Charles de Gaulle
French WWII Resistance leader and 1959–1969 president / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle[lower-alpha 1] (/də ˈɡoʊl, də ˈɡɔːl/ də GOHL, də GAWL, French: [ʃaʁl də ɡol] ⓘ;[1] 22 November 1890 – 9 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led the Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 to restore democracy in France. In 1958, amid the Algerian War, he came out of retirement when appointed Prime Minister by President René Coty. He rewrote the Constitution of France and founded the Fifth Republic after approval by referendum. He was elected President of France later that year, a position he held until his resignation in 1969.
Charles de Gaulle | |
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18th President of France | |
In office 8 January 1959 – 28 April 1969 | |
Prime Minister | |
Preceded by | René Coty |
Succeeded by | Georges Pompidou |
Prime Minister of France | |
In office 1 June 1958 – 8 January 1959 | |
President | René Coty |
Preceded by | Pierre Pflimlin |
Succeeded by | Michel Debré |
Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic | |
In office 3 June 1944 – 26 January 1946 | |
Preceded by |
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Succeeded by | Félix Gouin |
Chairman of the French National Committee[lower-alpha 1] | |
In office 18 June 1940 – 3 June 1944 | |
Preceded by | Position established[lower-alpha 2] |
Succeeded by | Position abolished[lower-alpha 3] |
Minister of Defence | |
In office 1 June 1958 – 8 January 1959 | |
Prime Minister | Himself |
Preceded by | Pierre de Chevigné |
Succeeded by | Pierre Guillaumat |
Minister of Algerian Affairs | |
In office 12 June 1958 – 8 January 1959 | |
Prime Minister | Himself |
Preceded by | André Mutter |
Succeeded by | Louis Joxe |
Personal details | |
Born | Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (1890-11-22)22 November 1890 Lille, France |
Died | 9 November 1970(1970-11-09) (aged 79) Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, France |
Resting place | Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, France |
Political party | Union of Democrats for the Republic (1967–1969) |
Other political affiliations | Union for the New Republic (1958–1967) |
Spouse | |
Children | |
Alma mater | École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr |
Signature | |
Military service | |
Allegiance | |
Branch/service | |
Years of service | 1912–1944 |
Rank | Brigade general |
Unit |
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Commands |
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Battles/wars | |
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Born in Lille, he was a decorated officer of the First World War, wounded several times and taken prisoner by the Germans. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured division that counterattacked the invaders; he was then appointed Undersecretary for War. Refusing to accept his government's armistice with Germany, De Gaulle fled to England and exhorted the French to continue the fight in his Appeal of 18 June. He led the Free French Forces and later headed the French National Liberation Committee and emerged as the undisputed leader of Free France. He became head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in June 1944, the interim government of France following its liberation. As early as 1944, De Gaulle introduced a dirigiste economic policy, which included substantial state-directed control over a capitalist economy, which was followed by 30 years of unprecedented growth, known as the Trente Glorieuses. He resigned in 1946, but continued to be politically active as founder of the Rally of the French People. He retired in the early 1950s and wrote his War Memoirs, which quickly became a staple of modern French literature.
When the Algerian War threatened to bring the unstable Fourth Republic to collapse, the National Assembly brought him back to power during the May 1958 crisis. He founded the Fifth Republic with a strong presidency; he was elected with 78% of the vote to continue in that role. He managed to keep France together while taking steps to end the war, much to the anger of the Pieds-Noirs (ethnic Europeans born in Algeria) and the armed forces. He granted independence to Algeria and acted progressively towards other French colonies. In the context of the Cold War, De Gaulle initiated his "politics of grandeur", asserting that France as a major power should not rely on other countries, such as the United States, for its national security and prosperity. To this end, he pursued a policy of "national independence" which led him to withdraw from NATO's integrated military command and to launch an independent nuclear strike force that made France the world's fourth nuclear power. He restored cordial Franco-German relations with Konrad Adenauer to create a European counterweight between the Anglo-American and Soviet spheres of influence through the signing of the Élysée Treaty on 22 January 1963.
De Gaulle opposed any development of a supranational Europe, favouring Europe as a continent of sovereign nations. De Gaulle openly criticised the US intervention in Vietnam and the "exorbitant privilege" of the US dollar. In his later years, his support for the slogan "Vive le Québec libre" and his two vetoes of Britain's entry into the European Economic Community generated considerable controversy in both North America and Europe. Although reelected to the presidency in 1965, he faced widespread protests by students and workers in May 1968 but had the Army's support and won a snap election with an increased majority in the National Assembly. De Gaulle resigned in 1969 after losing a referendum in which he proposed more decentralisation. He died a year later at the age of 79, leaving his presidential memoirs unfinished. Many French political parties and leaders claim a Gaullist legacy; many streets and monuments in France and other parts of the world were dedicated to his memory after his death.
