2002), p. 84–86 It was only progressively, often with the decisive military intervention of the Allies, that Free France took over more Vichy possessions, securing the majority of colonies after November 1942.
The Free French fought both Axis and Vichy troops and served in several major campaigns, from North Africa to Indochina. The Free French Navy operated as an auxiliary force to the Royal Navy and, in the North Atlantic, to the Royal Canadian Navy. Free French detachments also served in the Royal Air Force, the Soviet Air Force, and the British Special Air Service. Later, larger commands were established directly under the control of the government-in-exile. On 13 July 1942, "Free France" was officially renamed Fighting France () to mark the struggle against the Axis both externally and within occupied France.
Exile officially ended after the reconquest of North Africa, when the Free French government relocated from London to Algiers.Because French Algeria was long considered part of Metropolitan France by the 1940s, the Free French government once operating there considered itself to be physically seated within France proper, to the same extent as if it were located in European France, and not a government-in-exile. From there, the French Committee of National Liberation (, CFLN) was formed as the provisional government of all French, uniting the disparate forces that opposed the Axis and their collaborators. On 1 August 1943, Free French Forces united with the Army of Africa () to form the French Liberation Army (Armée française de la Libération, AFL). By June 1944, the AFL numbered more than 500,000, and the CFLN was succeeded by the Provisional Government of the French Republic (, GPRF), which was established in anticipation of the liberation of France. The AFL participated in the Normandy landings and the invasion of southern France, ultimately leading the liberation of Paris in August 1944, which ushered in the provisional government on French soil.
The AFL took part in the Allied advance through France and subsequent invasion of Germany, and by end of the war totaled over 1.3 million troops—the fourth-largest Allied army in Europe. The provisional government ruled France until the establishment of the Fourth Republic in October 1946, having preempted the country's occupation by Allied forces and secured its status as a major power.
Definition
Historically, an individual became "Free French" by enlisting in the military units organised by the CFN or by employment by the civilian arm of the Committee. On 1 August 1943 after the merger of CFN and representatives of the former Vichy regime in North Africa to form the CFLN earlier in June, the FFF and the Army of Africa (constituting a major part of the Vichy regular forces allowed by the 1940 armistice) were merged to form the French Liberation Army, , and all subsequent enlistments were in this combined force.
In many sources, Free French describes any French individual or unit that fought against Axis forces after the June 1940 armistice. Postwar, to settle disputes over the Free French heritage, the French government issued an official definition of the term. Under this "ministerial instruction of July 1953" (), only those who served with the Allies after the Franco-German armistice in 1940 and before 1 August 1943 may correctly be called "Free French".
History
Prelude
On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded France and the Low Countries, rapidly defeating the Dutch and Belgians, while armoured units attacking through the Ardennes cut off the Franco-British strike force in Belgium. By the end of May, the British and French northern armies were trapped in a series of pockets, including Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, Saint-Valery-en-Caux and Lille. The Dunkirk evacuation was only made possible by the resistance of these troops, particularly the French army divisions at Lille.
From 27 May to 4 June, over 200,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force and 140,000 French troops were evacuated from Dunkirk.Taylor, p.58 French evacuees were quickly returned to France and many fought in the June battles. After being evacuated from Dunkirk, Alan Brooke landed in Cherbourg on 2 June in a short-lived attempt to reform the BEF, along with the 1st Canadian Division, the only remaining fully equipped formation in Britain. A defensive line was re-established along the Somme but much of the armour was lost in Northern France; they were also crippled by shortages of aircraft, the vast majority incurred when airfields were over-run, rather than air combat.
