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The Free French Forces (French: Forces Françaises Libres, FFL) were French fighters in World War II, who decided to continue fighting against Axis forces after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation. The FFL responded to the call of the de jure French government-in-exile ("Free French Government" or "Fighting France"). Gaullist mythology claimed they had responded to General Charles de Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June in 1940, but historians later showed that the call had been heard by a small group of people. De Gaulle's 22 June speech on the BBC was much more widely heard.
Definition
History
In 1940, General Charles de Gaulle was a member of the French cabinet during the Battle of France. As French defence forces were increasingly overwhelmed, De Gaulle found himself part of a small group of politicians who argued against a negotiated surrender to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. As these views were shared by the President of the Council, Paul Reynaud, De Gaulle was sent as an emissary to the United Kingdom, where he was when the French government collapsed.
On 16 June, the new French President of the Council, Philippe Pétain, began negotiations with Axis officials. On 18 June, De Gaulle spoke to the French people via BBC radio. He asked French soldiers, sailors and airmen to join in the fight against the Nazis. In France, De Gaulle's "Appeal of the 18th of June" (Appel du 18 juin) was not widely heard, but subsequent discourse by De Gaulle could be heard nationwide. Some of the British Cabinet had attempted to block the speech, but were over-ruled by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. To this day, the Appeal of 18 June remains one of the most famous speeches in French history. Nevertheless, on 22 June, Pétain signed the surrender and became leader of the puppet regime known as Vichy France. (Vichy is the French town where the government was based.)
De Gaulle was tried in absentia in Vichy France and sentenced to death for treason; he, on the other hand, regarded himself as the last remaining member of the legitimate Reynaud government able to exercise power, seeing the rise to power of Pétain as an unconstitutional coup.
Prelude
The capitaine de corvette Thierry d'Argenlieu suggested the adoption of the Cross of Lorraine as symbol of the Free French, both to recall the perseverance of Joan of Arc, whose symbol it had been, and as an answer to the Nazi swastika.
In his general order n° 2 of 3 July 1940, Vice Admiral Émile Muselier, two days after assuming the post of chief of the naval and air forces of the Free French, created the bow flag displaying the French colours with a red cross of Lorraine, and a cocarde also featuring the cross of Lorraine.
Following repeated broadcasts, by the end of July that year, 7,000 people had volunteered to join the Free French forces. The Free French Navy had fifty ships and some 3,700 men operating as an auxiliary force to the British Royal Navy.
A monument on Lyle Hill in Greenock in western Scotland, in the shape of the Cross of Lorraine combined with an anchor, was raised by subscription as a memorial to the Free French naval vessels which sailed from the Firth of Clyde to take part in the Battle of the Atlantic, and is also locally associated with the memory of the loss of the Maillé Brézé which exploded at the Tail of the Bank.
The French flag with the Cross of Lorraine, emblem of the Free French.
The Free French memorial on Lyle Hill, Greenock, overlooks Gourock.
Free French Naval Ensign and French Naval Honour Jack.
Free French Forces adrian helmet with the Cross of Lorraine replacing the 1939-1940 French Republic "RF" emblem.
Cross of Lorraine
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill deemed that, in German or Italian hands, the French fleet would have been a grave threat to the Allies. He ordered the French ships to rejoin the Allies and agree to be put out of use in a British, French, or neutral port. As a last resort, Churchill indicated that the French fleet would be destroyed by British attack.
The Royal Navy attempted to persuade the French Navy to agree to these terms. But, when that failed, they attacked the French Navy at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. This attack on 3 July 1940 caused bitterness and division in France (over 1,000 sailors had been killed), particularly in the Navy, and discouraged many French soldiers from joining the Free French forces in Britain and elsewhere.
Some French warships did remain on the Allied side and others re-joined later after the Axis occupation of Vichy France (codenamed Case Anton) and the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon. Those ships flew a separate flag, the Free French Naval Ensign, which is still in use as a mark of honour by ships that continue to use the name of a Free French ship.
Mers El Kébir
In the autumn of 1940, the French colonies of Cameroon, Chad, Moyen-Congo (Middle Congo), Oubangui-Chari and French Equatorial Africa joined the Free French side. With the addition of French African colonies came a large number of African colonial troops. The French South Pacific colonies of New Caledonia, French Polynesia and the New Hebrides joined the Free French later. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (near Canada) joined the Free French after an "invasion" on 24 December 1941. The South Pacific colonies would become vital Allied bases in the Pacific Ocean.
From July to November 1940, Free French forces fought French troops loyal to Vichy France during the West African Campaign. The outcome of this campaign was mixed with the Vichy French claiming victory at the Battle of Dakar and the Free French claiming victory at the Battle of Gabon. The French West African colonies remained Vichy French and the French Equatorial African colonies remained Free French. The French West African colonies did join Free France in November 1942 after Operation Torch.
French Indochina was invaded by Japan in September 1940, although the colony remained under nominal Vichy control. On 9 March 1945, the Japanese took full control of Indochina and launched the Second French Indochina Campaign. By the end of September 1945, with the assistance of British and Commonwealth forces, the Free French occupied the colony.
During 1941, Free French units fought with the British Commonwealth army against Italian troops in Ethiopia and Eritrea during the East African Campaign. Afterwards, again fighting alongside British Commonwealth forces in Syria and Lebanon, Free French forces once more faced French troops loyal to Vichy France during the Syria-Lebanon campaign. By July 1941, the Vichy forces of General Henri Dentz were defeated and Free French General Georges Catroux was appointed High Commissioner of the Levant. From this point, Free France controlled both Syria and Lebanon.
In September 1941, De Gaulle created the French National Committee (Comité National Français, or CNF), the Free French government-in-exile. On 24 November that year, the United States granted Lend-Lease support to the CNF.
Free French soldiers participated in the Allied North African campaign, in Libya and Egypt. General Marie Pierre Koenig and his unit, the 1st Free French Brigade, fought well against the Afrika Korps at the Battle of Bir Hakeim in June 1942, although eventually obliged to withdraw.
In late 1942, after the Battle of Madagascar, the Vichy French forces under Governor-General Armand Léon Annet were defeated and Free French General Paul Legentilhomme was appointed High Commissioner for Madagascar. On 28 December, after a prolonged blockade, the Vichy forces in French Somaliland surrendered and Free French forces occupied the colony.
During Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of Vichy-controlled French North Africa in November 1942, many Vichy troops surrendered and joined the Free French cause. Vichy coastal defences were captured by the French Resistance. Vichy General Henri Giraud rejoined the Allies, but he lacked the authority that was required and De Gaulle kept his leadership of the Free French, despite American objections.
The Nazis suspected Vichy determination after Torch and they occupied Vichy France in November 1942 (Case Anton). In response, the 60,000-strong Vichy forces in French North Africa — the Army of Africa — joined the Allied side as the French XIX Corps within the British 1st Army, which also included the U.S. II Corps and two British corps. They fought in Tunisia for six months until April 1943. Using antiquated equipment, they took heavy casualties—16,000—against modern armour and a desperate German enemy.
In 1943, Colonel (later General) Philippe Leclerc and Lieutenant-Colonel Camille d'Ornano led a column of 16,500 colonial troops from Chad to attack Italian forces in southern Libya and to occupy Kufra in the Fezzan region.
In November 1943, the French forces received enough military equipment through Lend-Lease to re-equip eight divisions and allow the return of borrowed British equipment. At this point, the Free French and ex-Vichy French Corps were merged.
Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies, as well as French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, joined Free France in 1943.
The air war
The Forces Françaises Combattantes and National Council of the Resistance
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