What is De Gaulle role in World War 2?

Question

esp. towards his relationship with the french resistence, vinchy france and operation overlord?

Answer 1

A coward who let others do the jod of freeing his nation & then sits back in London to tell his people that the war is over :)

Answer 2

He was the leader of the French Freedom fighters from his London base. DeGaulle had a bitter relationship with FDR. Only because DeGaulle and Churchhill had a somewhat cordial relationship was Churchhill able to express to FDR DeGaulle's point of view. Yet FDR hated DeGaulle. When it came to the D-Day invasion, FDR denied DeGaulle the right to be on the invading ships. Even though the French underground helped the allies and reduced the ally mortality numbers. DeGaulle's only contact with the French underground however was through radio transmissions from England. One of the reasons, the English won the battle of Britian, German warplanes conducting bombing raids in London, was the French underground was able to transmit information to the English that German warplanes were about to fly over the English channel and bomb England. This prepared the English for the upcoming invasion and they were able to respond. Regardless FDR hated the French and DeGaulle, in particular, thus it created ongoing problems for the next 60 years. Also DeGaulle was a World War I hero. He was shot five times by the Germans during trench warfare. FDR never seen combat.
In regard to the Vichy government, he had an ongoing battle with them, and had spies to convince high ranking generals in the Vichy government to fight for the allies.
During Operation Overload, he was told by FDR to shut up.

Answer 3

As a representative of the (non-Vichy) French military, DeGaulle became a rallying figure. His actual role was pretty limited, and in Operation Overlord he was as useful as nipples on a boar, but after the war, he gave the French a point around which to rally in their efforts to rebuild.
Truly an important political, if not military, figure.

Answer 4

On 18 June, de Gaulle prepared to speak to the French people, via BBC radio, from London. The British Cabinet attempted to block the speech, but was overruled by Churchill. In France, de Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June could be heard nationwide in the evening. The phrase "France has lost a battle; she has not lost the war", which appeared on posters in Britain at the time, is often incorrectly associated with the BBC broadcast; nevertheless the words aptly capture the spirit of de Gaulle's position.

Only a few people actually heard the speech that night, because the BBC was seldom listened to on the continent, and millions of French were refugees on the road. However, excerpts of the speech appeared in French newspapers the next day in the (unoccupied) southern part of France, the speech was repeated for several days on the BBC, and de Gaulle spoke again on subsequent nights.

De Gaulle's 22 June speech on the BBC can be heard here in its entirety. Audio excerpts of other speeches, the full texts of the speeches, and reproductions of posters from June 1940 can be found here.

Soon enough, among the chaos and bewilderment in France, the news that a French general was in London, refusing to accept the tide of events and calling for the end of despair and the continuation of war spread by word of mouth. To this day, it remains one of the most famous speeches in French history.

From London, de Gaulle formed and led the Free French movement. Whereas the United States continued to recognise Vichy France, the British government of Winston Churchill supported de Gaulle, initially maintaining relations with the Vichy government, but subsequently recognised the Free French.

On 4 July 1940, a court-martial in Toulouse sentenced de Gaulle in absentia to four years in prison. At a second court-martial on 2 August 1940, de Gaulle was condemned to death for treason against the Vichy regime.

In his dealings with his British allies and the United States, de Gaulle insisted at all times in retaining full freedom of action on behalf of France, even when this might embarrass or inconvenience his partners. "France has no friends, only interests" is one of his best-remembered statements. Churchill is often misquoted as having commented, regarding working with de Gaulle, that: "Of all the crosses I have had to bear during this war, the heaviest has been the Cross of Lorraine (de Gaulle's symbol of Free France)". (The actual quote was by Churchill's envoy to France, Major-General Edward Spears (see [1],[2]).)


Casablanca conference, January 1943. From left to right: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, General de Gaulle, Winston Churchill.Working with the French resistance and supporters in France's colonial African possessions, after the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa in November 1942, de Gaulle moved his headquarters to Algiers in May 1943. He became first joint head (with the less resolutely independent Gen. Henri Giraud, the candidate preferred by the USA) and then sole chairman of the Committee of National Liberation.

At the liberation of France following Operation Overlord, in which Free French forces played a minor, symbolic role, he quickly established the authority of the Free French Forces in France, avoiding an Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories. He flew into France from the French colony of Algeria a few hours before the liberation of Paris, and drove near the front of the liberating forces into the city alongside Allied officials. De Gaulle made a famous speech at that time, which raised eyebrows amongst his allies. [3] After his return to Paris, he moved back into his office at the War Ministry, thus proclaiming continuity of the Third Republic and denying the legitimacy of the Vichy regime.

After the war, he served as President of the provisional government from September 1944, but resigned on 20 January 1946, complaining of conflict between the political parties, and disapproving of the draft constitution for the Fourth Republic, which he believed placed too much power in the hands of a parliament with its shifting party alliances.

Answer 5

Useful in giving morale suppoert to the resistance movement in France.

A major pain in the neck for the Allies.

Answer 6

I believe he cleaned the men's room in Churchill's underground bunker.