Please mention The Gers Local when responding to adverts
The French Resistance Movement A brief history (by Angela Clohessy)
French resistance fighters in Paris T
he surrender of France to Germany in June 1940 was a
major blow to many French people. Many believed that their government had let them down.
In the immediate aftermath of the surrender, France went into a period of shock. The public had been assured that the French army, along with the Maginot Line defences, was more than strong enough to resist a German attack. The speed and severity of Blitzkrieg had shocked the French people.
The surrender and subsequent Armistice signed on 22ⁿ June 1940 divided France into two zones; northern, western and entire Atlantic coast all of which was occupied by the Germans and the non-occupied regions in central and southern France, known as Vichy France, set up by the Germans and governed by Marshall Petain.
The leader of the French resistance was Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle a tank corps officer in the French Army refused to take part in the surrender; he fled to England and made his headquarters in Great Britain. On the eve of the French capitulation he broadcast a message to the French people on the BBC on June 18 1940. His historic speech rallied the French people and helped start the resistance movement. Aided and funded by the British, de Gaulle set up the Free French movement, based in London.
This message hit hard in occupied France but initially it was less well received in Vichy France. Regardless of what many thought of the Vichy government, the area they controlled was run by French people. However, when the Vichy government began to collaborate openly with the Germans, attitudes hardened considerably.
In the summer of 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill established an intelligence organization called the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Its purpose was to wage secret war on the continent, but with the defeat of France this intelligence network was all but
8 Freedom fighters - the Maquis
destroyed. The SOE was revived and by November 1940, it was giving aid to the French resistance.
The French Resistance movement is an umbrella term which covered numerous anti-German resistance movements that were based within France. Some groups were violent in nature, aiming to hurt or kill the German occupiers; these were called maquis. Other groups used non-violent means, publishing underground newspapers and broadcasting anti- German and anti-Vichy radio programs.
The Resistance played a vital part in aiding the Allies to success in Western Europe, particularly leading up to D-Day in June 1944. The Resistance supplied the Allies with vital intelligence reports together with a huge amount of work to disrupt the German supply and communication lines within France.
Resistance fighters blew up bridges, derailed trains, directed the British in the bombing of German troop trains, kidnapped and killed German army officers and ambushed German troops.
Arguably the most notorious of the whole resistance movement as far as the German occupation forces were concerned was theMaquis.
The Maquis were predominately rural guerrilla bands who were independent from other resistance groups. They operated mainly in rural areas and the mountains. The name Maquis comes from the word that means bushes that grow along country roads.
Initially the Maquis were comprised of men who had escaped from French POW camps where they were held in captivity until the end of the war. France agreed to this setting up of these POW camps because they thought that the British would surrender in a few
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44