The French Resistance is one of the most heroic and enduring stories of World War II. Thousands of French men and women defied the the Vichy regime, and many died or were executed trying to free France from German occupation after 1940.

Their own hero was General Charles de Gaulle who had rallied resistance fighters in a broadcast made 70 years ago, from a small BBC studio in London.

As Allan Little reports its impact was far greater and enduring than the number of French citizens who heard it crackling over the airwaves.

Broadcast on Thursday 17 June 2010.