Vive la République! - An Interactive French AAR

[Morrell8]

Why do we have to vote between two extreme governments? Why can't we all just choose the middle?

Because people are dumb.

We Radicals are safe in the knowledge we can destroy the current government should it do anything extremely detrimental to France.

[Zzzzz...]

Why do we have to vote between two extreme governments? Why can't we all just choose the middle?

Because Liberals are too mainstream. /hipster

[Arcvalons]

When does WWII start? The combined arms of France and Russia must restore socialism to Germany, and if we reach Berlin first then we will become the leaders of the Internationale.

[Tommy4ever]

The Road to War – 1937-1939

By January 19th the wave of proletarian militancy was at its height. The assault of the PPF militias against strikers had only emboldened workers as the fascists were beaten back whilst gradually the strikes had escalated and spread across the country. By the 19th France was for all intensive purposes engaged in the largest wild cat general strike ever seen. On that day Marceau Pivert published a famous article entitled ''Everything is possible!'' claiming that the time for the social revolution had finally come. Pivert was a libertarian communist, the leader of the revolutionary tendency within the SFIO and one of the most prominent figures of the Resistance amongst the Socialists. He represented the extreme left of the Popular Front, his political isolation within the front is best exemplified by the reply of the Communist Party to his article. The Following Day L'Humanite (the official PCF paper) carried the headline ''No! Not everything is possible!'' followed by a detailed analysis of why an attempted revolution was not now in the interests of the working class – the threat of the march of fascism at home and abroad, the potential division of the Republican and democratic camp, the likelihood of civil war etc.

In truth by the 19th the Popular Front's efforts to rein in the workers was already well under way. Shortly after their electoral victory the Communists and Socialists joined together to re-form the CGT – the first legal trade union in France since their outlaw by the Junta in 1926. The CGT promised to bring organisation and representation to the French working class in their industrial disputes. Pushed firmly on the localities by the two parties, the CGT quickly managed to convince many strike leaders to unite under its banner. Within the union the parties could better control these leaders and negotiate an end to the unrest. With heavy agitation from the working class parties and their blatant refusal to provide any revolutionary leadership or provide arms to workers beyond the trusted party cadres who were mostly busy fighting against the fascist paramilitaries the movement began to peter out.

On January 25th the Blum government announced an accord with the workers, negotiated via the CGT. A large swathe of pro-labour legislation was passed including rights to protect striking workers, a mandated minimum of two weeks annual leave, a 40 hour week, a significant pay rise in all industries but especially for the poorest, a subsidy for the unemployed (the benefit of this the working class as a whole cannot be overestimated) whilst controls on rampant speculation to drive up the prices of staple goods were also promised. By early February the movement for Revolution had effectively ended. The apparent capitulation of the supposedly revolutionary and socialist parties caused Pivert to abandon the Popular Front and the SFIO – he was joined by just two other Socialist deputies. Only a tiny trickle of members would join Pivert in abandoning the established working class parties, amongst the notable rebels was a confused band of Trotskyists, no more than 400 strong, who founded the International Communist Party.

Whilst in France the fall of Fascism was followed by a rather peaceful defeat of the revolutionary left, in Spain things were rather more violent. Following the regime change in France the new French government called for all its citizens fighting in the Nationalist camp in the civil war to return home and for all equipment to be returned to France. Understandably, considering only volunteers for the Fascist cause had been sent to Spain, virtually no one chose to return home. However the psychological blow to the Francoists of one of their most important backers abandoning them (and the hope of a more active French intervention now having been lost) coupled with the end of material aid from France proved to be another nail in the coffin for the Fascists. During December and January the Nationalists had launched one final do or die offensive from their Northern base towards Madrid. The defeat of this offensive marked the end of their already pitiful hopes of victory. On March 3rd the last Nationalist forces surrendered, bringing an end to the attempts to bring down the Spanish Republic.

However the Civil War was not over just yet. Just as in France the defeat of the Fascists only opened up a divide between the Popular Front and its politics of compromise and the revolutionaries that made up its foot soldiers. In Spain Catalonia was the centre of the social revolution – where Anarchists had proceeded during the Civil War to establish the beginnings of working class power and socialist revolution. If the Front was to hold together, and the Spanish Republic forge onwards the government felt it necessary to destroy this heart of the revolution. Therefore through the month of May a series of battles, mostly focussed within Barcelona, raged between revolutionaries and the government army – the final result was the decisive defeat of the Spanish Revolution and the victory of capitalism in Spain.

