The French National Committee (french: Comité national français, CNF) was the coordinating body created by
General Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
which acted as the
government in exile
A government in exile (abbreviated as GiE) is a political group that claims to be a country or semi-sovereign state's legitimate government, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile us ...
of
Free France
Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
from 1941 to 1943. The committee was the successor of the smaller
Empire Defense Council
The Empire Defense Council (also called Council of Defense of the Empire, from french: Conseil de défense de l'Empire) was the embodiment of Free France which constituted the government from 1940 to 1941. Subsequently, this role was assumed b ...
.
It was
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
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
Émile Henry Muselier (Marseilles, 17 April 1882 – Toulon, 2 September 1965) was a French admiral who led the Free French Naval Forces ('' Forces navales françaises libres'', or FNFL) during World War II. He was responsible for the idea ...
,
André Labarthe
André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...
and others, retaining only "yes men" in the group.
The CNF was founded 24 September 1941 by an edict signed by General de Gaulle in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The committee remained active until 3 June 1943, when it merged with the
French Civil and Military High Command
The French Civil and Military High Command (french: Commandement en chef français civil et militaire) was an administrative and military governing body in Algiers that was created in connection with the Allied landings in French North Afri ...
headed by
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud (18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French general and a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944.
Born to an Alsatian family in Paris, Giraud graduated from ...
, becoming the new
French Committee of National Liberation
The French Committee of National Liberation (french: Comité français de Libération nationale) was a provisional government of Free France formed by the French generals Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle to provide united leadership, organiz ...
.
Composition
The French National Committee comprised six civilian and six military personnel:
* Brigadier General Charles de Gaulle, President;
*
René Pleven
René Pleven (; 15 April 1901 – 13 January 1993) was a notable French politician of the Fourth Republic. A member of the Free French, he helped found the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), a political party that was meant ...
, Commissioner of Economy, Finance and the Colonies. In charge of the coordination of civilian administrative departments ;
* Major General
Paul Legentilhomme
Paul Louis Legentilhomme (March 26, 1884 – May 23, 1975) was an officer in the French Army during World War I and World War II. After the fall of France in 1940, he joined the forces of the Free French. Legentilhomme was a recipient of the " ...
, Commissioner of War;
* , Commissioner of Foreign Affairs until October 18, 1942 (dismissal), interim replacement by Pleven and then by René Massigli;
*
René Cassin
René Samuel Cassin (5 October 1887 – 20 February 1976) was a French jurist known for co-authoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
Born in Bayonne, Cassin served as a soldier in the First Wo ...
, Commissioner of Justice and Public Instruction;
*
André Diethelm
André Diethelm (3 July 1896 – 11 January 1954) was born in Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain department) and was a French Resistance fighter and politician. As an Inspector General of Finance, he joined General de Gaulle and Free France during the Second ...
, Commissioner for Action in the Metropolis, Work, and Information;
*
André Philip
André Philip (28 June 1902 – 5 July 1970) was a SFIO member who served in 1942 as Interior Minister under the Free French provisional government of General Charles de Gaulle. He also served as a finance minister in 1946 and part of 1947 in the ...
, Commissioner of the Interior from 27;
*
Jacques Soustelle
Jacques Soustelle (3 February 1912 – 6 August 1990) was an important and early figure of the Free French Forces, a politician who served in the French National Assembly and at one time served as Governor General of Algeria, an anthropologist s ...
, Commissioner of Information from July 27, 1942;
* Air Brigade General
Martial Valin
Martial Henri Valin (14 May 1898 in Limoges – 19 September 1980 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French Air Force general. He initially served as a cavalryman in the First World War. After nine years cavalry service in the ''chasseurs d'Afrique'', ...
, Commissioner of the Air Force;
* Vice-Admiral
Émile Muselier
Émile Henry Muselier (Marseilles, 17 April 1882 – Toulon, 2 September 1965) was a French admiral who led the Free French Naval Forces ('' Forces navales françaises libres'', or FNFL) during World War II. He was responsible for the idea ...
