Radio Londres was a radio station broadcast from 1940 to 1944 by the BBC in London to Nazi-occupied France. It was entirely in French and was operated by the Free French who had escaped from occupied France. It served not only to counter the propaganda broadcasts of German-controlled Radio Paris and the Vichy government's Radiodiffusion Nationale, but also to appeal to the French to rise up, as well as being used to send coded messages to the French Resistance.
Commemorative plaque of Radio Londres in the cemetery of Asnelles, Calvados
Charles de Gaulle (pictured) made several broadcasts on Radio Londres during the war
The Appeal of 18 June was the first speech made by Charles de Gaulle after his arrival in London in 1940 following the Battle of France. Broadcast to France by the radio services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is often considered to have marked the beginning of the French Resistance in World War II. It is regarded as one of the most important speeches in French history. In spite of its significance in French collective memory, historians have shown that the appeal was heard only by a minority of French people. De Gaulle's 22 June 1940 speech was more widely heard. The historic importance of these radio broadcasts and de Gaulle's future status as the emblem of the French resistance gave de Gaulle the nickname L'Homme du 18 juin.
Photograph of Charles de Gaulle, pictured making a subsequent radio broadcast in 1941
Memorial plate with Appeal of 18 June, Vienne, Isère
The so-called London Poster of 5 August
The speech of 18 June occupies a prominent place in the popular history of France, as in this street named after it in the town of Jonquières.