Well, you've offered one side of the story. What you left out was that neither Roosevelt nor Churchill wanted the assistance of De Gaulle because they believed, incorrectly, that Pétain could be persuaded to leave the German camp, and so they were wary of befriending a "traitor" to his regime. Perhaps it should not be surprising that he felt little affection for two leaders who gave him the cold shoulder for most of the war.
How much impact De Gaulle had on the internal Resistance is debatable, but there is no denying that, by urging France to keep up the fight during its darkest hour (in his Appeal of 18 June 1940), he became an inspirational figure. And he was very skillful at integrating the various Resistance factions together following the Liberation, when they could have easily turned against each other (some of the Communist-led factions discussed launching a revolution after the war).
Also, France didn't turn to him "after the North African colonies fought their way loose," but right in the middle of that conflict, in 1958. He is basically the reason France avoided civil war then. He alone had the credibility with the French people, on both sides of the Mediterranean, to urge them not to tear the country apart. He had his flaws, and was often a difficult person to deal with, but he is justifiably a national hero for France.
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