The Liberty Chronicles

09 December 2022

World War II was a brutal, crucial time in human history, accounting for millions of deaths across Europe, Asia, and Africa, defining generations.  France is often remembered by most people outside the country for its quick defeat during the initial push, or Blitzkrieg, by Germany.  Which is not inaccurate. There is more to the story, however, in the world’s historical records.  France was not just the Vichy puppet government.  France did not just lie over and die.  France fought back.  From Charles de Gaulle to the French Foreign Legion to the ordinary French men and women who took up arms, gathered intelligence, or carried out sabotage against the invaders, the Free French fought back.  And for that, they deserve to be remembered.

            The outcome of WWI and the residual effects from the “peace agreement” struck at the end of that war perfectly laid the groundwork for France to be ground zero for Adolf Hitler’s aggression in WWII.  The peace treaty signed at Versailles was not kind to Germany.  Woodrow Wilson, the American president at the time, was pitching one thing and getting Germany’s acceptance, while Britain and France had a different vision.    To avoid prolonging the war and open conflict with Britain and France, Germany agreed to reparations to France (1).  Germany, unable to grow their military and economically handicapped by financial reparations, was looking for someone to blame.  That someone became a socialist and a Jew (2). 

            The rise of Germany before WWII could not have happened without the rise of Fascism, Nazism, or the head of them all, Adolf Hitler.  Many historians will argue that Hitler’s rise to power is a direct reaction on the part of the German people to the Treaty of Versailles.  The blame put on Jews and Socialists, along with unemployment due to the strapped economy from reparations and high unemployment rates, led to the perfect atmosphere for Hitler and his persona to rise (3).  While the Nazi party had a slow roll in the 1920’s, the German middle class’s disgust for the WWI reparations boosted their support in the early 1930’s, further paving the way for Hitler (4).  Once Hitler was named Chancellor, he secured that power indefinitely, mostly due to infighting in the parliament, and set his sights on Europe and France (5). 

            Though France made efforts to prepare for German aggression, she found herself unprepared for what Germany was about to throw at her.  In March of 1936, Hitler kicked the offensive off by sending troops into the Rhineland, which was supposed to be demilitarized for 50 kilometers, and was, since the end of WWI, once more flouting his finger in the face of the League of Nations (6).  The period that followed saw France and Britain appease Germany’s continued expansion, until it reached France’s doorstep in 1939 after Poland was decisively defeated (7).  In the Spring of 1940, German Forces bulldozed the French defenses, conquered the majority of France, and created the need for a government and people willing to fight back.  The Free French. 

            Many of the stereotypes that emerged from France during the Second World War stem from the Vichy Government’s operations during the German occupation.  Where other countries under German control handed over their young, Jews, and materials under gunpoint, Vichy handed them over freely (8).  The collapse of the French government and establishment of the Vichy government, so willing to do business with the occupiers, gave rise to a resistance. 

            “I, General De Gaulle, now in London, call on all French officers and men… to get in touch with me.  Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not and shall not die.” (9). These words, spoken by General Charles de Gaulle after the fall of France, sparked the flame of French resistance that would last for the following five years.  The fight of the Free French was not easy.  They battled the Germans, Vichy France, and allied leaders, trying to relegate them to lower echelons of the war.  But they fought. 

            De Gaulle had to start somewhere with the resistance.  Radio broadcasts helped draw the French people to him, but he still lacked the territorial domain afforded to Germany, Vichy, and other players on the war stage.  So De Gaulle looked to the French colonies of French Equatorial Africa, Cameroon, and others (10).  While establishing French resistance in the colonies, mostly in a struggle with Vichy, colonials in France were also instrumental in the resistance (11).  Though colonials were not always excited to pick up weapons and resist actively many, colonial workers or prisoners stuck in France after the invasion, did so out of necessity (12).  During the occupation, an estimated 200,000 colonials were in France (13).  Of these, not all fought.  Some just tried to survive.  However, many took up the call to resist the Occupying German forces and the Vichy government (14). 

            The Free French faced not only the Germans and other Axis powers but also internal struggles within the resistance movement itself.  De Gaulle had his own battles to fight to maintain his role as the movement’s leader, and this struggle was evident early on.  De Gaulle, as a military General, understood the realm of politics and that of the military to be different and stand alone (15).  De Gaulle believed that military exploits and political action must remain separate, including the use of intelligence (16).  However, De Gaulle’s thinking on the separate lanes for political and military efforts would change by late 1941, as he began to see the need for a central authority to govern both.

