After France surrendered, Marcinkus managed to make his way to the French colonies in Africa (Morocco and Algeria). He decided to go to Great Britain and continue fighting, but the French army's terms of armistice at Compiègne and tensions between Britain and France made this difficult. On 12 August 1940 he was finally demobilized from the French army. Marcinkus and some of his associates concocted a daring plan to commandeer several aircraft without authorization and fly to England. The plan was not executed due to increased security at airfields and other circumstances. He finally received the necessary documents enabling him to go to Britain in autumn of 1940.