French conventional forces were reconstituted while the war was still ongoing - with US and British kit, of course, but organised into entirely French formations with French officers and leaders under the overall Allied command structure. French air force squadrons were reformed outside the aegis of the RAF and equipped with a mix of Allied and captured German aircraft.

There was a real impetus for de Gaulle to do this because if France could join the war as a more or less independent ally rather than a government-in-exile, then they would have a place at the negotiating table, a slice of the occupation and other advantages.