Churchill’s words, com­piled in solidarity:

“The news from France is very bad and I grieve for the gal­lant French peo­ple who have fall­en into this ter­ri­ble mis­for­tune. Noth­ing will alter our feel­ings towards them or our faith that the genius of France will rise again.” —4 June 1940

“The House will feel sor­row at the fate of the great French nation and peo­ple to whom we have been joined so long in war and peace, and whom we have regard­ed as trustees with our­selves for the progress of a lib­er­al cul­ture and tol­er­ant civ­i­liza­tion of Europe.” —25 June 1940

“French­men! For more than thir­ty years in peace and war I have marched with you. I am march­ing still along the same road. Tonight I speak to you at your fire­sides, wher­ev­er you may be, or what­ev­er your for­tunes are. I repeat the prayer upon the louis d’or, ‘Dieu pro­tège la France’….

“Frenchmen—re-arm your spir­its before it is too late….Never will I believe that the soul of France is dead. Nev­er will I believe that her place amongst the great­est nations of the world has been lost for ever….

“Good­night then: sleep to gath­er strength for the morn­ing. For the morn­ing will come. Bright­ly will it shine on the brave and true, kind­ly upon all who suf­fer for the cause, glo­ri­ous upon the tombs of heroes. Thus will shine the dawn. Vive la France! Long live also the for­ward march of the com­mon peo­ple in all the lands towards their just and true inher­i­tance, and towards the broad­er and fuller age.” —21 Octo­ber 1940

“For forty years I have been a con­sis­tent friend of France and her brave army; all my life I have been grate­ful for the con­tri­bu­tion France has made to the cul­ture and glo­ry of Europe, and above all for the sense of per­son­al lib­er­ty and the rights of man which has radi­at­ed from the soul of France….Show me a moment when I swerved from this con­cep­tion, and you will show me a moment when I have been wrong.” —2 August 1944