A World War II organization of Frenchmen and women in exile. Led by General de Gaulle, it continued the war against the Axis Powers after the surrender of Vichy France in 1940. Its headquarters were in London, where, apart from organizing forces that participated in military campaigns and cooperating with the French resistance movement, it constituted a pressure group that strove to represent French interests. In 1941 its French National Committee was formed and this eventually developed into a provisional government for liberated France. The Free French army in French Equatorial Africa, led by General Leclerc (Philippe, Vicomte de Hauteclocque), linked up with the British forces in Tripoli (1943), after completing an epic march of c.2400 km (1500 miles) from Lake Chad. A provisional Free French government was established in Algiers, moving to Paris in 1944.