            De Gaulle began his personal transition to head of state by declaring that the Free French movement was no longer a small band of resistance but the new government for all of France (17).   De Gaulle faced resistance from anti-Gaullists across the political spectrum.  The right wing of politics found him too liberal, while the left wing associated him with fascists in an effort to keep the light of the resistance on themselves (18).  Many who disliked De Gaulle did so because he believed that the resistance started with his “Flame of Resistance” speech (19).  Left-wing opponents specifically distrusted De Gaulle’s military background and his standing as a general and head of the Free French politically as a Fascist like power grab and need for control (20).  For the left, De Gaulle was walking a fine line, one wrong step into the political lane as head of state and the Free French could have a dictator on their hands.

            The right wing also had issues with De Gaulle. Both right- and left-wing issues circled around a man code-named Passy, the leader of the Free French intelligence agency (21).  Opponents of De Gaulle used Passy and his intelligence services to draw a parallel between the Nazi use of the SS and the Soviet intelligence services.  This parallel painted De Gaulle as both a left-wing fanatic and a right-wing fanatic.  De Gaulle’s enemies in Vichy took a much tougher stance with the leader of the Free French movement.  The Vichy government stripped De Gaulle of his rank, his French citizenship, and “condemned him to death for desertion” (22). 

            These opposing factions of De Gaulle eventually led them to seek their own leaders.  One of these could be leaders who came in the form of General Giraud.  Giraud was placed in North Africa by America (23).  The man’s appeal came from Petainists and their desire for a conservative leader who was not De Gaulle and their waning, or straight loss of, support for Vichy.  De Gaulle and Giraud, however, did not see eye to eye.  De Gaulle drew a hard line of adhering to republican ideals and a complete break from Vichy France (24). 

            While De Gaulle fought for leadership of the Free French, the movement itself was still at war in various parts of the world, and that war required financing.  With Germany controlling Vichy France, they reaped the financial benefits of that relationship as France greatly contributed to the German war machine (25).  That meant that De Gaulle and his resistance were entirely dependent upon other nations.  The first form of funding went to colonies that supported the Free French movement and provided a literal foothold on land for De Gaulle (26).  And the first batch of funding came from the British, with other countries donating and using the resources in those same countries (27).  These funds formed the basis for the Free French Special Forces. 

            Another source of funding for the Free French was the American Lend-Lease program, offered by President Franklin Roosevelt.  This program was the major supplier of weapons and supplies to De Gaulle’s freedom fighters.  While the British provided advancements they expected to be repaid, the Americans only requested reciprocal aid.  This aid took the form of French installations worldwide that housed U.S. troops during the war, particularly in the Pacific (28).  

            With his fighters being financed and fighting back where they could, De Gaulle and the Free French had another front to fight on.  Not only were they fighting to reclaim their independence and their country, but they were also fighting for the hearts and minds of the French people. While many looked for harder opposition to the German invasion and resistance from the Vichy government, many more believed that the terms established with Germany by the Vichy government were the only way to survive.  And the battle between Vichy and Free France would continue for five years. 

            One of the most effective ways to wage this war for hearts and minds was through propaganda.  This battle took place across the airways between the Vichy government in France and the Free French in London.  This fight came to a head in 1944, as the final year of the occupation began, as Phillipe Henriot was appointed Secretary of State for Information and Propaganda in the Vichy government, placing him in a direct ideological battle with the Free French in Britain.  Over the following 6 months after Henriot’s placement, the battle for the French people’s allegiance would ensue.

            Henriot’s war of the airways was against the French BBC radio based in London and Headed by Free French propagandist Jacques Duchesne (29).  Henriot hammered Duchesne and anyone else who took to the airways to relate the Free French version of the war.  He went after them for leaving France to hide in London during the occupation, asked what right they had to speak for Frenchmen who stayed in France, and challenged their interpretation of the war (30).  Twice daily, Henriot played across French airways, allowing his oratory skills to flourish against the Free French.   Personal attacks between the two and descriptions of the war pertinent to their own sides would slam across airways in a bitter fight until June 28, 1944, when Henriot was shot down by Free French commandos and finally silenced (31). 

            From the battle of the airways to the battles on the ground, the Free French would take whatever fighters they could to wage the war for France’s survival.  On the ground, this came in many forms.   The intelligence network created by Pawsi enabled ordinary citizens within the occupation zone to gather and relay intelligence.  These French men and women would also take part in sabotage and other forms of active resistance.  Fighters were not only French or those from French colonies.  Many were from other countries, sent to France for one reason or another, or finding their own way there in order to fight the evils of the Axis and the growing Nazi empire.  One particular group that helped in this fight was the Spanish.

            The Spanish Civil War raged from 1936 to 1939 and displaced thousands of Spaniards (32).  Many of these displaced Spanish refugees found their way to internment camps in France or into service in the French Foreign Legion (33).  The internment camps made for the ideal recruiting centers as the majority of the Spaniards living there were more left of center who had been pushed out of the Francoist state of Spain after the war (34).  The sting of being forced out of their homeland by an ideological side that they did not agree with, then seeing what they perceived as that same ideological side wreaking havoc on Europe, made for prime recruiting, and thousands were eager to join and do their part to stop the spread of Fascism (35). 

