De Gaulle had recently been promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and named as Under-Secretary of State for National Defence and War by Prime Minister Paul Reynaud during the German invasion of France. Reynaud resigned after his proposal for a Franco-British Union was rejected by his cabinet and Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of World War I, became the new Prime Minister, pledging to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany. De Gaulle opposed any such action and facing imminent arrest, fled France on 17 June. Other leading politicians, including Georges Mandel, Léon Blum, Pierre Mendès France, Jean Zay and Édouard Daladier, were arrested while travelling to continue the war from North Africa. De Gaulle obtained special permission from Winston Churchill to broadcast a speech on 18 June via BBC Radio from Broadcasting House over France, despite the British Cabinet's objections that such a broadcast could provoke the Pétain government into a closer allegiance with Germany. In his speech, de Gaulle reminded the French people that the British Empire and the United States of America would support them militarily and economically in an effort to retake France from the Germans. The BBC did not record the speech, and few actually heard it. Another speech, which was recorded and heard by more people, was given by de Gaulle four days later. There is a record, however, of the manuscript of the speech of 18 June, which has been found in the archives of the Swiss intelligence agencies who published the text for their own uses on 19 June. The manuscript of the speech, as well as the recording of the 22 June speech, has been classed on 18 June 2005, by the UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme.
Translation of the speech
On 18 June 1940, at 19:00, de Gaulle's voice was broadcast nationwide, saying in French :
Reception and influence
Although de Gaulle's speech on 18 June is among the most famous in French history, few French listeners heard it that day. It was broadcast on the BBC, a British radio station, practically unannounced and was delivered by an obscure brigadier general who had only recently been appointed as a junior minister. Consequently, of the 10,000 French citizens in Britain, only 300 volunteered. Of the more than 100,000 soldiers temporarily on British soil, most of them recently evacuated from Norway or Dunkirk, only 7,000 stayed on to join de Gaulle. The rest returned to France and were quickly made prisoners of war. However, de Gaulle's speech was undeniably influential and provided motivation for the people of France and for the oppressed of the rest of Europe. The themes of the speech would be reused throughout the war to inspire the French people to resist German occupation. Four days later, de Gaulle delivered a speech that largely reiterated the points made in his 18 June speech, and the second speech was heard by a larger audience in France. The content of the 22 June speech is often confused for that of 18 June. In addition, in early August a poster written by de Gaulle would be distributed widely in London and would become known as L'affiche de Londres. Variations of this poster would be produced and displayed in Africa, South America and France itself over the course of the war. The 70th anniversary of the speech was marked in 2010 by the issuing of a postage stamp and a €2 commemorative coin.
''France has lost a battle, but has not lost the war''
De Gaulle's famous quote: "La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre" is often associated with the Appeal of 18 June, but actually stems from a motivational poster featuring De Gaulle, A Tous Les Français, which was distributed all over London on 3 August 1940.
