The Fighting French

A sweeping survey of General de Gaulle’s Free France government-in-exile and the French underground resistance movement. From bold acts of sabotage in Vichy France and fund-raising events in New York to the activities of the Free French forces in the South Pacific and Equatorial Africa, the bravery of the France Libre movement is contrasted with the Vichy regime led by Philippe Petain and Pierre Laval: ‘a sorry group of political vultures, turncoats and crackpots’.

This issue features footage of many significant figures from French politics, from De Gaulle himself (who we see delivering a speech in London as well as in a clip from his time as an officer in the French tank corps) to more notorious figures such as the leader of the proto-fascist Croix-de-Feu group Colonel François de la Rocque. De Rocque had featured in the very first British edition of The March of Time issue in a story which had caused controversy at the time and was accused of being supportive of de la Rocque by some left wing critics. In Washington DC we see Adrien Tixier, who was the leader of the Free French delegation, and was appointed by De Gaulle to negotiate directly with the Americans.