How Stalin made France a victorious country in World War II The role of France in the final defeat of the Third Reich is incomparably lower than the role of any of the three powers of the Great Troika - the USSR, the USA, England. Even at the time of the signing of the surrender of Germany, the French troops, continuously replenished with mobilizations, amounted to no more than 10% of the total number of troops of the Western Allies in Europe. The role of France in the war is comparable to that of Italy. By the end of World War II, Italy also had an official anti-fascist government with its own troops, and resistance guerrilla groups operated in the rear of the German and Italian-fascist armies. However, this did not become a reason for Italy to be excluded from the list of losers of the war. But France, despite its massive collaborationism (more French volunteers fought in the Nazi formations than in the resistance movement), was among the four powers that accepted the surrender of the Third Reich and became a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Considerable merit in this belongs to the leadership of the USSR and personally to Stalin. English puppet de Gaulle In June 1940, in the days of the collapse of the French army, when England could not provide any assistance to its ally, the French government capitulated to Hitler. Only one member of the government opposed the surrender - the Deputy Minister of War, General Charles de Gaulle. Having hastily left France on a British military plane, on June 18, 1940, he set out from London with an appeal to all the French to continue the fight against Germany. After the government of Marshal Petain signed an armistice with Hitler on June 22, 1940, de Gaulle's activities began to be regarded in France as treason. The court sentenced de Gaulle to death in absentia. Then the majority of the French looked at Petain as a double hero. In the First World War, he defended Verdun from the Germans. In World War II, he timely saved his country from complete devastation - inevitable if France, incited by England, continued to fight. Churchill also had a low opinion of de Gaulle. He needed his name only to create the impression that not all French support collaborators. Using the name of de Gaulle and the flag of "Fighting France", the British in 1940-1941. destroyed or interned most of the French Navy, established control over French Central Africa, Senegal, Syria and Lebanon. In May 1942, the British launched an operation to capture Madagascar. The Lemur Island Campaign was perhaps the most ridiculous of World War II. Madagascar was many thousands of kilometers from any fronts. Using as a pretext the fact that the Japanese fleet appeared in the Indian Ocean, Churchill decided "to prevent the Japanese from establishing a naval base in Madagascar." This time even de Gaulle could not stand it and protested against the capture of the French colony by England. For six months, the Malagasy warriors, under the command of French officers, repulsed the attacks of Indian soldiers, led by British officers. In November 1942, an armistice was signed, according to which control of Madagascar passed to the British administration. Out of work in North Africa At the same time, in November 1942, the Anglo-American troops launched a landing operation in the French colonies of North Africa: Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The goal was to go to the rear of Rommel's army in Libya and force her to capitulate. Neither the British nor the Americans considered de Gaulle as a potential French leader in the newly occupied French territories. The Americans held negotiations in advance with the officials of the Petain government - Darlan and Giraud. When, in response to the Allied landings in North Africa, Hitler ordered the occupation of the remainder of France, Darlan and Giraud declared that Petain was no longer competent as head of state and ordered French troops in North Africa to stop resisting the Americans and the British. In gratitude for this, Darlan was appointed head of the entire French administration in North Africa, and Giraud was appointed commander-in-chief of the French military forces in it. Again, de Gaulle was out of work, he was not even remembered. Not a "totalitarian dictatorship", but a historical continuation of Russia On the eve of the landings in Normandy in June 1944, de Gaulle was told that a temporary occupation administration would be created in France, and the creation of civilian authorities would be postponed until the end of the war. This would be the complete end of de Gaulle as a politician. Of course, de Gaulle tirelessly maintained active contacts with both Roosevelt and Churchill, proving that only he could ensure due loyalty to the Western allies. But it was clear that the United States and Britain did not want France to play a prominent role in post-war Europe. There was only one ally country that was interested in France precisely as a counterbalance to the influence of the United States and England. That country was the USSR. Stalin had been eyeing de Gaulle for a long time. In September 1941, Moscow established diplomatic relations with the "Fighting France" (diplomatic relations with the Vichy government were broken in July 1941). In November 1942, the foundation was laid for the creation of the Normandy volunteer aviation unit on the Eastern Front. In December 1944, de Gaulle, already as head of the Provisional Government of France, visited Moscow. The meeting had huge results for France And. Both politicians agreed that it was necessary by all means to exclude the post-war influence of the United States in France, to ensure France's full independence. The negotiations were helped by the fact that de Gaulle viewed the USSR not as a "totalitarian dictatorship", but, above all, as the historical successor of Russia - an ally of France in the First World War. On December 10, 1944, the USSR and France signed an agreement on alliance and military assistance. With this act, the Soviet leadership officially elevated France to the same level of cooperation that the United States and Great Britain were at. Stalin wanted to invite de Gaulle to a conference in Yalta, and then to Potsdam, but his initiative met with active opposition from Western partners. Nevertheless, the significance of de Gaulle's visit to Moscow was enormous; the status of post-war France was raised to the level of a great power. In return, Stalin received from de Gaulle an assurance of full support on the Polish question (the coming to power of the Communists and the establishment of borders favorable to the USSR). Stalin also hoped that in post-war France, the communists would have a serious influence on foreign policy, important for the USSR. He gave directives to the leaders of the French Communists (Thorez, Duclos) to support de Gaulle in every possible way, especially with regard to defending French sovereignty from US encroachments, and to forget the "struggle for socialism" for a long time.
At Stalin's request, on May 8, 1945, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov led de Latre into a conference room in the building of the former military engineering school in Karlshorst (a suburb of Berlin).
When de Latre demanded that the French flag be attached to the British, American and Soviet flags in the surrender hall, he heard from a British officer: "Why not the Chinese flag?"
After some hesitation, Zhukov ordered a tricolor flag to be sewn from some random rags. The chief of staff of the German army, Field Marshal Keitel, exclaimed when he saw the French flag between the American and British: “Oh, also the French! This was all that was missing! »
A new opportunity to protest was given to de Latre during the night banquet, when Zhukov, raising toasts, forgot about the French. He expressed displeasure out loud. The good-natured Zhukov, in joy, raised a toast to the glory of the French army. Thus, France became the fourth winner of Germany and took the place of a permanent member in the UN Security Council.
And about your last question about Mrs. Le Pen's game. Tell me, if you are the president of your country, would you like to have friendly relations with other countries? Le Pen is one of those politicians who are trying to build relations with Russia, why should Russia maintain relations with those who are opposed to it?
As for funding, I don’t know, I personally didn’t hold a candle, especially since there is no clear evidence that it is financed.
Regarding propaganda, I don't want to say anything bad about the propaganda of the West, I am a historian, not a politician. And look at everything from all sides, then draw conlusions