The Kremlin during the Second World War acknowledged Charles de Gaulle as the leader of the government in exile of Free France because he had helped torpedo Winston Churchill’s plan for the Western allies to liberate Central Europe, according to French historian and former head of Le Figaro Magazine Henri-Christian Giraud in his book “De Gaulle and the Communists”.
The book has been re-released, but this time supplemented with Russian archive material. The book has proven so controversial and harmful to the image of de Gaulle that Giraud has only managed to defend his thesis due to the multitude of sources he used. This is especially important due to the fact that the author is the grandson of Henri Giraud, who was de Gaulle’s main rival in the struggle to take over the French Resistance. Hence, the creation of this monumental, 1000-page tome took 10 years of academic research.
“In response to accusations of subjectivity, I can only defend myself with the strength of the arguments I am using. There are many of them, and they have never been questioned for a simple reason; that I base my story on the reports of leading figures in the Gaullist movement,” Giraud told the Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita.
Until now, de Gaulle, the founder of the Fifth French Republic, has been seen in Poland as a pristine figure and one of Warsaw’s main roundabouts bears his name. Yet, after reading Giraud’s book, one can have doubts whether he deserves such an honor. Although the general found safety in London after France’s fall, he had already contacted the Soviets in secret behind the backs of the English in November 1940 when Germany and the USSR were still tied by the Nazi-Soviet pact.
De Gaulle became an important partner for Stalin following Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941. Very quickly, the fundamental conflict between Stalin and Churchill appeared, which involved the allies’ plan to open a second front. Moscow wanted the landing to take place as far away from the USSR as possible, preferably in Northern France. This would give the Red Army not only enough time to eject the German Wehrmacht from Soviet territory, but also to take over Central Europe and Poland before the Western allies could arrive.