            The war for the Free French and their allies was a brutal one on all sides.  It was hard fought on the ground, in the government, and in the airways.  With the D-Day invasion of America and other allies, however, liberation had finally come.  The question then became, what kind of France will we see now?  Vichy had caved to the Germans and kept their war machine running for years.  Britain was a major player in France’s outcome because of the aid it provided the Free French.  And the Free French, they had decided to fight.  Thousands of French men and Women, along with foreigners, had offered their lives so that France might one day be a free and sovereign nation again.  After the war, the war for the new country would begin.

            “But a determined country, with confidence in herself, and master of her own destiny, has reappeared between the Atlantic and the Rhine” (36).  These words were spoken by Charles De Gaulle on New Year’s Day 1945 as the leader of the French Provisional Government.  Directly following the liberation of France, De Gaulle was the leader of the provincial government.  In this position, de Gaulle decided that the government would be run by decision rather than by vote until actual elections could take place.  De Gaulle had previously tried to ensure that the new government would be an extension of the Third Republic, a decision that would help delegitimize Vichy but would also make it harder to regain the trust in security from other allied members.  In this, de Gaulle lost. 

            The Fourth Republic, established after the provincial government of De Gaulle, was shaky from the start.  The new constitution established parliamentary procedure based on a series of coalitions.  The infighting among the government’s various factions added to its weakness, along with a weak executive branch and cabinet.  The new government was so bad that De Gaulle left the political sphere in 1946 and began pushing his own political party with its own agenda, including suffrage and a powerful assembly, with a president.  With the rise of Communism, De Gaulle’s political party moved further to the right.  With political upheaval over the next 10 years, France desperately needed new leadership.  Charles De Gaulle was elected President of the new Fifth Republic in December of 1958. 

            France, as a whole, has long been looked down upon for its performance in World War II.  The issue is that people remember Vichy more than the brave men and women who fought on multiple fronts for the Free French.  Without the Free French, even if the Allies won the war, France itself would have been gone, with an Allied puppet possibly at the head of the government.  While France did fall, and in the following years would lose more as decolonization ensued, she fought back.  Charles de Gaulle and the thousands of other French men and women who followed him ensured that France would survive the war.    

References

1. Schuker, Stephen A., and John VanderLippe. “Versailles Peace Treaties.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern World. : Oxford University Press, 2008. https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195176322.001.0001/acref-9780195176322-e-1663.
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3. Noakes, Jeremy. 1983. History Today 33 (1). 8. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=4864556&site=eds-live&scope=site.
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6. Douglas Germer, 2013. Three German Invasions of France. The Summers Campaigns of 1830, 1914, 1940. Bamsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=826844&site=eds-live&scope=site
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8. Koreman, Megan. 2000. “The Red Tape Option: Bureaucratic Collaboration and Resistance in Vichy France.” Contemporary European History 9 (2): 261-67. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hia&AN=46360979&site=eds-live&scope=site.
9. De Gaulle, Charles. “The Flame of French Resistance Speech” London, U.K. (June 18, 1940). http://www.emersonkent.com/speeches/flame_of_the_french_resistance.htm
10. Broch, Ludvine. “Colonial Subjects and Citizens in the French Internal Resistance, 1940-1944.” French Politics, Culture and Society 37, no. 1 (March 22, 2019): 6.doi.10.3167/fpcs.2019.370102
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18. Jackson, Julian. 1998. General de Gaulle and His Enemies.  Anti-Gaulism in France Since 1940.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 9 (January): 43-64. Doi.10.2307/3679392
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25. Faulk, David. 2019. Financing the Fight: Sovereignty, Networks, and the French Resistance During WWII. https://ehs.org.uk/financing-the-fight-sovereignty-networks-and-the-french-resistance-during-world-war-ii/
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29. Chadwick, Kay. “Across the Waves: Philippe Henriot’s Radio War with the Free French at the BBC.” French Historical Studies 34, no. 2 (Spring 2011): 327–55. doi:10.1215/00161071-1157358.
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32. Gaspar Celaya, Diego. 2021. “Spanish Exiles, Transnational Soldiers from the French Internment Camps to the Free French Forces.” Journal of Iberian & Latin American Studies 27 (1): 27–40. doi:10.1080/14701847.2021.1898153.
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36. De Gaulle, Charles. 1945. “The Voice of France Will Be Heard.” Vital Speeches of the Day 11 (8): 241. https://search-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsu&AN=9757576&site=eds-live&scope=site.