Dunkirk Revisited

Standing next to the Dunkirk memorial, Paul Reynaud, who was Prime Minister of France when Germany invaded the country, shares his memories of the Dunkirk evacuation and its significance. He thought all was lost, but did not believe Britain was deserting France. He did, however, evoke an emotional response from Churchill when he asked him whether all French troops would be left behind, to which Churchill replied that they would not. This is an audio extract preserved from the TV programme 'Dunkirk Revisited'.

In 1940, Paul Reynaud was imprisoned by the Vichy government and the Nazis until the end of the war. He was put on trial twice and eventually charged, along with other members of his regime, with being responsible for France's defeat by Germany. During his imprisonment, he kept himself physically fit by skipping and occupied his mind with writing, studying languages and reading. A collection of memoirs, 'La France a Sauve l'Europe', written during his incarceration, was published in 1947. He resumed a political life soon after the war.