Childhood and origins
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was born on 22 November 1890 in Lille, the third of five children.[2] He was raised in a devoutly Catholic and traditional family. His father, Henri de Gaulle, was a professor of history and literature at a Jesuit college and eventually founded his own school.[3]: 42–47
Henri de Gaulle came from a long line of parliamentary gentry from Normandy and Burgundy.[4]: 13–16 [5] The name is thought to be Dutch in origin, and may have derived from van der Walle, de Walle ("from the rampart, defensive wall") or de Waal ("the wall")[6][3]: 42 De Gaulle's mother, Jeanne (born Maillot), descended from a family of wealthy entrepreneurs from Lille. She had French, Irish, Scottish, and German ancestry.[4]: 13–16 [5]
De Gaulle's father encouraged historical and philosophical debate between his children, and through his encouragement, de Gaulle learned French history from an early age. Struck by his mother's tales of how she cried as a child when she heard of the French capitulation to the Germans at Sedan in 1870, he developed a keen interest in military strategy. He was also influenced by his uncle, also named Charles de Gaulle, who was a historian and passionate Celticist who advocated the union of the Welsh, Scots, Irish, and Bretons into one people. His grandfather Julien-Philippe was also a historian, and his grandmother Josephine-Marie wrote poems which impassioned his Christian faith.[7][3]: 42–47
Education and intellectual influences
De Gaulle began writing in his early teens, especially poetry; his family paid for a composition, a one-act verse play, to be privately published.[8] A voracious reader, he favored philosophical tomes by such writers as Bergson, Péguy, and Barrès. In addition to the German philosophers Nietzsche, Kant, and Goethe, he read the works of the ancient Greeks (especially Plato) and the prose of Chateaubriand.[8]
De Gaulle was educated in Paris at the Collège Stanislas and studied briefly in Belgium.[3]: 51–53 At the age of fifteen he wrote an essay imagining "General de Gaulle" leading the French Army to victory over Germany in 1930; he later wrote that in his youth he had looked forward with somewhat naive anticipation to the inevitable future war with Germany to avenge the French defeat of 1870.[9]
France during de Gaulle's adolescence was a divided society, with many developments which were unwelcome to the de Gaulle family: the growth of socialism and syndicalism, the legal separation of Church and state in 1905, and the reduction in the term of military service to two years. Equally unwelcome were the Entente Cordiale with Britain, the First Moroccan Crisis, and above all the Dreyfus Affair. Henri de Gaulle came to be a supporter of Dreyfus, but was less concerned with his innocence per se than with the disgrace which the army had brought onto itself. The period also saw a resurgence in evangelical Catholicism, the dedication of the Sacré-Cœur, Paris, and the rise of the cult of Joan of Arc.[3]: 50–51 [9]
De Gaulle was not an outstanding pupil until his mid-teens, but from July 1906 he focused on winning a place at the military academy, Saint-Cyr.[10] Lacouture suggests that de Gaulle joined the army, despite being more suited to a career as a writer and historian, partly to please his father and partly because it was one of the few unifying forces which represented the whole of French society.[11] He later wrote that "when I entered the Army, it was one of the greatest things in the world",[3]: 51 a claim which Lacouture points out needs to be treated with caution: the army's reputation was at a low. It was used extensively for strike-breaking and there were fewer than 700 applicants for Saint-Cyr in 1908, down from 2,000 at the turn of the century.[11]
Officer cadet and lieutenant
De Gaulle won a place at Saint-Cyr in 1909. His class ranking was mediocre (119th out of 221).[10] Under a law of 21 March 1905, aspiring army officers were required to serve a year in the ranks, including time as a private and as an NCO, before attending the academy. Accordingly, in October 1909, de Gaulle enlisted (for four years, as required, rather than the normal two-year term for conscripts) in the 33rd Infantry Regiment [fr] of the French Army, based at Arras.[12] This was a historic regiment with Austerlitz, Wagram, and Borodino amongst its battle honours.[13] In April 1910 he was promoted to corporal. His company commander declined to promote him to sergeant, the usual rank for a potential officer, commenting that the young man clearly felt that nothing less than Constable of France would be good enough for him.[14][12] He was eventually promoted to sergeant in September 1910.[15]
De Gaulle took up his place at Saint-Cyr in October 1910. By the end of his first year he had risen to 45th place.[16] He was nicknamed "the great asparagus" because of his height (196 cm, 6'5"), high forehead, and nose.[3]: 301 He did well at the academy and received praise for his conduct, manners, intelligence, character, military spirit, and resistance to fatigue. In 1912, he graduated 13th in his class[17] and his passing-out report noted that he was a gifted cadet who would undoubtedly make an excellent officer. The future Marshal Alphonse Juin was first in the class, although the two do not appear to have been close at the time.[18]
Preferring to serve in France rather than the overseas colonies, in October 1912 he rejoined the 33rd Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant. The regiment was now commanded by Colonel (and future Marshal) Philippe Pétain, whom de Gaulle would follow for the next 15 years. He later wrote in his memoirs: "My first colonel, Pétain, taught me the art of command".[19][18]
