Flag 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 Main article: Free French Naval Forces The war at sea The
French Resistance gradually grew in strength.
Charles De Gaulle set a plan to bring together the different groups under his leadership. He changed the name of his movement to "Fighting French Forces" (
Forces Françaises Combattantes) and sent
Jean Moulin back to France to unite the eight major
French Resistance groups into one organisation. Moulin got their agreement to form the "National Council of the Resistance" (
Conseil National de la Résistance). Moulin was eventually captured, and died under brutal torture by the
Gestapo.
Later, the resistance was more formally referred to as the "
French Forces of the Interior" (
Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur, or FFI). From
October 1944 to
March 1945, many FFI units were amalgamated into the French Army in order to regularize the units.
The Forces Françaises Combattantes and National Council of the Resistance During the
Italian Campaign of
1943 and
1944, 100,000 Free French soldiers fought on the
Allied side, notably in the fighting on the
Winter Line and
Gustav Line. By the time of the
Normandy Invasion, the Free French forces numbered more than 400,000 strong. The
Free French 2nd Armoured Division, under General Leclerc, landed at
Normandy and eventually led the drive towards
Paris, whilst the divisions which had been fighting in Italy became part of the
French First Army, under General
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, and joined the
U.S. 7th Army in
Operation Dragoon. This operation was the Allied invasion of southern France. The Allied forces advanced up the line of the
Rhône River to liberate the
Vosges and southern
Alsace.
Fearing the Germans would destroy
Paris if attacked by a frontal assault, General
Dwight Eisenhower ordered his forces to cease their advance and reconnoitre the situation. At this time, Parisians rose up in full-scale revolt. As the Allied forces waited near Paris, General Eisenhower acceded to pressure from de Gaulle and his Free French Forces. De Gaulle was furious about the delay and was unwilling to allow the people of Paris to be slaughtered as had happened in the
Polish capital of
Warsaw during the
Warsaw Uprising. De Gaulle threatened to attack single-handedly. In response, General Eisenhower granted the Free French forces the honour of spearheading the Allied assault and liberating the capital city of France. Thus, on
24 August 1944, units of the
Free French 2nd Armoured Division entered the city first during the
Liberation of Paris.
Liberation of France By
September 1944, the Free French forces stood at 560,000. This number rose to 1 million by the end of the year. French forces were fighting in
Alsace, the
Alps, and
Brittany. In
May 1945, by the
end of the war in Europe, the Free French forces comprised 1,250,000, personnel and included seven infantry divisions and three armoured divisions fighting in
Germany. The French offered to send a division to the Pacific to help fight the Japanese towards the end of the war, but it ended before they could be sent.
End of the war French First Army Atlantic Army Detachment Alpine Army Detachment
- I Army Corps
II Army Corps
III Army Corps Order of Battle on 8 May 1945
(More cited on French Resistance)
Dimitri Amilakhvari
Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu
Georges Bidault
Pierre Billotte
Claude Hettier de Boislambert
René Cassin
Georges Catroux
Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel
André Dewavrin
Félix Éboué
Charles de Gaulle
Joseph Kessel
Marie Pierre Koenig
Edgard de Larminat
Pierre-Olivier Lapie
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
Paul Legentilhomme
Anna Marly
Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Messmer
Jean Moulin
Émile Muselier
Gaston Palewski
René Pleven
Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné
Maurice Schumann
Susan Travers
Martin Valin
Raoul Magrin-Vernerey Notable French who joined after 1942
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