Charles de Gaulle - 2

"After the war, De Gaulle remained in the military and became interested in the new developments of military strategy. He came to believe the future of war would rest on highly mobile mechanized units – principally tank units backed up with air support. In 1934, he published a book ‘The Army of the Future’ which talked about the importance of this new form of fast-moving militarised warfare. However, De Gaulle’s views were not popular with either the military or politicians. The French remained committed to the more static view of warfare characterized by the Maginot line and the trenches of the First World War. Combined with De Gaulle’s capacity to irritate senior officers, he was marginalised by the military High-Command and refused promotion. He also fell out with Petain over a 1938 book on ‘France and Her Army.’

However, during the German invasion of France in 1940, De Gaulle was given command of a tank unit. At Caumont on the 28th May 1940, his unit provided one of the few occasions where the German advance was stalled and briefly pushed back. However, lacking air support and overwhelmed by the superior German armed divisions, French fell into a humiliating retreat. During the crisis, De Gaulle was briefly made Minister of War by French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, But, after just six weeks of fighting, many French politicians, led by Petain, wanted to seek an armistice with the Germans. This led to the creation of Vichy France."