It has been claimed that in the build-up to World War I, de Gaulle agreed with Pétain about the obsolescence of cavalry and of traditional tactics, and often debated great battles and the likely outcome of any coming war with his superior.[7] Lacouture is sceptical, pointing out that although Pétain wrote glowing appraisals of de Gaulle in 1913, it is unlikely that he stood out among the 19 captains and 32 lieutenants under his command. De Gaulle would have been present at the 1913 Arras manoeuvres, at which Pétain criticised General Gallet [fr] to his face, but there is no evidence in his notebooks that he accepted Pétain's unfashionable ideas about the importance of firepower against the dominant doctrine emphasizing "offensive spirit". De Gaulle stressed how Maurice de Saxe had banned volley fire, how French armies of the Napoleonic period had relied on infantry column attack, and how French military power had declined in the nineteenth century because of – supposedly – excessive concentration on firepower rather than élan. He also appears to have accepted the then fashionable lesson drawn from the recent Russo-Japanese War, of how bayonet charges by Japanese infantry with high morale had succeeded in the face of enemy firepower.[20]
De Gaulle was promoted to first lieutenant in October 1913.[21]
First World War
Combat
When war broke out in France in early August 1914, the 33rd Regiment, considered one of the best fighting units in France, was immediately thrown into checking the German advance at Dinant. However, the French Fifth Army commander, General Charles Lanrezac, remained wedded to 19th-century battle tactics, throwing his units into pointless bayonet charges against German artillery, incurring heavy losses.[7]
As a platoon commander, de Gaulle was involved in fierce fighting from the outset. He received his baptism of fire on 15 August and was among the first to be wounded, receiving a bullet in the knee at the Battle of Dinant.[15][3]: 58 It is sometimes claimed that in hospital, he grew bitter at the tactics used, and spoke with other injured officers against the outdated methods of the French army. However, there is no contemporary evidence that he understood the importance of artillery in modern warfare. Instead, in his writing at the time, he criticised the "overrapid" offensive, the inadequacy of French generals, and the "slowness of the English troops".[22]
He rejoined his regiment in October, as commander of the 7th company. Many of his former comrades were already dead. In December he became regimental adjutant.[15]
De Gaulle's unit gained recognition for repeatedly crawling out into no man's land to listen to the conversations of the enemy, and the information brought back was so valuable that on 18 January 1915 he received the Croix de Guerre. On 10 February he was promoted to captain, initially on probation.[15] On 10 March 1915, de Gaulle was shot in the left hand, a wound which initially seemed trivial but became infected.[23] The wound incapacitated him for four months and later forced him to wear his wedding ring on the right hand.[3]: 61 [15][24] In August he commanded the 10th company before returning to duty as regimental adjutant. On 3 September 1915 his rank of captain became permanent. In late October, he returned to command of 10th company.[15]
As a company commander at Douaumont (during the Battle of Verdun) on 2 March 1916, while leading a charge to try to break out of a position which had become surrounded, he received a bayonet wound to the left thigh after being stunned by a shell and was captured after passing out from the effects of poison gas. He was one of the few survivors of his battalion.[25][15][3]: 63 The circumstances of his capture would later become a subject of debate as anti-Gaullists spread rumour that he had actually surrendered, a claim de Gaulle nonchalantly dismissed.[26]
Prisoner
De Gaulle spent 32 months in six different prisoner camps, but he spent most time in the Ingolstadt Fortress [de],[27]: 40 where his treatment was satisfactory.[25]
In captivity, de Gaulle read German newspapers (he had learned German at school and spent a summer vacation in Germany) and gave talks on his view of the conflict to fellow prisoners. His patriotic fervour and confidence in victory earned him the nickname Le Connétable ("The Constable"), the title of the medieval commander-in-chief of the French army.[28] In Ingolstadt were also journalist Remy Roure, who would eventually become a political ally of de Gaulle,[29][30] and Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a future commander of the Red Army. De Gaulle became acquainted with Tukhachevsky, whose theories about a fast-moving, mechanized army closely resembled his. He also wrote his first book, Discorde chez l'ennemi (The Enemy's House Divided), analysing the divisions within the German forces. The book was published in 1924.[3]: 83
Originally interned at Rosenberg Fortress, he was quickly moved to progressively higher-security facilities like Ingolstadt. De Gaulle made five unsuccessful escape attempts,[15] and was routinely punished with long periods of solitary confinement and the withdrawal of privileges such as newspapers and tobacco. He attempted escape by hiding in a laundry basket, digging a tunnel, digging through a wall, and even posing as a nurse.[31][19] In letters to his parents, he constantly spoke of his frustration that the war was continuing without him. As the war neared its end, he grew depressed that he was playing no part in the victory, but he remained in captivity until the armistice. On 1 December 1918, three weeks later, he returned to his father's house in the Dordogne to be reunited with his three brothers, who had all served in the army and survived.
