Maritain, as we have seen, had been himself reticent about de Gaulle between 1940 and 1942, and he was never a fully paid-up Gaullist. But in November 1942 he had no doubt where duty lay, and why de Gaulle had to be chosen over Darlan or Giraud: There are men who from the time of the armistice have endured the worst trials to continue that war by the side of the allies – I speak of the soldiers of the Free French … Their leader said no to the enemy from the first day; an act of that kind cannot be effaced. A sort of heroic chivalry has given back hope to the French.32