, Commissioner of the Navy and the Merchant Navy, until March 3, 1942 (resignation); replaced by Rear Admiral
Philippe Auboyneau
Philippe Auboyneau (9 November 1899 – 22 February 1961) was an officer in the French Navy. As an admiral, he was commander of the Free French naval forces in the Pacific and the Mediterranean during the Second World War. He was awarded the Ordr ...
from 4;
* Lieutenant General
Georges Catroux
Georges Albert Julien Catroux (29 January 1877 – 21 December 1969) was a French Army general and diplomat who served in both World War I and World War II, and served as Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur from 1954 to 1969.
Life
Cat ...
, commissioner at large from March 4, 1942;
* Rear Admiral
Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu
Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu, in religion Father Louis of the Trinity, O.C.D. (7 August 1889 – 7 September 1964), was a Discalced Carmelite friar and priest, who was also a diplomat and French Navy officer and admiral; he became one of the ...
, commissioner at large from March 4, 1942.
On 20 March 1943, the committee secretly appointed
Jean Moulin
Jean Pierre Moulin (; 20 June 1899 – 8 July 1943) was a French civil servant and resistant who served as the first President of the National Council of the Resistance during World War II from 27 May 1943 until his death less than two months l ...
, 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
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
. According to
Daniel Cordier
Daniel Cordier (10 August 1920 – 20 November 2020) was a French Resistance fighter, historian and art dealer. As a member of the Camelots du Roi, he engaged with Free France in June 1940. He was secretary to Jean Moulin from 1942 to 1943, and ...
, "Jean Moulin was then becoming one of the main characters of the French internal Resistance.
See also
*
Brazzaville Conference
The Brazzaville Conference (french: Conférence de Brazzaville) was a meeting of prominent Free French leaders held in January 1944 in Brazzaville, the capital of French Equatorial Africa, during World War II.
After the Fall of France to Nazi Ge ...
*
Allies of World War II
The Allies, formally referred to as the United Nations from 1942, were an international military coalition formed during the Second World War (1939–1945) to oppose the Axis powers, led by Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy. ...
*
Collaboration with the Axis Powers during World War II
*
Foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle
The Foreign policy of Charles de Gaulle covers the diplomacy of Charles de Gaulle as French leader 1940–46 and 1958–1969, along with his followers.
Status of France 1940-44
Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his top aides Foreign Minister A ...
*
Foreign relations of Vichy France
The French State, popularly known as Vichy France, as led by Marshal Philippe Pétain after the Fall of France in 1940 before Nazi Germany, was quickly recognized by the Allies, as well as by the Soviet Union, until 30 June 1941 and Operation Bar ...
*
Free French Africa
Free French Africa (french: Afrique française libre, sometimes abbreviated to AFL) was the political entity which collectively represented the colonial territories of French Equatorial Africa and Cameroon under the control of Free France in ...
*
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
*
French Colonial Empire
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...
*
French Fourth Republic
The French Fourth Republic (french: Quatrième république française) was the Republicanism, republican government of France from 27 October 1946 to 4 October 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of ...
*
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic (french: Troisième République, sometimes written as ) was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940 ...
*
Liberation of France
The liberation of France in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers of World War II, Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French R ...
*
Liberation of Paris
The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Germ ...
*
List of French possessions and colonies
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over , the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire. During the 19th and 20th centuri ...
*
List of Governors-General of French Equatorial Africa
*
Military history of France during World War II
From 1939 to 1940, the French Third Republic was at war with Nazi Germany. In 1940, the German forces defeated the French in the Battle of France. The German occupied the north and west of French territory and a collaborationist régime under Ph ...
*
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World ...
*
Provisional Government of the French Republic
The Provisional Government of the French Republic (PGFR; french: Gouvernement provisoire de la République française (''GPRF'')) was the provisional government of Free France between 3 June 1944 and 27 October 1946, following the liberation ...
*
Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
*
Vichy French Air Force
The Air Force (french: Armée de l'air), usually referred to as the Air Force of Vichy (''Armée de l'air de Vichy'') or Armistice Air Force (''Armée de l'Air de l'armistice'') for clarity, was the aerial branch of the Armistice Army of Vichy Fra ...
*
Zone libre
The ''zone libre'' (, ''free zone'') was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during World War II, established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940. It lay to the south of the demarcation line and was administered by ...
References
;Notes
;Citations
Works cited
*
*
*
*
External links
Free France Foundation
1941 in France
1942 in France
1943 in France
French people of World War II
French Resistance
World War II political leaders
{{France-poli-stub