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7 - La France libre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 August 2022

Douglas Porch
Affiliation:
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
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Summary

By November 1940, les forces françaises libres had swelled to 19,679 soldiers. Arguably the setback at Dakar became a benefit, because it hardened and focused the French exile movement, forced it to adjust to a long-war strategy, and obliged de Gaulle to initiate the transition from a military organization with a political agenda into a political movement with an, albeit constricted, armed wing. With the creation on 27 October 1940 of a Conseil de la défense de l’Empire, the external resistance was now a legitimate territorial power. In the BCRA, la France libre had an organization with the potential to structure and operationalize an as yet diminutive but inevitable internal resistance. On the debit side, la France libre remained an insecure movement with a narrow and underdeveloped African base, factionalized between soldiers and civilians, between the various branches of the movement, torn between its civil war with Vichy and the compulsion to fight the Germans. The BCRA was inexperienced in clandestine mobilization, without a strategy, and dependent on the British for resources. While de Gaulle exhibited many noble qualities, even elements of true greatness, and had stamped his personality on his organization, his attributes were offset by an autocratic temperament and imperious behavior that exasperated allies and alienated potential supporters. Furthermore, Vichy still commanded its High Seas Fleet and controlled the strategically important Levant, Dakar, and AFN. Pétain also enjoyed patriotic prestige and credibility with a French population disoriented by defeat, eager to secure the release of French POWs, and convinced that he was plotting “la revanche” against Germany. British policy continued to recognize Vichy while supporting de Gaulle. With the United States poised to enter the conflict, relations among the three allies would grow more complex.

Type
Chapter
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Defeat and Division
France at War, 1939–1942
, pp. 338 - 384
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • La France libre
  • Douglas Porch, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
  • Book: Defeat and Division
  • Online publication: 25 August 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107239098.008
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  • La France libre
  • Douglas Porch, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
  • Book: Defeat and Division
  • Online publication: 25 August 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107239098.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • La France libre
  • Douglas Porch, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California
  • Book: Defeat and Division
  • Online publication: 25 August 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107239098.008
Available formats
×