Appeal of 18 June as the beginning of the Resistance and Free French, historians have shown that the appeal was heard only by a minority of French people. De Gaulle's 22 June 1940 speech on the BBC was more widely heard. General de Gaulle became the "de facto" leader of the Free French Forces that had escaped to London in June 1940. Marshal Philippe Pétain, a hero of World War I, pledged to sign an armistice with Nazi Germany, and led the collaborating Vichy government while the Germans occupied the country's northern portion and several leading politicians, including Georges Mandel, Leon Blum, Pierre Mendès
Committee for a Free Britain Committee for a Free Britain The Committee for a Free Britain (also known as the Campaign for a Free Britain) was a right-wing political pressure-group in the United Kingdom. Its introductory letter to all MPs, and others, stated that it was "formed in the run up to the 1987 General Election by Baroness Cox, the 6th Lord Harris (1920-1995), Downing Street Policy Unit member Christopher Monckton, and novelist and journalist David Hart". In 1988 Colin Clark and Betty Sherridan joined the Committee. The CFB's first public act was to place advertisements in national newspapers warning the country of the consequences