A commemoration of the 79th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s Appeal of June 18, 1940, will take place this evening at 5:30 PM at Place du Général De Gaulle, with the presence of Bernard Gonzalez, Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, Philippe Pradal, First Deputy Mayor of Nice, Lieutenant Colonel Philippe Bocquet, Departmental Military Delegate of Alpes-Maritimes, Olivier Robaut, Municipal Councilor delegated to Veterans, Colonel (h) Marie-Christine Fix, Departmental Delegate of Alpes-Maritimes for the Foundation of Free France, Jean-Marie Ghibaudo, President of the Association of Friends of the Foundation of Free France of Alpes-Maritimes & all Associations of Veterans and War Victims.
At war with Nazi Germany since September 1939, the French army failed to face the lightning offensive of enemy tanks from May 10, 1940. Colonel de Gaulle, who for several years had been trying to raise awareness among military and political figures about the need to modernize the army (using aviation and tanks), distinguished himself at the head of the 4th Armored Division, notably holding the Germans at Abbeville (May 27-30, 1940). At 49, Charles de Gaulle, newly appointed brigadier general on a temporary basis, joined the government presided over by Paul Reynaud on June 5 as Under-Secretary of State for National Defense and War.
The situation in France was also critical: millions of civilians fled in the face of the military collapse and the advance of German troops parading in Paris on June 14. The French government had relocated to Bordeaux, and General de Gaulle was sent on a mission to London on June 16 to request maritime and aerial reinforcements from the British Prime Minister. While Winston Churchill agreed to the principle of a Franco-British union, De Gaulle learned upon his return to Bordeaux of the resignation of Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, replaced by Marshal Pétain. The “victor of Verdun,” very popular among the French, was preparing to negotiate the terms of an armistice with Germany.
Refusing defeat, De Gaulle returned to London on June 17 to continue the fight there.
On the evening of June 18, he addressed the French population and issued a call to continue the fight, today considered the founding act of Free France.
