On June 17, 1940, while the French armies were in complete disarray, Charles de Gaulle, a littleknown general recently promoted to UnderSecretary of State for War, met Churchill and discovered that Marshal Pétain had called for an end to the fighting and to ask Hitler for the terms of an armistice. De Gaulle shares with the British Prime Minister his wish to speak to the BBC, which Churchill authorizes. On June 18 at 10 p.m., de Gaulle launched his famous call for resistance from the BBC.