Between the wars
Early 1920s: Poland and staff college
After the armistice, de Gaulle served with the staff of the French Military Mission to Poland as an instructor of Poland's infantry during its war with communist Russia (1919–1921). He distinguished himself in operations near the River Zbrucz, with the rank of major in the Polish army, and won Poland's highest military decoration, the Virtuti Militari.[3]: 71–74
De Gaulle returned to France, where he became a lecturer in military history at Saint-Cyr.[32] He studied at the École de Guerre (staff college) from November 1922 to October 1924. Here he clashed with his instructor Colonel Moyrand by arguing for tactics based on circumstances rather than doctrine, and after an exercise in which he had played the role of commander, he refused to answer a question about supplies, replying "de minimis non curat praetor" (roughly: "a leader does not concern himself with trivia") before ordering the responsible officer to answer Moyrand. He obtained respectable, but not outstanding grades on many of his assessments. Moyrand wrote in his final report that he was "an intelligent, cultured and serious-minded officer; has brilliance and talent" but criticised him for not deriving as much benefit from the course as he should have, and for his arrogance: his "excessive self-confidence", his harsh dismissal of the views of others "and his attitude of a King in exile". Having entered 33rd out of 129, he graduated in 52nd place, with a grade of assez bien ("good enough"). He was posted to Mainz to help supervise supplies of food and equipment for the French Army of Occupation.[33][3]: 82 De Gaulle's book La Discorde chez l'ennemi had appeared in March 1924. In March 1925 he published an essay on the use of tactics according to circumstances, a deliberate defiance of Moyrand.[34]
Mid-1920s: ghostwriter for Pétain
De Gaulle's career was saved by Pétain, who arranged for his staff college grade to be amended to bien ("good"—but not the "excellent" needed for a general staff posting).[3]: 82–83 From 1 July 1925 he worked for Pétain (as part of the Maison Pétain), largely as a "pen officer" (ghostwriter).[35] De Gaulle disapproved of Pétain's decision to take command in Morocco in 1925 (he was later known to remark that "Marshal Pétain was a great man. He died in 1925, but he did not know it") and of what he saw as the lust for public adulation of Pétain and his wife. In 1925 de Gaulle began to cultivate Joseph Paul-Boncour, his first political patron.[36] On 1 December 1925 he published an essay on the "Historical Role of French Fortresses". This was a popular topic because of the Maginot Line which was then being planned, but he argued that the aim of fortresses should be to weaken the enemy, not to economise on defence.[35]
Friction arose between de Gaulle and Pétain over Le Soldat, a history of the French soldier which he had ghost-written and for which he wanted greater writing credit. He had written mainly historical material, but Pétain wanted to add a final chapter of his own thoughts. There was at least one stormy meeting late in 1926 after which de Gaulle was seen to emerge, white with anger, from Pétain's office.[37] In October 1926 he returned to his duties with the Headquarters of the Army of the Rhine.[38]
De Gaulle had sworn that he would never return to the École de Guerre except as commandant, but at Pétain's invitation, and introduced to the stage by his patron, he delivered three lectures there in April 1927: "Leadership in Wartime", "Character", and "Prestige". These later formed the basis for his book The Edge of the Sword (1932).[39]
Late-1920s: Trier and Beirut
After spending twelve years as a captain, a normal period, de Gaulle was promoted to commandant (major) on 25 September 1927.[39] In November 1927 he began a two-year posting as commanding officer of the 19th chasseurs à pied (a battalion of élite light infantry) with the occupation forces at Trier.[40][3]: 94
De Gaulle trained his men hard (a river crossing exercise of the freezing Moselle River at night was vetoed by his commanding general). He imprisoned a soldier for appealing to his deputy for a transfer to a cushier unit, and when investigated initially tried to invoke his status as a member of the Maison Pétain, eventually appealing to Pétain to protect himself from a reprimand for interfering with the soldier's political rights. An observer wrote of de Gaulle at this time that although he encouraged young officers, "his ego...glowed from far off". In the winter of 1928–1929, thirty soldiers ("not counting Annamese") died from so-called "German flu", seven of them from de Gaulle's battalion. After an investigation, he was singled out for praise in the ensuing parliamentary debate as an exceptionally capable commanding officer, and mention of how he had worn a mourning band for a private soldier who was an orphan earned praise from the Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré.[41]
The breach between de Gaulle and Pétain over the ghost-writing of Le Soldat had deepened in 1928. Pétain brought in a new ghostwriter, Colonel Audet, who was unwilling to take on the job and wrote to de Gaulle in some embarrassment to take over the project. Pétain was quite friendly about the matter but did not publish the book.[42] In 1929 Pétain did not use de Gaulle's draft text for his eulogy for the late Ferdinand Foch, whose seat at the Academie Française he was assuming.[37]
