With its bland architecture and gray concrete pavement, little distinguishes Curzon Square from its surroundings in the heart of London’s Mayfair district. But it was here that Charles de Gaulle wrote a speech that would change his country’s fate and, he believed, fulfill his destiny.

On June 17, 1940, still reeling from France’s fall to Nazi Germany three days earlier, de Gaulle fled to London, where he borrowed a friend’s apartment at 3 Curzon Square (then called Seamore Grove) and drafted a passionate call to arms. The next day he broadcast a message on BBC radio — a direct, clarion appeal to the French people:

“I, General de Gaulle, now in London, call on all French officers and men who are at present on British soil, or may be in the future, with or without their arms; I call on all engineers and skilled workmen from the armaments factories who are at present on British soil, or may be in the future, to get in touch with me.”

De Gaulle’s initial broadcast reached only a few parts of occupied France. (Subsequent transmissions on June 19 and 22 reached greater swathes of Vichy territory.) But today, it is considered one of the most significant moments in French history, even honored with its own square in Paris, Place du 18 Juin 1940.

Image De Gaulle in the BBC studios, broadcasting his call to arms to all French people on British soil. Credit... Getty Images

On a cold, damp day in February, I gazed up at the building that has replaced de Gaulle’s borrowed flat as the final words of his speech rang in my ears: “Whatever happens, the flame of French resistance must not and shall not die.”