On June 18, 1940, Charles de Gaulle, then a relatively unknown brigadier-general in the French army, gave a radio address from London via the BBC.Two days earlier, De Gaulle had fled Nazi-occupied France for Britain, refusing to accept the capitulation to Adolf Hitler under Marshall Philippe Pétain and vowing to fight on from exile.Speaking on the radio, De Gaulle urged French soldiers that did not want to capitulate to travel to London and join him.