The Allied occupation of the Rhineland was ending, and de Gaulle's battalion was due to be disbanded, although the decision was later rescinded after he had moved to his next posting. De Gaulle wanted a teaching post at the École de Guerre in 1929.[43] There was apparently a threat of mass resignation of the faculty were he appointed. There was talk of a posting to Corsica or North Africa, but on Pétain's advice he accepted a two-year posting to Lebanon and Syria.[3]: 93–94 In Beirut he was chief of the 3rd Bureau (military operations) of General Louis-Paul-Gaston de Bigault du Granrut, who wrote him a glowing reference recommending him for high command.[44]
1930s: staff officer
In the spring of 1931, as his posting in Beirut drew to a close, de Gaulle once again asked Pétain for a posting to the École de Guerre. Pétain tried to obtain an appointment for him as Professor of History there, but once again the faculty would not have him. Instead de Gaulle, drawing on plans he had drawn up in 1928 for reform of that institution, asked Pétain to create a special post for him which would enable him to lecture on "the Conduct of War" both to the École de Guerre and to the Centre des Hautes Études Militaires (CHEM – a senior staff college for generals, known as the "school for marshals"), to civilians at the École Normale Supérieure, and to civil servants.[45]
Pétain instead advised him to apply for a posting to the Secrétariat Général du Conseil Supérieur de la Défense Nationale (SGDN – General Secretariat of the Supreme War Council) in Paris. Pétain promised to lobby for the appointment, which he thought would be good experience for him. De Gaulle was posted to SGDN in November 1931, initially as a "drafting officer".[45][3]: 94
He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in December 1932 and appointed Head of the Third Section (operations). His service at SGDN gave him six years' experience of the interface between army planning and government, enabling him to take on ministerial responsibilities in 1940.[3]: 97 [46]
After studying arrangements in the US, Italy, and Belgium, de Gaulle drafted a bill for the organisation of the country in wartime. He made a presentation about his bill to the CHEM. The bill passed the Chamber of Deputies but failed in the Senate.[47]
Early 1930s: proponent of armoured warfare
Unlike Pétain, de Gaulle believed in the use of tanks and rapid maneuvers rather than trench warfare.[3]: 108 De Gaulle became a disciple of Émile Mayer, a retired lieutenant-colonel (his career had been damaged by the Dreyfus Affair) and military thinker. Mayer thought that although wars were still bound to happen, it was "obsolete" for civilised countries to threaten or wage war on one another. He had a low opinion of French generals, and was a critic of the Maginot Line and a proponent of mechanised warfare. Lacouture suggests that Mayer focused de Gaulle's thoughts away from his obsession with the mystique of the strong leader (Le Fil d'Epée: 1932) and back to loyalty to Republican institutions and military reform.[48]
In 1934 de Gaulle wrote Vers l'Armée de Métier (Towards a Professional Army). He proposed mechanization of the infantry, with stress on an élite force of 100,000 men and 3,000 tanks. The book imagined tanks driving around the country like cavalry. De Gaulle's mentor Emile Mayer was somewhat more prophetic than he was about the future importance of air power on the battlefield. Such an army would both compensate for France's population shortage, and be an efficient tool to enforce international law, particularly the Treaty of Versailles. He also thought it would be a precursor to a deeper national reorganisation, and wrote that "a master has to make his appearance [...] whose orders cannot be challenged – a man upheld by public opinion".[49]
Only 700 copies were sold in France; the claim that thousands of copies were sold in Germany[19] is thought to be an exaggeration. De Gaulle used the book to widen his contacts among journalists, notably with André Pironneau, editor of L'Écho de Paris. The book attracted praise across the political spectrum, apart from the hard left who were committed to the Republican ideal of a citizen army.[50] De Gaulle's views attracted the attention of the maverick politician Paul Reynaud, to whom he wrote frequently, sometimes in obsequious terms. Reynaud first invited him to meet him on 5 December 1934.[51]
De Gaulle was deeply focused on his career at this time. There is no evidence that he was tempted by fascism, and there is little evidence of his views either on domestic upheavals in 1934 and 1936 or the many foreign policy crises of the decade.[52] He approved of the rearmament drive which the Popular Front government began in 1936, although French military doctrine remained that tanks should be used in penny packets for infantry support (ironically, in 1940 it would be German panzer units that would be used in a manner similar to what de Gaulle had advocated).[53] A rare insight into de Gaulle's political views is a letter to his mother warning that war with Germany was inevitable and reassuring her that Pierre Laval's pact with the USSR in 1935 was for the best, likening it to Francis I's alliance with the Turks against Emperor Charles V.[54]
