War Diary of a Free French Doctor – With de Gaulle (1940–1945)

A doctor in Pointe-Noire at the time of the declaration of war, Jean Vialard-Goudou joined the Free French Forces as early as July 1940 and, from Eritrea to Syria and from Libya to Tunisia, organised first aid for the wounded of the principal military campaigns in which the 1re BFL and then the 1re DFL took part, on or near the battlefield.

From this extraordinary journey, which extended all the way to the liberation of the Rhône valley, this discreet yet strong-willed man produced a Journal de marches et d'opérations and a Journal de Bir Hakeim that had never previously been published and were known, until now, only to insiders.

Each in their own way, the two texts offer a nuanced reading of the traditionally recounted epic: the first by uncovering a daily reality in which soldiers warded off boredom with cards, alcohol and brawling; the second by revealing, during the Battle of Bir Hakeim, simmering rivalries between doctors and between Allies.

In doing so, and carried by an uncompromising prose style, they deliver a testimony to the exploits accomplished that is at once unprecedented and authentic, renewing our understanding of them and, eighty years after the events, offering the reader not merely an immersion but a genuine experience at the heart of the Free French adventure.