Oversized french flag floating under the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysées, Paris, France. 18 june.

L'appel du 18 juin (The Call of 18 june 1940) was the first speech delivered by General de Gaulle on London radio, on the BBC, on June 18, 1940. This speech was a response to the radio speech of June 17, 1940 by the Marshal Pétain did, the day before at 12:20 p.m., when he became President of the Council.

De Gaulle appeals to all French soldiers, engineers or workers specializing in armaments who find themselves in British territory to get in touch with him, to continue the fight against Germany. He also predicts the globalization of war.

Very little heard at the time, the call gave rise to the publication the next day in the Times and the Daily Express of the written version from the Ministry of Information (MOI), taken up by some French newspapers. It is considered the founding text of the French Resistance, of which it remains the symbol.

As the speech is not recorded, the known sound version is that of the appeal of June 22, 1940[3], Armistice Day, which includes a similar text, but reworked. A filmed version was made even later, on July 2, 1940, for the cinema news[4]. The resulting poster also has a different text, because it is a proclamation published on August 5, 1940 and posted only in a few streets of London.