Author Description

The book of the BBC TV series. "We must divorce ourselves from de Gaulle because he has proven to be unreliable, unco-operative and disloyal to both our governments," Winston Churchill to Franklin Roosevelt, 17 June 1943. In public, General de Gaulle remained the firm ally of Britain and America in the war against Hitler. In reality, his former sponsors were so appalled by him that they kept the Anglo-American invasion of North Africa secret from him. They cast about for an alternative leader to take charge of the Free French. Simon Berthon's book reveals how and why the alliance turned sour, and how de Gaulle took revenge on Britain and America after the war. The TV episodes "Hero to Villain", "Conspiracy in Africa", "The Frenchman's Revenge" accompanies 3-part BBC documentary to reveal how so-called "allies" hated and plotted against each other in secret.