一個人的自由法國

6月23日，现在得到了英国内阁的许可，戴高乐再次在BBC上发表讲话。

他轻蔑地对维希法国的贝当元帅说："维希法国因其位于法国中部的度假胜地而得名，撤退后的政府将在那里建立自己的机构，在接下来的两年里，它与德国合作，成为未被占领的法国残余地区的统治当局。

 

On June 23, now with the permission of the British cabinet, de Gaulle again spoke on the BBC. Defiantly, he addressed himself to Marshal Pétain of Vichy France – so named for the resort in central France where the retreating government would establish itself, and which for the next two years became the ruling authority, in collaboration with Germany, over the rump of unoccupied France.

 

贝当在20世纪20年代初曾是戴高乐的导师，因在第一次世界大战期间击退了德国在凡尔登的进攻而受到尊敬。

现在，这位资历最浅的法国将军无视他们之间的军衔差距，对资历最深的将军（也是此前最受尊敬的将军）进行了尖刻的谴责。

戴高乐断言，停火使法国沦为奴隶，他发出了刺耳的斥责。

要接受这样的贬低行为，我们并不需要你，马歇尔先生。

我们不需要凡尔登的胜利者。

其他任何人都可以。"[9]      

 

Pétain, who in the early 1920s had served as de Gaulle’s mentor, was venerated for having repelled the German assault at Verdun during the First World War. Now, ignoring the gap in their military ranks, the most junior French general addressed the most senior (and heretofore most highly esteemed) with withering condescension. Asserting that the ceasefire had reduced France to bondage, de Gaulle issued a stinging rebuke: ‘To accept such an act of debasement we did not need you, M. le Maréchal. We did not need the victor of Verdun. Anyone else would have done.’[9]

 

这一侮辱一下子就完成了戴高乐与法国官方的决裂，并加速了他确立自己作为新兴自由法国运动领袖的努力。

当时，几个著名的法国难民，主要是来自学术界的难民，已经作为流亡者居住在伦敦，但他们既没有地位，也没有必要的信念来要求领导一个战时运动。

就英国情报部门而言，它一直在考虑说服尚未被占领的法国第三共和国的两位杰出政治人物--前总理爱德华-达拉第和最后一位内政部长乔治-曼德尔--组建一个流亡的持不同政见政府。

但是，当这两个人逃到阿尔及利亚后，被忠于维希的法国殖民官员阻止与英国人接触，然后被驱逐到法国本土时，这个计划被放弃了。

 

The insult at once completed de Gaulle’s break with official France and accelerated his efforts to establish himself as the head of the emerging Free French movement. By then several notable French refugees, mainly from the academic world, were already residing as exiles in London, but they lacked either the stature or the necessary conviction to claim leadership of a wartime movement. For its part, British intelligence had been entertaining the idea of persuading two eminent French political figures of the Third Republic in as-yet unoccupied France – Édouard Daladier, the former prime minister, and Georges Mandel, the last interior minister – to form a dissident government in exile. But that plan was dropped when the two men, having escaped to Algeria, were prevented by French colonial officials loyal to Vichy from pursuing contact with the British and were then expelled to metropolitan France.

 

丘吉尔坚信有必要象征性地表达法国的抵抗，这解决了任何不确定因素。

他对戴高乐说："你是一个人，"他说。

'好吧，我将承认你是一个人。

6月28日，在他抵达后仅11天，英国政府承认戴高乐'为自由法国人的领袖，无论他们在哪里'。

[10]这是丘吉尔的一个特有的勇敢的决定，他不可能深入了解戴高乐的观点，也没有预见到他将在盟军阵营中引起的争论。

 

It was Churchill’s conviction of the need for a symbolic expression of French resistance that resolved any uncertainties. ‘You are alone,’ he said to de Gaulle. ‘Well, I will recognize you alone.’ On June 28, a mere eleven days after his arrival, the government of the United Kingdom recognized Charles de Gaulle ‘as leader of the Free French wherever they might be’.[10] It was a characteristically courageous decision by Churchill, who could not have known de Gaulle’s views in any depth and did not foresee the rows he would stoke within the Allied camp.