Late 1930s: tank regiment
From April 1936, whilst still in his staff position at SGDN, de Gaulle was a lecturer to generals at CHEM.[47] De Gaulle's superiors disapproved of his views about tanks, and he was passed over for promotion to full colonel in 1936, supposedly because his service record was not good enough. He called on his political patron Reynaud, who showed his record to Minister of War Édouard Daladier. Daladier, who was an enthusiast for rearmament with modern weapons, ensured that his name was on the promotion list for the following year.[3]: 109 [55]
In 1937 General Bineau, who had taught him at Saint-Cyr, wrote on his report on his lectureship at CHEM that he was highly able and suitable for high command in the future, but that he hid his attributes under "a cold and lofty attitude".[47] He was put in command of the 507th Tank Regiment (a battalion of medium Char D2s and a battalion of R35 light tanks) at Metz on 13 July 1937, and his promotion to full colonel took effect on 24 December that year. De Gaulle attracted public attention by leading a parade of 80 tanks into the Place d'Armes at Metz, in his command tank "Austerlitz".[56]
By now de Gaulle was becoming a well-known figure, known as "Colonel Motor(s)".[3]: 117 At the invitation of the publisher Plon, he produced another book, La France et son Armée (France and Her Army) in 1938. De Gaulle incorporated much of the text he had written for Pétain a decade earlier for the uncompleted book Le Soldat, to Pétain's displeasure. De Gaulle agreed to include a dedication to Pétain (although he wrote his own rather than using the draft Pétain sent him), which was dropped from postwar editions. Until 1938 Pétain had treated de Gaulle, as Lacouture puts it, "with unbounded good will", but by October 1938 he privately thought his former protégé "an ambitious man, and very ill-bred".[57]
Early war
At the outbreak of World War II, de Gaulle was put in command of the French Fifth Army's tanks (five scattered battalions, largely equipped with R35 light tanks) in Alsace. On 12 September 1939 he attacked at Bitche, simultaneously with the Saar Offensive.[58][3]: 118
At the start of October 1939, Reynaud asked for a staff posting under de Gaulle, but remained at his post as Minister of Finance. De Gaulle's tanks were inspected by President Lebrun, who was impressed, but regretted that it was too late to implement his ideas.[59] He wrote a paper L'Avènement de la force mécanique (The coming of the Armoured Force) which he sent to General Georges (commander-in-chief on the northeast front – who was not especially impressed) and the politician Leon Blum. Daladier, Prime Minister at the time, was too busy to read it.[60]
In late February 1940, Reynaud told de Gaulle that he had been earmarked for command of an armoured division as soon as one became available.[61] Early in 1940 (the exact date is uncertain), de Gaulle proposed to Reynaud that he be appointed Secretary-General of the War Council, which would in effect make him the government's military adviser. When Reynaud became prime minister in March, he was reliant on Daladier's backing, so the job went instead to the politician Paul Baudouin.[62]
In late March, Reynaud told de Gaulle that he would be given command of the 4th Armoured Division, due to form by 15 May.[63] The government appeared likely to be restructured, as Daladier and Maurice Gamelin (commander-in-chief) were under attack in the aftermath of the Allied defeat in Norway, and had this happened de Gaulle, who on 3 May, was still lobbying Reynaud for a restructuring of the control of the war, might well have joined the government.[64] By 7 May he was assembling the staff of his new division.[65]
Battle of France
Division commander
The Germans attacked the West on 10 May.[64] De Gaulle activated his new division on 12 May.[65] The Germans broke through at Sedan on 15 May 1940.[66] That day, with three tank battalions assembled, less than a third of his paper strength, he was summoned to headquarters and told to attack to gain time for General Robert Touchon's Sixth Army to redeploy from the Maginot Line to the Aisne. General Georges told him it was his chance to implement his ideas.[67][19]
The attack at Montcornet, a key road junction near Laon, began around 04:30 on 17 May. Outnumbered and without air support, he lost 23 of his 90 vehicles to mines, anti-tank weapons, and Stukas. On 18 May he was reinforced by two fresh regiments of armoured cavalry, bringing his strength to 150 vehicles. He attacked again on 19 May and his forces were once again devastated. He ignored orders from General Georges to withdraw, and in the early afternoon demanded two more divisions from Touchon, who refused.[68] Although de Gaulle's tanks forced German infantry to retreat to Caumont, the action brought only temporary relief and did little to slow the spearhead of the German advance. Nevertheless, it was one of the few successes the French enjoyed while suffering defeats across the country.[69][70]