Back in France the PPF rebellion was an utter failure. Unlike Action Francaise the PPF's bases of support tended to be working class areas – the very same areas where the Communists and Socialists reigned supreme. After barely 3 weeks of open fighting between PPF paramilitaries and their left wing counterparts the hopes of a National Revolution had ended with the paramilitaries and the party as a whole driven underground. Having actively called for the overthrow of the government through violent means and wholeheartedly supported an attempt at doing so the PPF became the first party of the Fourth Republic to be banned, its deputies were ejected from the Assembly and the party driven underground.

Meanwhile, the division within the military between Republicans and Imperialists left it paralysed. Meanwhile, the defeat of the threats to the Popular Front from both right and left had improved the confidence of the armed forces in the government's ability to lead France forward.

With the victory of the Popular Front in both France and Spain, and the Soviet Union's economic policies now paying dividends the USSR was at the peak of its powers. With pro-Soviet governments ruling in both Paris and Madrid European peace seemed to be secure. From Moscow's viewpoint the Fascists had been check mated. In a little over a year this position of geopolitical power fell apart and within two years the entire foreign policy of the Soviet Union was reversed.

In 1937 the most tyrannical episode in the history of the Communist movement began at its very heart – within the CPSU itself. In a series of public and televised trials (collectively known as the Moscow Trials) the Soviet Communist Party. The murder of popular Leningrad party boss Kirov proved to be the justification for the arrest and trial of several senior Bolsheviks including Zinoviev and Kamenev. Over the course of the year the purges continued as great swathes of the CPSU party cadre were either executed or imprisoned along with virtually all of the Old Bolsheviks. The Party of Lenin, along with all potential internal opposition to the power of Stalin and his clique was quashed. But the Purges went beyond the party with the Red Army – 3 of the 5 Marshals of the Soviet Union (the most senior figures in the military) alongside as much as 10% of the officer core was purged. Worse still a popular Terror was unleashed upon the public. Stalin's theory that the class struggle only intensified under socialism was put into practise as workers were encouraged to accuse their managers of sabotage and spying, workmate was turned against workmate, neighbour against neighbour and even children against their parents. During the Yezhovchina (so called due to the leading role of NKVD boss Yezhov) hundreds of thousands were executed and perhaps over a million more imprisoned and used as forced labour. This was a Terror comparable only to that enforced by the Junta in 1926-27 and the Nazis during their early years in power in European history. All dissent and all opposition to Stalin's party was utterly crushed.

Although the stories of the horrors of the mass executions and labour camps reached the West through only a few scattered and unreliable sources the Purges of the party and military were openly acknowledged – the Communist movement claiming they were directed against Trotskyist saboteurs and Nazi spies. These Purges had their effects in the West. Around the world the rigid dogmatism of the Communist Parties on the trials and the ruthlessness of the actions in Russia fostered an atmosphere of distrust towards the Communists that had been clearing during the Popular Front period. In both France and Spain the Purges caused severe frictions between the Communists and their coalition allies. But it was in Hungary where the Purges had their greatest effect. Ever since the Hungarian Revolution the Communist Party in Hungary had always leaned to the left wing of the movement – its leadership being long term supporters of Zinoviev. During the Purges a significant number of anti-Stalin Communists managed to escape the Soviet Union and sought refuge in Hungary. Separated from the Soviet Union itself by Czechoslovakia and Romania the Hungarians had a much greater degree of wiggle room than their Comrades in Poland or Finland. From mid to late 1938 relations between Moscow and Budapest started to break down as the Hungarian Party resisted demands for the extradition of Communist dissidents, whilst these dissidents had an alarming tendency to die in unexplained accidents.

Having seen a friendly regime fall in France and an attempted coup in Spain only result in a radicalisation of the government and its drift towards the Soviet Union, not to mention the growing industrial might of the USSR itself, European Fascism was at a low point. To make matters worse the Greco-Italian War had turned to trench warfare in mountainous terrain. The Fascist states decided to move away from confrontation with the West. Playing on British, and indeed French, fears of Soviet hegemony the Germans would promote their own expansionism as merely a logical a fair revision of Versailles as well as a vital way of strengthening the only country that could potentially rival the Soviet Union. The Italians, on the other hand, sought to reach a more friendly accord with the British Empire. This led to the peaceful end of the Greco-Italian War in June 1937 with pre-war borders being restored.