On 1 June, Charles was promoted to brigadier general, and on June 5th, Prime Minister Paul Reynaud appointed him Under Secretary of State for Defence, a junior post in the French cabinet. was known for his willingness to challenge accepted ideas; in 1912, he asked to be posted to Pétain's regiment, whose maxim 'Firepower kills' was then in stark contrast to the prevailing orthodoxy of Attaque à outrance. He was also a long-time advocate of the modern armoured warfare ideas applied by the Wehrmacht, and commanded the 4th Armoured Division at the Battle of Montcornet. However, he was not personally popular; significantly, none of his immediate military subordinates joined him in 1940.Jackson, p. 110
The new French commander Maxime Weygand was 73 years old and like Pétain, an Anglophobe who viewed Dunkirk as another example of Britain's unreliability as an ally; de Gaulle later recounted he 'gave up hope' when the Germans renewed their attack on 8 June and demanded an immediate Armistice.Jackson, p. 112 was one of a small group of government ministers who favoured continued resistance and Reynaud sent him to London in order to negotiate the proposed union between France and Britain. When this plan collapsed, he resigned on 16 June and Pétain became President of the Council. flew to Bordeaux on the 17th but returned to London the same day when he realised Pétain had already agreed to an armistice with the Axis powers.
De Gaulle rallies the Free French
On 18 June 1940, General spoke to the French people via BBC radio, urging French soldiers, sailors and airmen to join in the fight against the Nazis: "France is not alone! She is not alone! She has a great empire behind her! Together with the British Empire, she can form a bloc that controls the seas and continue the struggle. She may, like England, draw upon the limitless industrial resources of the United States".
Some members of the British Cabinet had reservations about 's speech, fearing that such a broadcast could provoke the Pétain government into handing the French fleet over to the Nazis,"A Mesmerising Oratory", The Guardian, 29 April 2007. but British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, despite his own concerns, agreed to the broadcast.
In France, 's "Appeal of 18 June" () was not widely heard that day but, together with his BBC broadcasts in subsequent days and his later communications, came to be widely remembered throughout France and its colonial empire as the voice of national honour and freedom.
Armistice On 19 June, again broadcast to the French nation saying that in France, "all forms of authority had disappeared" and since its government had "fallen under the bondage of the enemy and all our institutions have ceased to function", that it was "the clear duty" of all French servicemen to fight on.
This would form the essential legal basis of 's government in exile, that the armistice soon to be signed with the Nazis was not merely dishonourable but illegal, and that in signing it, the French government would itself be committing treason. On the other hand, if Vichy was the legal French government as some such as Julian T. Jackson have argued, and his followers were revolutionaries, unlike the Dutch, Belgian, and other governments in exile in London. A third option might be that neither considered that a fully free, legitimate, sovereign, and independent successor state to the Third Republic existed following the Armistice, as both Free France and Vichy France refrained from making that implicit claim by studiously avoiding using the word "republic" when referring to themselves. In Vichy's case, underlying reasons were compounded by ideals of a stamping out France's republican heritage.
On 22 June 1940, Marshal Pétain signed an armistice with Germany, followed by a similar one with Italy on 24 June; both of these came into force on 25 June.P. M. H. Bell, France and Britain 1900–1940: Entente & Estrangement, London, New York, 1996, p. 249 After a parliamentary vote on 10 July, Pétain became the leader of the newly established authoritarian regime known as Vichy France, the town of Vichy being the seat of government. was tried in absentia in Vichy France and sentenced to death for treason.Axelrod & Kingston, p. 373. He, on the other hand, regarded himself as the last remaining member of the legitimate Reynaud government and considered Pétain's assumption of power to be an unconstitutional coup d'état.
Beginnings of the Free French forces
Despite 's call to continue the struggle, few French forces initially pledged their support. By the end of July 1940, only about 7,000 soldiers had joined the Free French Army in Britain.Axelrod & Kingston, p. 362. Three-quarters of French servicemen in Britain requested repatriation.Hastings, Max, p.80
France was bitterly divided by the conflict. Frenchmen everywhere were forced to choose sides, and often deeply resented those who had made a different choice.Hastings, Max, p.126 One French admiral, René-Émile Godfroy, voiced the opinion of many of those who decided not to join the Free French forces, when in June 1940, he explained to the exasperated British why he would not order his ships in Alexandria harbour to join : "For us Frenchmen, the fact is that a government still exists in France, a government supported by a Parliament established in non-occupied territory and which in consequence cannot be considered irregular or deposed. The establishment elsewhere of another government, and all support for this other government would clearly be rebellion."