Having finished 'Spears' book in Hospital I was surprised to read about this little bit of important history written by someone who was actually there. I've never heard of it before and have read a few France 1940 books in my time so I wondered if this has been lost in time by most 1940 authors. That siad Rich says he knew of it. Anway it does make you wonder what might have been if the French had accepted Great Britains offcer Note: This is not a what if thread-It just made me think after I read it. So the Day is Sunday, 16th June 1940. Paris was occupied by the German Army two days earlier. France is now really on the ropes and in the main her armies are in retreat everywhere except for the small pockets fighting on to the last. The French government has left Paris and the cabinet meetings are now being held in Bordeaux. Maj. Gen. Spears and the British Ambassador are in Reynaud's (The French Premier) officer arguing with him. Spears takes up the story... As the Ambassador and I argued with Reynaud more acrimoniously than ever on the subject of the Fleet, the telephone rang. Reynaud took up the receiver. The next moment his eyebrows went up so far they became indistinguishable from his neatly brushed hair; one eyebrow to either side of the parting. "One moment," he said, " I must take this down," and grasping a sheet of foolscap on the slippery table, he began to write, using a short gold pencil with an enormous lead. He repeated each word as he wrote it, and listening I became transfixed with amazement. I was so absorbed I did not even look at the Ambassador to see if he shared my feelings. Reynaud was taking down in French, from de Gaulle's dictation in London, the text of the Declaration of Union proposed by the British Government. On he wrote in a frightful scrawl, getting more excited as the message unfolded. The paper skidded on the smooth surface of the table. I held it. As each sheet was covered I handed him a fresh one. His pencil gave out; I handed him mine. Finally he stopped and said into the telephone: "Does he agree to this? Did Churchill give you this personally?" There was a moments pause and now he was speaking in English. It was evident that de Gaulle had handed the receiver over to Churchill, who was assuring him that the document was a decision of the cabinet. If there were alterations, they would be merely verbal. Reynaud put the receiver down. He was transfigured with joy, and my old friendship for him surged out in a wave of appreciation at his response, for he was happy with a great happiness in the belief that France would now remain in the war. This was his thought as it was ours, and in those first moments this was all that mattered. The sense of generosity of the offer was overwhelming, the sincerity of the gesture completely convincing. I was as moved as I when I used to hear at some Battalion Headquarters in Flanders of a great feat of bravery and slf-sacrifice; of a man who, exhausted, wet and tired, struggled back through the mud under heavy fire to rescue a friend. For that was it. Britain, having escaped so far, now turned back to help her stricken comrade, offering to share with her everything she possessed. The one-sided sacrifice of France seemed balanced in a moment by this gesture of absolute solidarity. The text of the proposed joint declaration was as follows: "At this most fateful moment in history of the modern world the Governments of the United Kingdom and the French Republic make this declaration of indissoluble union and unyielding resolution in their common defence of justice and freedom against subjection to a system which reduces mankind to a life of robots and slaves. "The two Governments declare that France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations, but one Franco-British Union. "The constitution of the Union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, financial, and economic policies. "Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain; every British subject will become a citizen of France. "Both countries will share responsibility for the repair of the devastation of war, wherever it occurs in their territories, and the resources of both shall be equally, and as one, applied to that pupose. "During the war there shall be a single War Cabinet, and all the forces of Britain and France, whether on land, sea, or in the air, will be placed under its direction. It will govern from wherever it best can. The two Parliments will be formally associated. The nations of the British Empire are already forming new armies. France will keep her available forces in the field, on the sea, and in the air. The Union appeals to the United States to fortify the economic resources of the Allies, and to bring her powerful material aid to the common cause. "The Union will concentrate its whole energy against the power of the enemy, no matter where the battle may be. "And thus we shall conquer." "This must be typed at once so that you can have it for the Cabinet meeting," I said, and gathering Reynaud's script I dashed off to the secretaries' room. This re-found familiarity and enthusiasm which led me to snatch Reynaud's transcript and instruct his secretaries to have it typed denotes better than anything else the zest, the relief, the light-headedness induced by the new situation the British proposal created. It did not occur to us that it might not be accepted. Sir Edward Spears- Assignment to Catastrophe Vol.2 The book goes on to state that the defeatists within Reynaud's Cabinet new of the proposal before it was put to the Cabinet later that day and they had rallied enough support by then to reject Great Britain's offer for a Franco-British Union.
