---
title: La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre! Aux Armes Citoyens! Formez vos Bataillons... (France Forever)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-la-france-a-perdu-une-bataille-france-forever-1940/
description: A winged figure with a raised sword, in the style of the Arc de Triomphe sculpture, flies across a blue-white-red field beside a Cross of Lorraine badge
section: Collection
---

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3. La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n'a pas perdu

[![La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre! Aux Armes Citoyens! Formez vos Bataillons..., 1940 US](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-la-france-a-perdu-une-bataille-france-forever-1940.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/us-la-france-a-perdu-une-bataille-france-forever-1940.jpg)

# La France a perdu une bataille! Mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre! Aux Armes Citoyens! Formez vos Bataillons... (France Forever)

A winged figure with a raised sword, in the style of the Arc de Triomphe sculpture, flies across a blue-white-red field beside a Cross of Lorraine badge marked 'France Libre'; the text reads 'France has lost a battle! But France has not lost the war!' over a facsimile signature of de Gaulle and the call to arms. The tell is the transfer of the tricolour, the Marseillaise's words and the Arc de Triomphe figure onto the Free French cause.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

Original (French) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
La France a perdu une bataille!
Mais la France n'a pas perdu la guerre!
[signature:] C. de Gaulle
Aux armes, Citoyens!
Formez vos bataillons...!
FRANCE LIBRE
POUR TOUS RENSEIGNEMENTS S'ADRESSER A FRANCE FOREVER
[Translation: France has lost a battle! But France has not lost the war! To arms, citizens! Form your battalions...! Free France. For all information apply to France Forever.]
```

[← Liberté (Belgian flag, 'Unity of Strength' design)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/unity-of-strength-liberte-belgian-flag-1940/) [A União Faz a Força \[Union Makes Strength\] →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/us-ociaa-a-uniao-faz-a-forca-arias-bernal-portuguese-1940/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)