May 15, 1945

French Press and Information Service.

Our victory is on as large a scale as the war. Germany, who was fanaticized by her dream of domination, acted in such a way that materially, politically and morally the struggle was a total one. Consequently, the victory had to be total. This has been accomplished. As a state, a power, and as a doctrine, the German Reich has been completely destroyed. Once again it has been proved that no matter how determined and powerful a nation may be, unbridled ambition to dominate others may win more or less brilliant and prolonged successes, but the end is always a downfall. Since the ink has barely dried on the unconditional surrender, signed in Reims and Berlin, this is not the time to linger on the unfolding of the dramatic events which are drawing to a close. The very dimensions of these events and 'a fortiori' consequences, may be judged only in due time. One thing is certain in this war, France gambled her existence as a nation and even on the physical and moral future of each of her children, but she won. That France was exposed to the greatest possible dangers, as could be expected. Strategically, and by their very nature, French territories were bound to play a major part in the war. It was on the soil of France that the enemy's victory was first insured. It was on the soil of France that his defeat was later decided. One can imagine what the developments of the war would have been if the German army had had at its disposal the French possessions of Africa. Conversely, of what importance was our North Africa as a springboard for the liberation of Europe! In the political field, France had to be defeated so that Germany could carry out her horrible plan of transforming Europe into an empire, composed of masters and slaves. Indeed, once Paris was captured, Italy and Spain were dragged into the circle of corruption, the Balkans were at Germany's mercy, and it was now possible for Germany to attempt to destroy Russia.

From the moral viewpoint, it depended on France's choice whether the monstrous ideas which were inspired by organisms resulting from the dynamism of National Socialism would become a universal doctrine or would remain at the degraded scale of crime and oppression. Indeed, this conjunction of geographic, material and spiritual factors made France what she is, and inspired her to remain in the limelight and risk the greatest dangers during this world upheaval. Neither the military defeat, the downfall of her institutions, lies, nor violence was able to silence the national instinct, nor deter our people from their eternal vocation.

As early as September 3, 1939, alone with England, we drew our sword to defend violated rights-in this event, those of Poland. Yet we knew how disproportionate our forces were. We realized our relative weakness, caused by the unpaid for and uncompensated losses of the last war. We were fully aware of the deadly situation of the democracies, which were not united. We knew we could count only on strictly limited help. We had no natural protection against the onslaught of German mechanized forces. We were not lacking in assurances, promises and proposals on the part of the enemy, and at home we had many theories of renunciation, which could have induced us to surrender or take a neutral stand. Nevertheless, we did not wait to be attacked and invaded before deliberately taking the greatest risk of our history. We did this without any desire for territorial conquest or revenge, and without foolish vanity. We did this because we answered the eternal law, which made us the advance guard of a civilization based on the rights of nations and respect for human beings. Regardless of what this cost us, and although today these services and merits seem to have lost their importance, we do not regret having set this example.

Nevertheless, the sudden defeat inflicted on our military organization by the German mechanized force, the powerlessness of a political regime which could not cope with major trials, the advent of betrayal under the questionable leadership of senile glory-these factors precipitated France into the darkness of oppression. France was in such a state of prostration that she had only the deep and spontaneous forces of her people to fight and win. Would France, who was at the zero level and was faced not only with the pomp and achievements of the enemy, but also with a usurped authority masquerading as law, be able to create within herself a force capable of continuing the struggle and recreating a state, a power, and a national unity from the depths of the pit?

During twenty centuries of an existence that was crossed by great suffering, our nation never lived through such an experience. And among the nations which the victorious German was overrunning, not one was as destitute as France, since their treasures of sovereignty had been carried out of Germany's reach by their legitimate authorities. This effort was begun under desired conditions, so that there was no interruption of France's participation in the war. This effort was such that those who took part in it have never-not for a single instant-ceased to feel the ardent, untiring and inspired determination which overcomes all obstacles, and which alone may inspire the very soul of a nation. Yet, in order to succeed, it had to be a continuous effort, and not the contribution of various groups of dispersed Frenchmen to the struggle waged by various powers, but a national, single, independent and sovereign action, coming from within France and from outside and which would be above the private interests of all clans and parties. This national effort could accept no laws but those which the nation had given itself, and in nowise could it make a compromise with anyone in matters concerning the rights, interests and authority of the state. Moreover, as events progressed, this action had to assemble all its citizens and all its armies from every land.

This was necessary so that in the end France could be standing, waging a single fight with a single sword, one territory, having a single justice and law.

