Free French, designation popularly applied to the armed forces of the French National Committee of Liberation, an organization founded in London on June 28, 1940, following the capitulation of France to Germany in World War II. The committee was established, on the initiative of General Charles de Gaulle—who had refused to accept France's surrender—for the purpose of carrying on the war against Germany. The Free French took a prominent part in the North African invasion in 1942 and later in the invasion of southern France. They were the first to enter Paris in 1944.