During the General’s absence overseas, Brossolette had organized the transport to London of a repentant Pétainist, Charles Vallin, who had been a leader of the extreme-right Croix de Feu before the war. The event was given much publicity, and Vallin broadcast on the BBC on 17 September. Brossolette’s idea was that Vallin in London would complement André Philip, demonstrating that support for de Gaulle went across the political spectrum – from the Socialists to the extreme right. But for many anti-Gaullists of the left in London the arrival of a ‘fascist’ stoked all their suspicions of de
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