Britain and the Defeated French: From Occupation to Liberation, 1940-1944

The four years between the military defeat of France by Nazi Germany and D-Day were vital, dramatic and eventful years in Anglo-French relations. These years saw the first armed clashes between France and Britain since the Napoleonic Wars, including the infamous Royal Navy attack on the French fleet at Mers-el-Kebir. They also saw a curious relationship developing between Britain and Vichy France. Vichy was at once a hostile power, under German domination, and at the same time a porous regime through which British influence on its politics, attitudes towards the Resistance and the transit of British soldiers and airmen through its territory en route to Spain, could flow quite freely. Britain had an ambivalent attitude towards Vichy - obviously adversarial, but also pragmatic. The history of Vichy France is often viewed as a sideshow in the overall context of World War II. However, Peter Mangold here shows that the Vichy attitude towards the allies, especially the British, was ambivalent and complex. His absorbing and up-to-date account, based on original historical research, highlights the conflicts within the Vichy regime and the ways in which contacts and connections with de Gaulle in London and the British Government were maintained. This exciting and fast-paced book brings to life the major characters in the story - not only Churchill and de Gaulle, but also Macmillan, Petain and Leclerc. In this book, Mangold deftly reassesses the complex international wartime chessboard and, in the process, reveals a little known aspect of the World War II story.

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION “RIVAL, ENEMY, ALLY, FRIEND” Chapter 1 L'Entente est mort. Vive l'Entente! Chapter 2 Historical Baggage PART ONE HITLER'S DIKTAT Chapter 3 Fleet and Empire Chapter 4 Modus Vivendi or Collaboration? Chapter 5 Unfriendly States Chapter 6 Occupied Territory Chapter 7 “Ici Londres” PART TWO “SOMEWHAT DIFFICULT PEOPLE” Chapter 8 The Awkward General Chapter 9 Mutual Frustration Chapter 10 “A shabby but inevitable compromise” Chapter 11 Death of an Admiral Chapter 12 Kings of Brentford Chapter 13 “C'est de Gaulle” Chapter 14 Choosing Roosevelt Chapter 15 Down the Champs Elysée together Chapter 16 Drafting a balance sheet

About the Author :
Peter Mangold is a journalist and author and a Senior Associate Member of St Antony's College, Oxford. He is a former member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Research Department and the BBC World Service. He is the author of 'The Almost Impossible Ally: Harold Macmillan and Charles de Gaulle'.