U.K., France recall a ‘defining’ moment

Britain's Prince Charles, centre, greets French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at Clarence House in London on Friday. Clarence House is the London home of Prince Charles. Photo: AP.

Historians have a different take on it, but on Friday, it was the official version that took centre-stage as Britain and France marked the 70th anniversary of what the two governments portrayed as a defining moment of the French resistance to Nazi occupation.

It was on June 18, 1940 — a day after the fall of France — that Charles de Gaulle made his famous radio broadcast from a small BBC studio in central London declaring himself as the leader of the “Free French” and appealing to his compatriots to keep the “flame” of resistance burning.

“Whatever happens, the flame of the French resistance must not be extinguished and will not be extinguished,” he declared.

Although, officially, it is regarded as one of the most important speeches of the era and said to have set the tone for the resistance, historians believe that its impact has been exaggerated.

It said that “to the general's fury, his speech was not recorded, so he returned four days later to deliver his message again” a broadcast which was apparently heard more widely and had a bigger impact.

On Friday, however, the focus was on the original broadcast as Nicolas Sarkozy, accompanied by his wife Carla Bruni, became the first French President to visit Britain to mark its anniversary bearing what he gushingly described as the “brotherly greetings and eternal gratitude of the French people”.

Mr. Sarkozy visited the BBC Broadcasting House where he unveiled a plaque.

British Prime Minister David Cameron described the anniversary as a “reminder that Britain and France are not just neighbours in the geographical sense but also in the emotional sense”.