Drew hows things mate First of all no Mers El Kebir as the French fleet would have been under jooint control However the defeat of France is still a foregone conclusion & just how much of the British armed forces would have been lost staving off the inevitable chris
Hi (hope you're feeling better, by the way!) I think most historians have concluded that the Anglo-French Union proposal was a desperate bit of morale-boosting rather than a serious suggestion. Neither the French nor British political classes nor their general populations had been remotely prepared for it, no-one had thought through any of the sweeping implications, and it's not clear that Churchill had the legal authority to offer such an outrageous proposal anyway - certainly he hadn't discussed it with the Cabinet or the King. I think the French were right to roll their eyes and get on with discussing something more important, i.e. the imminent collapse of the Third Republic. Best, Alan
Cheers Points taken - I get the impression it was done, desperate indeed, to get the French to carry on fighting from Africa and not give in just yet. I guess it was put in place to give the British as much time as possible to prepare for what they thought was next-The Invasion of Great Britain. Nonetheless an intesting offer and not one I've heard of before. Ref the Leg: I'm getting there slowly Cheers Andy
It wasn't an idea entirely without foundation though. This essay by Dulac can be found in the British Postal Museum. Anglo-French Union — The British Postal Museum and Archive
Nonetheless an intesting offer and not one I've heard of before. There is something on this in the Cabinet papers (free download at NA) see CAB/65/7/64 for that date.
These were serious times for Great Britain and her Empire and Churchill tried everything he could to keep France in the war.After Hitler's invasion of Russia in June 1941 and the near collapse of the Red Army.Churchill was happy to disregard his reservations about Stalin's political ideology and forge friendship and economic aids to keep Russia in the war.The concerns of not being able to keep Russia in the war were somewhat relieved when the US entered the war in December 1941 after Hitler declared war on the US. Had mutual union been accepted by France then there would not have been the usual democratic discussion and legislation laid down.Emergency measures would have been taken and the two countries would have been fused together.Whether it would be a stable union is another matter as clearly the foundations for union were not sound in France.There was not the French leadership present for this to happen for there was not the resolve from them to carry on the war and events were moving at a break neck pace. If you look at what Paul Reynaud said to his cabinet colleagues on 12 June 1940, you will understand his fear for the future."You think that Hitler is another Wilhelm 1,the old gentleman who took Alsace Lorraine and that was all.But Hitler is Genghis Khan".Not much moral courage here.The other point was that France was split in its political outlet look and there were those who perhaps could have acted differently but did not because of the opportunity it represented for their own agenda..What the French had was a failure of nerve and stunned by the lighting German victory and subdued by the collapse of France,they abidcated responsibility and invited the elderly Petain to preside over the future of France.Petain's political brand was largely unknown and he could only dwell on his military service to France on the battlefield at Verdun during the last conflict against Germany. But Petain had prewar reservations against Great Britain.For his part he always saw that Britain was the real enemy."England has always been France's most implacable enemy,he declared. It had fought alongside France only when this served its own interests,after which it had taken Germany's part.For all these reasons,I tell you that France has two heridittary enemies,the English and the Germans,but the former are older and more perfidious.That is why I should incline towards an alliance with the latter,which would guarantee peace in Europe,especially if Italy joined in that alliance"'. With his Prime Minister,Pierre Laval publically wishing for German victory over Great Britain,the pair of them were anxious,along with their right wing backers to seek a place at the side of Germany in the new order of Europe.Something that Hitler had no intention of allowing, as an equal partner. Spears, one of those people to have arround political leaders,spoke the French language as well as his mother tongue.
By the 16th, the withdrawal of BEF II from France's Atlantic ports under ARIEL was nearly three weeks' finished, and CYCLE was two days into the evacuation from Le Havre....what state would any element of the BEF have been in after it turned round AGAIN off the boats??? We could have lost that 11,000 men so easily We MIGHT have parleyed it into some sort of enclave in Britanny, keeping a foothold on the Continent, but that would have taken days/weeks to thrash out with the French...and given the Germans time to REALLY trash the French and demand an unconditional surrender!
Cheers Points taken - I get the impression it was done, desperate indeed, to get the French to carry on fighting from Africa and not give in just yet. I guess it was put in place to give the British as much time as possible to prepare for what they thought was next-The Invasion of Great Britain. Nonetheless an intesting offer and not one I've heard of before. Ref the Leg: I'm getting there slowly Cheers Andy Andy, Just to refresh your memory. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/news-articles/26800-president-sarkozy-visit-london-commemorate-de-gaulle-broadcast.html Post 6 by Harry and your reply on post 7 Regards Tom