On June 20th 1938, following a coup in Vienna German forces crossed the border into Austria and proceeded to unite the country with the rest of Germany. With the unification, or Anschluss, being wildly popular across Austria there was a feeling amongst the international community that this was merely a fair revision to the tyrannical Treaty of Versailles. Both Italy and Britain regarded the Anschluss as a necessary evil – without an empowered Germany there remained no effective opposition to Soviet power in Europe. Yet in France the issue was far more explosive.

The cracks in the Popular Front had not taken long to start appearing. From the beginning the Radicals were fearful of the socialism of their allies, but stuck it out. The main friction within the Front was between the Communists (who contributed more than half the Front's seats in the Assembly, but were shorn of the most important offices in government) and their Radical and Socialist partners. The Communists always looked to push the envelop slightly further than was comfortable in labour related questions, but most prominent were the disagreements over foreign policy. The PCF demanded that France forge an alliance with Spain and the Comintern that would stand watchful guard against all Fascist aggression. The new French government, initially growing very close to Moscow, gradually cooled relations and moved closer to the British. The Anschluss was to be the final straw for the Popular Front.

As German troops entered Austria the PCF openly demanded in the Assembly that France march to war to protect the independence of Austria. When their allies refused to support them they walked out of the government. Whilst the PCF and Soviets almost certainly had little desire to end the Popular Front for good – merely to force the Front to take a tough and uncompromising stance against German expansionism – the Communist Party would not re-enter government, instead being forced to return to its traditional role as a political pariah. Instead the SFIO and Radicals invited the PRD to join them in a minority government. Since the expulsion of the PPF 259 seats were required fr a majority in the Assembly, the new SFIO-Radical-PRD coalition could muster just 212. This meant that the Republican government was forced to rely on a either the support or ambivalence of the Bonapartists and Action Francaise at times and the Communists at others. The new government denounced the jingoism of the PCF and pursued a strongly pacifist policy – this meant peaceful relations with Germany.

In Spain the other Popular Front government slowly retreated into isolationism, as without France on side it could do little to oppose the Fascist powers. However its own Popular Front remained in government and its political stance remained pro-Soviet.

In September 1938 Prime Minister Daladier travelled to Munich where together with Chamberlain, Mussolini and Hitler he forged the Treaty of Munich. Although Daladier himself was opposed to the policy of Appeasement, the French government was not. The Treaty of Munich amounted to a non-aggression pact between Germany and Western Europe in exchange for the German populated Sudetenland. Once more the Treaty could be easily rationalised as a fair revision to Versailles (in the 1935 Czechoslovakian elections the Nazi supporting German nationalist party had achieved around 2/3s of the vote from the German population showing a clear desire from the Sudeten German community for unification) as well as a necessary bolstering of Germany. Most tellingly of all the Soviet Union was not invited to take part in the conference. From the Soviet point of view the Treaty was a blatant effort from the West to ensure that Germany would be focussed entirely against the Comintern in Eastern Europe, this was unacceptable. From September the Soviet Union began a radical u-turn in its foreign policy as it looked to delay the seemingly inevitable war with Nazi Germany.

Although much focus is given to Europe in the build up to the Second World War, it was actually in Asia where the War began. The rising power of the Japanese Empire was thirsty for Imperial expansion. Yet, since the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 the military hierarchy had been divided over the route for the Empire's expansion. Should Japan look to conquer Siberia from the ideological enemy in the Soviet Union? The resource rich colonies of the Western Empires? Or to finally defeat the traditional hegemonic power in East Asia by invading China? In the end the Anti-Soviet voices won the most support and Japan focused itself against the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, in China Chaing Kaishek's repeated inability to finally crush the CPC was regarded as the single biggest roadblock between the KMT and unification. Since the Japanese invasion of Manchuria the Chinese had slowly rebuilt relations with Japan, regarding them as the ideal ally against the Soviet Union and Western Imperialists.

Ever since the occupation of Manchuria began border wars between the Soviet Union and Japan had been frequent and bloody – often involving thousands of troops on both sides. The Battle of Khalkhin Gol, which began in January 1939, was believed to be simply another in a long line of these engagements. But it was not to be. As the border war escalated the Soviets deployed a great deal of heavy equipment in hopes of showing their strength and beating back the Japanese. However, the employment of such resources only encouraged the Japanese to continue their offensive after their victory.

