The '''Forces Françaises Libres''' or '''Free French Forces''' were the army of the '''''Comité National Français''''' or '''French National Committee''' also known as '''[[Gaullist]]'''s, the French government-in-exile formed in London with Allied assistance by [[Charles de Gaulle]] in September 1941. They fought against the European Axis powers (Germany and Italy) in Africa and Europe until the war's end in May 1945. They also fought against the [[Vichy French]] in [[Syria]] and [[Iraq]] and are part of what [[collectively is known as the [[French resistance]] which included the [[Ffrench French Communist partyParty]] and others during [[World War II]].
As Pétain's new [[Vichy regime|Vichy government]] prepared to sign an armistice on 22 June 1940, de Gaulle flew to [[London]] and on 18 June. <ref>Jean-Louis Cremieux-Brilhac, ''La France Libre de l'appel du 18 juin a la Liberation'' (Paris: Gallimard, 1996)</ref> De Gaulle's forces by November 1940, numbered 35,000 troops and twenty warships; several overseas colonies including [[Syria]] had rallied to his banner, although his forces were defeated in September in an attempt, with British aid, to seize Dakar, Senegal.