Free France continent. Approximately 58,000 men were killed fighting in the Free French forces between 1940 and 1945. A point of strong disagreement between de Gaulle and the Big Three (Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill), was that the President of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF), established on 3 June 1944, was not recognized as the legitimate representative of France. Even though de Gaulle had been recognized as the leader of Free France by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill back in 28 June 1940, his GPRF presidency had not resulted from democratic elections. However, two months after the liberation of Paris
Resistance in the German-occupied Channel Islands had abandoned the Islands and declared them neutral territory in June 1940. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth made a special visit to the Islands on 7 June 1945. Early on in the war, Islanders were given a salutary lesson in resistance. On 28 June 1940 German Heinkel bombers from Cherbourg made an armed reconnaissance, they bombed and strafed the harbours of Saint Peter Port and Saint Helier killing 38 and wounding 45 civilians. On 13 December 1940, sixteen young Frenchmen, soldiers on probation, set out in a boat from occupied Brittany with the intention of joining the Free French