Allies Briefed De Gaulle Belatedly

Free French leader Charles de Gaulle did not learn the details of the D-Day invasion until June 4, 1944, only two days before the landings. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had instructed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to withhold the plans because he did not trust de Gaulle to keep them secret. Allied officials also considered Free French codes insecure, while de Gaulle's organization refused to use British or American systems. Churchill summoned de Gaulle from Algiers on June 2, and he arrived in Britain two days later as Operation Overlord was about to begin.

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