With Japanese troops already deep into Mongolian territory the Soviet Union officially declared war on February 5th 1939 – beginning the Second World War. With the Red Army apparently crumbling under Japanese attack Chaing saw an opportunity to purge Northern and Western China of Soviet influence – the warlords of these regions had long kept Russian advisers and were suspected of divided loyalties. In response to this the Soviets sent small detachments of troop over the border in order to protect their interests in Sinkiang – Chaing used this incursion as a pretext to declare war upon the Soviet Union and call upon the warlords to unite around his banner.

On February 28th perhaps the most extreme example of pragmatic diplomacy in all history resulted in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Ever since the Treaty of Munich the Soviets had become convinced that the West meant to sell them down the river by turning the Nazis Eastward to fight a war exclusively against the Comintern. Ever since then the Comintern had moved away from its old policies of Anti-Fascist Popular Frontism – unifying all forces against Fascism – instead it had aimed towards ensuring peace between Germany and the Soviet Union. After the outbreak of War in Asia the Soviets were given the last bit of incentive needed to be willing to negotiate with the Germans. The Nazi government on the other hand, also had its reasons for desiring a truce with the Soviets. To put it simply, they could not hope to defeat the Comintern in 1939. The combined armies of Poland, Hungary and Finland alone could match Germany for numbers, never mind the still awesome might of the Red Army in Europe. On top of this German military planners were extremly wary of the French as well as the Czechs. Even after losing the Sudetenland the Czech maintained a very large army that could potentially cause severe problems if Germany were engaged against the Soviets whilst France was regarded as a predatory nation that would look to strike once Germany was at its weakest. No, these threats would have to be neutralised before Germany could even consider war in the East.

The result was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. After the German government shocked the Kremlin by sending a diplomatic delegation to Moscow they gave the Soviets an offer they could not turn down. A non-aggression pact between Germany and the Comintern and an offer to divide Czechoslovakia between them. The division of Hungary from the rest of the Comintern had been causing serious problems of late (with the Hungarians sheltering Soviet dissidents) so the opportunity to take control of Slovakia was a great one. As Czechoslovakia started to crumble with Slovak separatism gaining strength the German army crossed the border on March 6th, followed by the Red Army on March 8th. With no hope of victory the Czechs did not put up a resistance and Czechoslovakia ceased to be. The country was divided between a German protectorate in Bohemia and Moravia, a Soviet dominated Communist Party run regime in Slovakia and the far Eastern portion of the country (Ruthenia) which was annexed into the Ukrainian SSR.

In France the Pact resulted in the banning of the PCF once again and their expulsion from the National Assembly. Fearing the inevitability of war the remaining parties attempted to form a single national government in light of this time of crisis.

In the Far East initial Japanese victories in Mongolia were made to seem meaningless by a large offensive launched by the rising star of the Red Army. Under the leadership of Zhukov Soviet forces struck out from Vladivostock into Northern Korea and then into Southern Manchuria. With a strong foothold in Korea, control over Dailan (formely Port Arthur) as well as several key industrial cities in Manchuria the Japanese position looked dire already. Further West the Soviets worked with local supporters to push into China.

On June 8th war in the West finally broke out as German forces began their Blitzkrieg offensive against France via the countries of the Benelux. The Second World War had come to Europe.

[NikoHoI3]

Nice update again. We must protect France from the vile Germans!

[Antonine]

France is at war! Our only hope for survival is to unify as one nation and one class! The Republicans gave Germany the weapons to attack us and the PCF divided us from within! Let us learn from this the lesson that we on the right have known all along - Germany cannot be trusted! No one can be trusted to defend the interests of France other than ourselves!

We must find allies and quickly and then we must crush the Germans. And when Germany is crushed it must be divided so that it might never again prove a threat to France or peace in Europe! And this time there must be no pity, no cowardly betrayal by the Republicans or the PCF. They have failed, and, though it pains me to say it, the Emperor has failed. It is now time for us to rise up for ourselves to achieve what none of the politicians could!

It is time for all of us to form a National Front, a united nation, to win the war and to win the battle for French unity! One society, one nation and one government! A unified government of the people for the people, free from the ideologies that have divided us in the past! Let the best men for the job be chosen and let us as proud, free Frenchmen, form one great community in one joint effort by all of the nation for victory!

[Terraferma]

Excellent update, the last line caught me by surprise though. Thought we would have a tad more time but...if its a war they want, it's a war they'll get!

