Free France: The History and Legacy of the Exiled Free French Government during World War II

*Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents “Whatever happens, the flame of French Resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.” - General Charles de Gaulle, radio broadcast from London, June 18, 1940 “A great man? Why, he’s selfish, he’s arrogant, he thinks he’s the center of the universe…you’re right, he’s a great man!” – Winston Churchill on General Charles de Gaulle The French Army crumbled swiftly under the powerful blows delivered to it in 1940 by Nazi Germany’s confident Wehrmacht. Launching a massive feint into Belgium to lure mobile French armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) away from the actual point of attack, the weakly protected Ardennes Forest, the Germans struck past the Maginot Line. In a lightning campaign, Heinz Guderian's panzers punched through to the coast, dividing Allied forces with a steel cordon across France and forcing the evacuation of the BEF from the port of Dunkirk.