I do not doubt that this vigorous obstinacy toward centralization was tedious to many groups whose tendencies away from centralization carried them toward parallel action-in other words, separate action. I know that some of our Allies may have been offended many times by this inflexible independence and sovereignty. But it was necessary, at all costs, that our effort be indivisible, in order that France remain indivisible. And in Reims and Berlin, when our generals, together with their American, Soviet and British comrades, accepted the unconditional surrender of the Reich and its armies, Germany was also surrendering to France. However, the only road which could lead us there was the road of battles. Gradually, as the war progressed, it became necessary for our new forces to attack the enemy in order to strike, kill or capture him. There could be no other climate for national cohesion, no other manifestation of our will to win, no other contribution of France to the common struggle than the bloodshed of our fighting men.

How bitter and hard to bear were the difficulties of waging the fight! France had an administration and high command which had been set against war for a long time or at least they were held down by orders not to act; the possibilities of an autonomous armament were virtually reduced to nothing; on pain of death, communications were cut between the nation and those who were holding the broken stump of her sword abroad; there were intricate variations in the help sent to us by our Allies-such were the conditions under which the French military effort was maintained, deployed and developed. Let us remember the military feats by which heroic units, whose merit and glory are among the greatest in our military history, were alone in carrying the honor of French arms into Eritrea, Libya, the Orient, the Fezzan, on every ocean and in the skies, thereby linking the past with the future. Let us think of the great battles of Tunisia and Italy, where, amid the troops of the United States and the British Empire, our reborn armies played a glorious and helpful part. Let us think of the gigantic battle of France, during which our troops never ceased to strike increasingly hard blows-whether with noble and conscious loyalty they came from the Empire to crush all German defenses from the Mediterranean or the Channel to the Rhine, side by side with the Allies; or whether they were clandestinely formed within the Metropole in order to paralyze the whole system of enemy communications by a thousand separate actions. Let us imagine the final and victorious rush during which our armies, now permanently united, drove before them the routed enemy straight into the heart of Germany and later into Austria, broke through the fortified passes of the Alps, and forced the enemy, entrenched all along the Atlantic coast, to surrender.

But while recalling these actions, which from the first to the last inspired the nation's pride and hope, we must also imagine the untiring effort for organization, adaptation and discipline which was made by everyone, to reinforce our war machine piece by piece, with various and dispersed elements, in spite of disappointments and delayed arms and equipment. It was with this war machine that our leaders, whose names will be forever famous, were able to achieve so many brilliant successes. It is true that on each stage of the road to victory the living were encouraged by the example of those who had fallen. Soldiers who were killed in deserts, mountains and plains; drowned sailors, who will be cradled forever by the waves of the ocean; aviators who were dashed down from the sky and killed; fighting men of the Resistance who were either killed in the Maquis or shot before firing squads-all of you who spoke the name of France with your dying breath, it is you who exalted our courage, sanctified our efforts and cemented our resolutions. You were the inspirers of all the men and women, who by their devotion and sacrifices triumphed over despair and fought for their country. You are at the head of the immense and magnificent cohort of sons and daughters of France, who proved her grandeur in times of misfortune, under hails of fire sweeping across battlefields, in the agony of torture in concentration camps, or in anguish of solitary confinement. The thought of you was the reason for our mourning. Your example is the cause of our pride. Glory will accompany our hopes. But if it is true that we can now look at our past with heads held high, we have acquired the experience of victory completely enough and sufficiently long ago not to be blinded by it. But if in this war, which began by a frightful disaster, France was able to win, side by side with her powerful Allies, she nonetheless measures with perfect clarity the full depth of the abyss from which she has emerged, all the bitter faults, hers and others, which had plunged her there and all the exceptional hazards which finally dragged her from the depths.

The nation sees things as they are. First of all, she knows that if justice is to be done in the world, Japan in turn must be defeated, and she wishes to contribute to this achievement by her arms. Looking at the past she sees all that her illusions, internal division and weaknesses have cost her. Looking at the present, she sees all the blows her power has suffered. Turning toward the future, she realizes the long, hard effort which alone will make her sufficiently powerful, united and strong in numbers to insure her future in the growing world; thereby making it possible for her to play a part for the welfare of humanity, which it is only too obvious the world could not do without. In other words the end of the war is not an aim in itself. There is only one starting point for the Fourth Republic. So forward to our great task of work, unity and rebirth!

Our new victory must mark our new rise. Vive la France! Vive la Republique! Vive la Résistance!