In his magnificent story - written with all the intense verve of men who have had hours of fierce fighting that they resolved with the highest of courage and one that does not leave them the time to transcribe the moments, with frankness and modesty - Jean-Mathieu Boris shows us that the heroes of Bir Hakeim (which did so much to de Gaulle) does not spontaneously born in the Libyan desert like mushrooms of Paris in the mist of dew morning fresh out of a novel by Dino Buzzati. Thanks to him, we see the whole route (sometimes picaresque) french young rebels, those who refused defeat. We see the preparation, how they built their fighting faith. The episode of the London Blitz brings a particularly interesting testimony. I read this book after that of Francis brooch (the son of one of the heroes fallen in Bir Hakeim gunner as Boris) and having met in my town of Senlis at the commemoration of 18 June, an extraordinarily modest man of ninety years, Martinique veteran of a march battalion of the Free France Division; he also participated in the campaign in Libya, landing in Provence and the fighting in the Vosges. It is by listening to him and reading JM Boris that one realizes that "it is to these men that we owe our freedom today," is neither misused nor hackneyed. This is the simple truth.