[Zzzzz...]

Damn Commies!

[theformersosuke]

What a mess, the french Communists imploded upon victory, hardliners against Germany vanished,
hardliners for russia are banned,and yet we still have no idea how the armed forces are fairing....

[Serpent]

Until the death of France do them part

[Duke of Awesome]

Rally the AF militias! The AF always knew that the Germans were as much an enemy as the communists. If the communists hadn't weakened us so much, we would be better prepared. We might have even had an ally in Italy! Now, France stands nearly isolated against the German army.

[KotoR45]

France is at war! Our only hope for survival is to unify as one nation and one class! The Republicans gave Germany the weapons to attack us and the PCF divided us from within! Let us learn from this the lesson that we on the right have known all along - Germany cannot be trusted! No one can be trusted to defend the interests of France other than ourselves!

We must find allies and quickly and then we must crush the Germans. And when Germany is crushed it must be divided so that it might never again prove a threat to France or peace in Europe! And this time there must be no pity, no cowardly betrayal by the Republicans or the PCF. They have failed, and, though it pains me to say it, the Emperor has failed. It is now time for us to rise up for ourselves to achieve what none of the politicians could!

It is time for all of us to form a National Front, a united nation, to win the war and to win the battle for French unity! One society, one nation and one government! A unified government of the people for the people, free from the ideologies that have divided us in the past! Let the best men for the job be chosen and let us as proud, free Frenchmen, form one great community in one joint effort by all of the nation for victory!

Hear, hear! United we fight, United WE WILL WIN!

[KotoR45]

[Zzzzz...]

Would love to see PFF's reaction to this.

[Xie]

France is at war, we must for a National Front if we hope to survive1

[Culise]

The PCF "betrayed" us? The very PCF that called for war against the perfidious Hun in 1938, that saw the oncoming storm and called for the protection of the Austrian state? No, if the PCF would have betrayed us, it would have been by bringing us into a war we were not yet ready for. After the Bonapartist legacy of discord and unrest, tearing our nation seam from seam in the name of their national cleansing and political suppression of the lawfully-elected Republic, we could not have fought an aggressive war and won. Their crime was not in lack of foresight, but only an excess of zeal.

Still, this is not the time for political recrimination. As a member of the SFIO, I too agree that we must make common cause to protect our homes, our families, and all we hold dear against the rapacious Hun. This deal with the devil by Stalin only proves how far the Soviet Union has fallen, from their purges to their invasion and partition of the helpless Czechoslovak state. I do not agree that Germany must be destroyed, especially given the peaceful relations we maintained with the old Weimar Republic. However, Hitler and his cronies must be removed from power, and a free republic must be installed. If it is necessary to do so at the point of a bayonet, then that is what we must do. It is said that the prospect of being hanged concentrates the mind wonderfully; it may be unfortunate that it is concentrated largely that it is in a body about to be hanged, but with our backs to the wall, we shall fight as one nation, as free Frenchmen, one and all. Bonapartist, Fascist, Republican, Communist: today, we are all French. We are all one National Front.

[Morlak]

Excellent update, the last line caught me by surprise though. Thought we would have a tad more time but...if its a war they want, it's a war they'll get!

Indeed. Let's rally our allies and defend ourselves against this aggression!

[Tommy4ever]

The Second World War
Part One
June 8th 1939 – October 23rd 1939

As the Germans unleashed the full weight of their military machine against Western Europe the British Parliament moved decisively to reform its alliance with France. On June 12th Neville Chamberlain, who had just months before proudly proclaimed ''peace in our time'', declared war on Germany. Yet Britain's entry into the war could do little to hold back the merciless German offensive.

The main force of the German offensive came down on the Alsatian border fortifications of the French army whilst around 1/3 of the German troops and the majority of its armour was sent through the Low Countries. After a seven week campaign Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands outside of Holland had fallen whilst the French army had been forced to withdraw from the Alsatian forts.

With the Germans now threatening France itself the political recriminations began at home. Prime Minister Daladier was forced to resigned, being replaced by Herriot (formerly Prime Minister from 1921-25), Maurice Gamelin (who benefited from the fall of the Empire by rising to the top of the French Army) came under heavy pressure to resign but retained his position whilst several military personnel associated with the Empire and Junta where brought into the government.