De Gaulle's rank of brigadier-general became effective on 1 June 1940.[3]: 127 That day he was in Paris. After visiting his tailor to be fitted for his general's uniform, he met Reynaud, who appears to have offered him a government job for the first time, and afterwards the commander-in-chief Maxime Weygand, who congratulated him on saving France's honour and asked for his advice.[71] On 2 June he sent a memo to Weygand vainly urging that the French armoured divisions be consolidated from four weak divisions into three stronger ones and concentrated into an armoured corps under his command. He made the same suggestion to Reynaud.[71]
Government minister
On 5 June, the day the Germans began the second phase of their offensive (Fall Rot), Prime Minister Paul Reynaud appointed de Gaulle Under-Secretary of State for National Defence and War,[72] with particular responsibility for coordination with the British.[73] Weygand objected to the appointment, thinking him "a mere child".[74] Pétain (Deputy Prime Minister) was also displeased and told Reynaud the story of the ghost-writing of Le Soldat.[74] His appointment received a good deal of press attention, both in France and in the UK. He asked for an English-speaking aide and Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel was given the job.[75]
On 8 June, de Gaulle visited Weygand, who believed it was "the end" and that after France was defeated Britain would soon sue for peace.[76] A day later, de Gaulle flew to London and met British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for the first time. It was thought that half a million men could be evacuated to French North Africa, provided the British and French navies and air forces coordinated their efforts. Either at this meeting or on 16 June, he urged Churchill in vain to throw more Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft into the Battle of France but conceded that Churchill was right to refuse.[77]
On 11 June, de Gaulle drove to Arcis-sur-Aube and offered General Charles Huntziger Weygand's job as Commander-in-Chief. Huntziger accepted in principle, but de Gaulle was unable to persuade Reynaud to sack Weygand.[78] On 13 June, de Gaulle attended another Anglo-French conference at Tours with Churchill, Lord Halifax, Lord Beaverbrook, Edward Spears, Ismay, and Alexander Cadogan.[79] De Gaulle was dissuaded from resigning by the Interior Minister Georges Mandel, who argued that the war was just beginning, and that de Gaulle needed to keep his reputation unsullied.[80] Nevertheless, at around 9:00 on 17 June, de Gaulle flew to London on a British aircraft with Spears. De Gaulle later told André Malraux of the mental anguish which his flight to London – a break with the French Army and with the recognised government, which would inevitably be seen as treason by many – had caused him.[81]
Leader of the Free French in exile
Appeal from London
De Gaulle landed at Heston Airport soon after 12:30 on 17 June 1940. He saw Churchill at around 15:00 and Churchill offered him broadcast time on BBC. They both knew about Pétain's broadcast earlier that day that stated that "the fighting must end" and that he had approached the Germans for terms. That evening de Gaulle dined with Jean Monnet and denounced Pétain's "treason".[27]: 125–128 The next day the British Cabinet (Churchill was not present, as it was the day of his "Finest Hour" speech) were reluctant to agree to de Gaulle giving a radio address, as Britain was still in communication with the Pétain government about the fate of the French fleet. Duff Cooper (Minister of Information) had an advance copy of the address, to which there were no objections. The cabinet eventually agreed after individual lobbying, as indicated by a handwritten amendment to the cabinet minutes.[82][66] De Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June exhorted the French people not to be demoralized and to continue to resist occupation. He also – apparently on his own initiative – declared that he would broadcast again the next day.[83] Few listened to the 18 June speech;[27]: 4–6 the speech was published in some newspapers in mainland France. It was largely aimed at French soldiers who were in Britain after being evacuated from Norway and Dunkirk; most showed no interest in fighting for de Gaulle's Free French Forces and were repatriated to France to become German prisoners of war.[84]
The small audience of the 18 June appeal grew for later speeches,[27]: 5–6 and the press by early August described Free French military as fighting under de Gaulle's command,[85] although few in France knew anything about him.[27]: 5–6
The Vichy regime had already sentenced de Gaulle to four years' imprisonment; on 2 August 1940 he was condemned to death by court martial in absentia,[86] although Pétain commented that he would ensure that the sentence was never carried out.[87] De Gaulle said of the sentence, "I consider the act of the Vichy men as void; I shall have an explanation with them after the victory".[85] He and Churchill reached agreement on 7 August 1940, that Britain would fund the Free French, with the bill to be settled after the war (the financial agreement was finalised in March 1941). A separate letter guaranteed the territorial integrity of the French Empire.[88]
