French National Committee


The French National Committee was the coordinating body created by General Charles de Gaulle which acted as the government in exile of Free France from 1941 to 1943. The committee was the successor of the smaller Empire Defense Council.
It was Winston Churchill who suggested that de Gaulle create a committee, in order to lend an appearance of more constitutionally based and less dictatorial authority. According to historian, De Gaulle went on to accept his proposal, but took care to exclude all his adversaries within the Free France movement, such as Émile Muselier, André Labarthe and others, retaining only "yes men" in the group.
The CNF was founded by an edict signed by General de Gaulle in London. The committee remained active until, when it merged with the headed by Henri Giraud, becoming the new French Committee of National Liberation.

Composition

The French National Committee comprised six civilian and six military personnel:
On 20 March 1943, the committee secretly appointed Jean Moulin, then in London, as representative of the French National Committee in Metropolitan France and "national commissioner on active duty" and put him in charge of creating a single coordinating body for the French Resistance. According to, "Jean Moulin was then becoming one of the main characters of the French internal Resistance.

Works cited

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