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Charles DE GAULLE & COLLECTIF

Bulletin officiel des Forces françaises libres N°1

15 août 1940, 18,7x24,8cm, en feuilles.

15 August 1940 | 18,7x24,8cm | journal issue
First edition of the first and only issue of the Bulletin Officiel de la France Libre illustrated with the 'Affiche à tous les Français'. It also contains the first printed occurrence of the original text of de Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June, as well as the 7 August 1940 agreement between de Gaulle and Winston Churchill and the legal bases of the French government-in-exile.
Three leaves pasted together, slightly bent to the margins.
This exceedingly rare first official platform of communication for Free France was most certainly printed in very small numbers, essentially aimed at the members of the nascent government still seeking legitimacy.
This highly symbolic bulletin brings together the three foundational elements of the newly created Free French State: de Gaulle's declaration, recognition by foreign countries as the official French government, and the presentation of an organized government.
Published as later as August 15, the writing of the bulletin began from the signature of the decisive British agreement allowing the French Resistance to form a government.
“With this agreement, General de Gaulle was officially recognized as 'leader of the Free French' by his British allies. It was now a case of giving the Free French the form of a government in exile. This is the task to which René Cassin has set himself; an eminent lawyer who rallied to the General's cause a few days after the Appeal of 18 June. This enormous task cannot be achieved quickly. Nonetheless, Free France has to define and communicate the rules of its functioning. This is why this Bulletin Officiel des Forces Françaises Libres appeared on the 15th August, taking the form of an official publication of the French Republic without actually using any of its symbols” (Résistance 09/10, published by the Musée National de la Résistance). The Journal Officiel de la France Libre took its place and published every month from January 1941 the laws and decrees of Free France.
However, the key part of this bulletin refers to a speech made some two months earlier whose text was still unpublished. As the article in Résistance 09/10 highlights “this first issue published on its first page under the heading 'General de Gaulle recognized by the British Government' the first Appeal of 18 June by the General as well as the text of the poster displayed on the walls of England". Despite being published two months after the Appeal of 18 June, the text of the first and most important of de Gaulle's speeches is published for the first time in its original version, as the General wrote it. The radio version was modified at the request of the British Government in order to keep their options open if the Pétain government refused to sign the armistice.
In his memoirs, de Gaulle noted this initial precaution: “nonetheless, while taking my first steps along the path of this unprecedented career, I had the duty of making sure that no power with more claim than mine was ready to put France and the Empire back into the fight. Before the armistice was in effect, one could still imagine despite all evidence to the contrary that the Bordeaux [soon to be Vichy] government would in the end choose war. Even if it was the slimmest change, we had to entertain it”
Thus on 18 June 1940, four days before the armistice signed by Pétain, the General's speech opens on this cautious call to unity:
"The French government has asked the enemy under what honorable conditions a ceasefire would be possible. It has declared that if these conditions were contrary to the honor, dignity and independence of France, the fight must go on"
This version was published in the very few French papers that took note of this historic event, Le Petit Provençal and Le Petit Marseillais issued on 19 June 1940. British press (The Times and The Daily Express) published the English translation of the speech written by the General and distributed by the Ministry of Information (MOI) rather than the radio version.
“From London, General de Gaulle broadcasts in the evening an appeal to the French people not to cease resistance. He says: 'The generals who for many years have commanded the French armies have formed a Government. That Government, alleging that our armies have been defeated, has opened negotiations with the enemy to put an end to the fighting'.”
It was thus in the Bulletin Officiel des Forces Françaises Libres that the original text of de Gaulle's first major speech was finally printed on 15 August 1940 and which was to remain in history the Appeal of 18 June although it was not the broadcasted version.
(Parts removed for the radio speech and Le Petit Provençal are in bold):

“'The generals who for many years have commanded the French armies have formed a Government. That Government, alleging that our armies have been defeated, has opened negotiations with the enemy to put an end to the fighting'.
Certainly, we have been, we continue to be, swamped by the mechanized force, both on land and in the air, of the enemy.
So much more than their numbers, it is the tanks, the airplanes and the tactics of the Germans that have made us retreat. It is the tanks, the airplanes and the tactics of the Germans that have taken our leaders by surprise, to the point of leading them to where they are today.
But has the final word been spoken? Should hope be abandoned? Is this defeat definitive? No!
Believe me, I speak to you with full knowledge of the facts and tell you that nothing is lost for France. The same means that overcame us can bring us to a day of victory.
For France is not alone! She is not alone! She has a vast Empire behind her. She can align with the British Empire that holds the sea and continues the fight. She can, like England, use without limit the immense industry of United States.
his war is not limited to the unfortunate territory of our country. This war is not finished by the battle of France. This war is a world wide war. All the faults, all the delays, all the suffering, do not prevent there being, in the world, all the necessary means to one day crush our enemies. Vanquished today by mechanical force, we will be able to overcome in the future by a superior mechanical force. The destiny of the world lies here.
I, General de Gaulle, currently in London, invite the officers and French soldiers who are located in British territory or who would come there with their weapons or without their weapons, I invite the engineers and the special workers of armament industries who are located in British territory or who would come there, to put themselves in contact with me.
Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished.
Tomorrow, like today, I will speak on the radio in London.
London, 18 June 1940”.

We have found only five copies of this bulletin, all in institutions in France and abroad:
Musée de l'ordre de la Libération, France
Bibliothèque nationale de France
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Harvard University, USA
Stanford University, USA
Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada

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