Like him or not, CDG was the towering figure of the Free French and later post-war France. If he goes … can his replacement do the same?
In the short term, I don’t see a Franco-British union. It would be seen as a joke, at best; I don’t think there was ever any real appetite for it in either power (Churchill notwithstanding). It might be more likely for the ‘Free French’ units to be more or less completely integrated into the British military as they take shape, even if they are officially treated as forces in exile. The UK would probably find someone to serve as the nominal exiled leader, but with little real clout without CDG’s personality.
In the longer term, assuming the invasion of North Africa and Europe proceeds as OTL, the French might wind up with someone from Vichy (Darlen?) taking the role as de facto leader, probably leading to more recriminations and hastily-rewritten sections of history (“Darlen played Hitler for a fool – he secretly rearmed so secretly it was a secret even from himself – and made sure France was ready to rebel when the time came”) and so on. There would be no clear(ish) break between Vichy and post-war France, probably leading to stronger Communist factions (on the grounds they were fighting the Germans all along – never mind that embarrassing period between the Fall of France and Barbarossa), perhaps even open civil war.
Thoughts?
Chris