Tag Archives: de Gaulle

This week in the War, 15–21 January 1945: Renault factories are nationalized

This week in the war, on 16 January 1945, the newly formed French government under Charles de Gaulle nationalized the factories belonging to the French car manufacturer, Louis Renault. The nationalization was in retaliation to Renault’s perceived collaboration with the German … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 21–27 August 1944: Liberation of Paris

The Free French 2nd Armoured Division of General Philippe Leclerc reached Paris this week in the war, on 24 August 1944. The next day, the German commandant of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, disobeyed the Fuehrer’s order to destroy the … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 3–9 April 1944: Charles de Gaulle and Marie-Pierre Koenig

This week in the war, General Charles de Gaulle appointed his London-based chief-of-staff, French general Marie-Pierre Koenig to head the FFI, the French Forces of the Interior (Forces françaises de l’intérieur). Later, in June and with the full backing of the … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 11–17 January 1943: The Casablanca Conference

This week in the war, 14 January 1943, a conference of world leaders opened in Casablanca—a venue familiar to the American and British publics through the recently released Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman movie, Casablanca. Churchill and Roosevelt attended, as did de … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 23–29 November 1942: Casablanca—The Movie

With the Moroccan port of Casablanca in Allied hands following Operation Torch, American cinema audiences were treated to the first screening of the movie Casablanca. The film opened in New York City, this week in the war, on 26 November … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 29 Dec 1941–4 Jan 1942: The return of Jean Moulin

This week in the war, on 2 January 1942, French resistance leader Jean Moulin parachuted back into France. He had been in London and was sent back to France by de Gaulle to organize and unite the various resistance movements. … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 28 July–3 August 1941: French Indo-China & the Vichy-Japanese ‘protocol’

On 29 July 1941,  the government of Vichy France and the government of Japan enacted a protocol for the ‘common defence of Indo-China.’ Vichy finally had to accept the reality of the military might of Japan and situation in south-east … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 23–29 September: Failure at Dakar

This week in the war, on 23 September 1940, the Free French leader, Charles de Gaulle, arrived with a Royal Navy task force at Dakar on the coast of the Vichy-controlled colony of French West Africa. He sailed on board … Continue reading

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In the news: Curiosity and the ingredients for life

In the early hours of this morning, NASA’s Martian rover Curiosity touched down on the Red Planet to tackle a question that has fired the imagination of the public at least as far back as H.G. Wells’s War of the … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 8–14 July 1940: Vive l’Angleterre! Vive la France!

14 July, Bastille Day—in happier times a day of national celebration—was observed as a day of mourning throughout France, this week in the war, 1940. In London, General de Gaulle laid a wreath at the Cenotaph and inspected soldiers of … Continue reading

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