ABSTRACT
In July 1940, shortly after the fall of France, Winston Churchill insisted that the British high command organize immediately, in coordination with General Charles de Gaulle, strong forces of French exiles who wanted to continue the war against Germany. The British army’s liaison mission to these Free French forces, named the ‘Spears Mission’ after its commander General Edward Spears, struggled to achieve this goal. In the Franco-British campaign to take Syria in 1941, the Free French fought not against Germans, but fellow Frenchmen of the Vichy garrison. Worse still, the British were unable to provide sufficient transport or artillery to their ally. However, in 1942 the 1st Free French Brigade joined the British Eighth Army in Libya. By now the Free French were one of the best equipped forces in the desert and performed outstandingly at the defence of Bir Hakeim. How does an army integrate foreign soldiers, overcoming the differences of language, culture, training and equipment? Taking the Free French forces in the Libyan campaign as a case study, this article will examine the problems resulting from Allied units serving under British command and how they were resolved. In particular, it will examine the work of the Spears Mission, which played an important role in Free French success in 1942. The liaison officers of the Spears Mission represented Free French needs and problems to the British high command, while also having responsibility for ensuring that the Free French followed British procedures and orders. Managing Franco-British military relations was a difficult task and sometimes the Mission was the victim of both sides’ frustration. Yet, this article will show that despite setbacks, or perhaps because of them, interallied military cooperation gradually improved during the 1942 Libyan campaign, which saw the first sustained large-scale deployment of Free French forces under British command.
