1 - From the Dunkirk Evacuations to the Franco-German Armistice

Summary

This chapter follows the days leading up to the French defeat in June 1940. It encompasses the events around the Dunkirk evacuation in late May and early June and concludes with the signing of the Franco-German armistice on 22 June. It challenges the notion that the French defeat simultaneously severed the Franco-British alliance. Maintaining imagery of Franco-British continuity in spite of underlying tensions was an important feature of Franco-British and subsequently Anglo-Gaullist policy throughout the conflict.

This chapter introduces a central and reoccurring theme that emerged after the signing of the Franco-German armistice at Rethondes: the battle to determine the legitimate source of Frenchness. Did it reside in metropolitan France, with Marshal Pétain’s government, or with the little-known General Charles de Gaulle in London? British and French policy-makers argued over this issue using the language of sovereignty and national honour. They drew on emotive rhetoric and imagery rooted in historical memory and conceptions of morality. Efforts to distance the French population from its new government were designed to foster feelings of Franco-British amity, encourage sympathy for the British war effort and facilitate the eventual liberation of France with its alliance membership intact.