Through August and September the Battle for France was fought in earnest. Although the French and German armies were of approximately equal size, and the French air force more than strong enough to go toe to toe with the Luftwaffe the momentum lay ceaselessly with the Germans. The French army moved sluggishly and its equipment used ineffectually. With the exception of a major counter attack at Nancy the French spent the entire battle on the retreat. Striking with overwhelming force at key points and taking advantage of confusion within the French ranks the Wehrmacht defied its comparatively small numbers winning victory after victory. By the end of August the industrial centre of Lille had been lost and 5 divisions captured in Calais, and in the first days of September Italy entered the war, forcing the French High Command to give up on its plans to redeploy troops from the Alps to Northern France.

Then on October 1st the final tragedy. As the Wehrmacht entered the suburbs of Paris the French Army decided to withdraw from the capital in order to spare it from the destruction that had enveloped the towns and cities of Northern France. France was beaten.

As the Assembly fled to Bordeaux it voted to depose Blum as President and grant extraordinary powers to Maxime Weygand in order to negotiate peace with Germany. Just 60 deputies voted against the proposal – mostly Socialists, but also including Republicans and even Action Francaise deputies. Weygand had been demoted during the Fourth Republic's brief rule for political reasons, his promotion was extremely symbolic of a rejection of Republicanism.

On October 8th France surrendered. Alsace and Lorraine were permanently annexed by the Third Reich and the Northern half of the country placed under occupation until the end of the War. Meanwhile an independent regime was set up in the South, with the government sitting in the small spa town of Vichy and France's colonial Empire was allowed to remain intact. On October 10th Louis Napoleon Bonaparte returned to France following a two year exile in Italy to become the figurehead of the new government. Calling itself the Fourth Empire, it is more commonly known today as the Vichy Empire or simply the Vichy Regime. The collaborationist government drew its support primarily from the far right with the PPF being an enthusiastic backer and Action Francaise an extremely reluctant one. However collaborators were also drawn from the Republican camp with Prime Minister Herriot being the most prominent example, as he continued in that role under the Vichy regime.

However, not all Frenchmen were willing to accept their nation's defeat. Having escaped to Britain General De Gaulle looked to set up a 'Free French' government in exile and on October 15th issued a famous speech which was broadcast by the BBC in his homeland:

"The leaders who, for many years, have been at the head of the French armies have formed a government. This government, alleging the defeat of our armies, has made contact with the enemy in order to stop the fighting. It is true, we were, we are, overwhelmed by the mechanical, ground and air forces of the enemy. Infinitely more than their number, it is the tanks, the aeroplanes, the tactics of the Germans which are causing us to retreat. It was the tanks, the aeroplanes, the tactics of the Germans that surprised our leaders to the point of bringing them to where they are today.

"But has the last word been said? Must hope disappear? Is defeat final? No!

"Believe me, I who am speaking to you with full knowledge of the facts, and who tell you that nothing is lost for France. The same means that overcame us can bring us victory one day. For France is not alone! She is not alone! She is not alone! She has a vast Empire behind her. She can align with the British Empire that holds the sea and continues the fight. She can, like England, use without limit the immense industry of the United States.

"This war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not over as a result of the Battle of France. This war is a worldwide war. All the mistakes, all the delays, all the suffering, do not alter the fact that there are, in the world, all the means necessary to crush our enemies one day. Vanquished today by mechanical force, in the future we will be able to overcome by a superior mechanical force. The fate of the world depends on it.

" I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and the French soldiers who are located in British territory or who might end up here, with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the specialised workers of the armament industries who are located in British territory or who might end up here, to put themselves in contact with me.

"Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished. Tomorrow, as today, I will speak on the radio from London."

The day after De Gaulle's appeal a small group of British backed agents launched a coup in the Congolese town of Brazzaville and declared for De Gaulle and the Free French government.

Her armies might be broken and destroyed, her country under occupation by a foreign army and her government cowed into collaboration. But until their country could be free again there would always be Frenchmen willing to fight to the end!

[Seek75]

This regime is nothing more than a German puppet state!

Frenchmen! We must resist the German occupation! We must be free from foreign control!

[Tommy4ever]

I'll be playing as Free France for the rest of the war. I used cheats to get 3 motorised and 2 armour divisions so that I can actually do something. Unlike other versions of HoI2 where Free France gets bonuses like off map IC, here they get nothing. So rather than wait 4 years before I can build my first militia division with my 3 IC, I thought I'd give myself something to play with.