Charles de Gaulle during World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, Charles de Gaulle was put in charge of the French Fifth Army's tanks (five scattered battalions, largely equipped with R35 light tanks) in Alsace, and on 12 September 1939, he attacked at Bitche, simultaneously with the Saar Offensive.^{[1][2]: 118}

In late February 1940, Paul Reynaud told de Gaulle that he had been earmarked for command of an armoured division as soon as one became available.^[3] In late March, de Gaulle was told by Reynaud that he would be given command of the 4th Armoured Division by 15 May.^[4] The government appeared likely to be restructured, as Daladier and Maurice Gamelin (commander-in-chief) were under attack in the aftermath of the Allied defeat in Norway, and had this happened de Gaulle, who on 3 May, was still lobbying Reynaud for a restructuring of the control of the war, might well have joined the government.^[5] By 7 May he was assembling the staff of his new division.^[6]

De Gaulle founded and headed several organization during the course of the war to administer the operation of Free France, starting with the Empire Defense Council days after Vichy capitulated in June 1940, and ending with the Provisional Government, which provided the transition from the liberation of France through the first elections in 1945, to the establishment of the Fourth Republic in 1947.