De Gaulle's support grew out of a base in the colonial French Equatorial Africa. In the autumn of 1940, the colonial empire largely supported the Vichy regime. Félix Éboué, governor of Chad, switched his support to General de Gaulle in September. Encouraged, de Gaulle traveled to Brazzaville in October, where he announced the formation of an Empire Defense Council[89] in his "Brazzaville Manifesto",[90] and invited all colonies still supporting Vichy to join him and the Free French forces in the fight against Germany, which most of them did by 1943.[89][91]
Algiers
Working with the French Resistance and other supporters in France's colonial African possessions after Operation Torch in November 1942, de Gaulle moved his headquarters to Algiers in May 1943. He became first joint head (with the less resolutely independent General Henri Giraud, the candidate preferred by the US who wrongly suspected de Gaulle of being a British puppet) and then—after squeezing out Giraud by force of personality—sole chairman of the French Committee of National Liberation.[66]
De Gaulle was held in high regard by Allied commander General Dwight Eisenhower.[92] In Algiers in 1943, Eisenhower gave de Gaulle the assurance in person that a French force would liberate Paris and arranged that the army division of French General Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque would be transferred from North Africa to the UK to carry out that liberation.[92] Eisenhower was impressed by the combativeness of units of the Free French Forces and "grateful for the part they had played in mopping up the remnants of German resistance"; he also detected how strongly devoted many were to de Gaulle and how ready they were to accept him as the national leader.[92]
Preparations for D-Day
As preparations for the liberation of Europe gathered pace, the US in particular found de Gaulle's tendency to view everything from the French perspective to be extremely tiresome. President Roosevelt, who refused to recognize any provisional authority in France until elections had been held, referred to de Gaulle as "an apprentice dictator", a view backed by a number of leading Frenchmen in Washington, including Jean Monnet, who later became instrumental in setting up the European Coal and Steel Community that led to the modern European Union. Roosevelt directed Churchill not to provide de Gaulle with strategic details of the imminent invasion because he did not trust him to keep the information to himself. French codes were considered weak, posing a risk since the Free French refused to use British or American codes.[93] De Gaulle refused to share coded information with the British, who were then obliged secretly to break the codes to read French messages.[94]
Upon his arrival at RAF Northolt on 4 June 1944 he received an official welcome.[93] Later, on his personal train, Churchill informed him that he wanted him to make a radio address, but when informed that the Americans continued to refuse to recognise his right to power in France, and after Churchill suggested he request a meeting with Roosevelt to improve his relationship with the president, de Gaulle became angry, demanding to know why he should "lodge my candidacy for power in France with Roosevelt; the French government exists".[3]
Return to France
On 14 June 1944, he left Britain for the city of Bayeux, Normandy, which he proclaimed as the capital of Free France. Appointing his Aide-de-Camp Francois Coulet as head of the civil administration, de Gaulle returned to the UK that same night on a French destroyer, and although the official position of the supreme military command remained unchanged, local Allied officers found it more practical to deal with the fledgling administration in Bayeux in everyday matters.[93] De Gaulle flew to Algiers on 16 June and then went to Rome to meet the Pope and the new Italian government. At the beginning of July, he visited Roosevelt in Washington, where he received the 17-gun salute of a senior military leader rather than the 21 guns of a visiting head of state.[3] De Gaulle successfully lobbied for Paris to be made a priority for liberation on humanitarian grounds and obtained from Allied Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower an agreement that French troops would be allowed to enter the capital first. A few days later, General Leclerc's division entered the outskirts of the city, and after six days of fighting in which the resistance played a major part, the German garrison of 5000 men surrendered on 25 August, although some sporadic fighting continued for several days.[95]
On the evening of 26 August, the Wehrmacht launched a massive aerial and artillery barrage of Paris in revenge, leaving several thousand dead or injured.[96] The situation in Paris remained tense, and a few days later, de Gaulle asked General Eisenhower to send American troops into Paris as a show of strength. On 29 August, the US 28th Infantry Division was rerouted from its journey to the front line and paraded down the Champs Elysees.[96][97]
The same day, Washington and London agreed to accept the position of the Free French. The following day General Eisenhower gave his de facto blessing with a visit to the General in Paris.[98]