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TIME: Almanac of the 20th Century
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TIME, Almanac of the 20th Century.ISO
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40degaul
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1994-02-27
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<text>
<title>
(1940s) Charles DeGaulle
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1940s Highlights
PEOPLE
</history>
<link 00070><link 00095><article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
Charles De Gaulle
</hdr>
<body>
<p>(August 4, 1941)
</p>
<p> The man who heads Free France is an inexperienced politician,
a bad salesman; he was a figure of little personal prestige a
year ago. Charles Andre Joseph Marie de Gaulle, whom the Free
French now call simply Le General, has a too-tall (6 ft. 4 in.)
body, big hips, a small heard and the undynamic appearance
frequently found in big men. He was wounded three times in World
War I, was captured and escaped five times, only to be
recaptured each time.
</p>
<p> In World War II, De Gaulle was commander of the 507th Regiment
of the Chars de Combat, drawn from the neighborhood of Metz in
Lorraine. The two-barred Cross of Lorraine was a part of the
badge. When General de Gaulle sought an emblem for Free France
he chose the Cross of Lorraine with the motto Honneur, Patrie.
The former word is missing from Vichy France's motto.
</p>
<p> Said General de Gaulle in a broadcast to the U.S. last
fortnight: "In the world's history the greatest deeds of the
greatest peoples have been their struggles for freedom."
</p>
<p> Free France knows it is struggling for France's freedom, and
it is this knowledge that binds De Gaulle's men to his cause
with fanatical loyalty. This loyalty has overcome De Gaulle's
lack of personal magnetism; it has overcome his political
inexperience. His supporters include Socialists, monarchists and
Republicans. He insists that he is not leading a political
movement, that he is merely leading a military movement to
restore France's freedom, that when that is accomplished he will
render account to the chosen representatives of the French
people.</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>