THE FRENCH RESISTANCE IN WW II

When I first moved to this region, I was asked by my brother if there had been much activity here during World War II. I told him, no, I didn’t think so. But I was wrong. The French Resistance was active and strong. It doesn’t get a lot of public discussion because even though we are 75 years away from the end of the war, there are still wounds. Families who lost family members or had involvement either with the Resistance or even the Vichy government remain. The wounds are for some still fresh and they would rather not be reminded of this sordid past.

Recently one of my friends organized a WW II French Resistance tour of Carcassonne. We met with an Englishman who has been researching this topic locally and created the tour to share his discoveries.

I had recently completed the third book of a trilogy by Kate Mosse entitled The Citadel (Orion Publishing, 2012). It is a novel set in Carcassonne bringing to life the people and activities of the local French Resistance.

I had also recently completed an incredible book entitled Murder in the Metro (Louisiana State University Press, 2010) by Gayle Brunelle & Annettee Finley-Crosswhite, both academic historians. While their expertise is 15th & 16th century France, they stumbled upon the murder of Laetitia Toureaux on the Paris Metro in 1937 in the course of their research and decided to pursue the topic. The murder was never solved, but their persistent research revealed the reason was that there were high-level politicians involved who didn’t want the full details revealed. Some of them even came to later lead the country And Gayle, by the way, is the woman for whom I was “Maid of Honor” two weeks ago! I am proud to call her my friend..

Murder in the Metro reveals the origins of the Cagoule, another subversive organization largely funded by capitalists pre-WW II with the intention of overthrowing the government. WW II started and things changed. Many of the Cagoule members either collaborated with the Nazis, the Vichy Government or the Resistance, the decision made based on personal benefit. Some of them came to trial following WW II, but many were never held accountable for the reason stated earlier. So I was interested in this topic and anxious to learn more about its relevance to my region.

I learned that Charle DeGaulle exiled himself to London to coordinate a strategy to remove the Germans from their occupation of France which began in May 1940 and would last until December 1944. Degaulle and Churchill didn’t get along very well but they cooperated nonetheless for the same objective. DeGaulle worked initially to encourage defiance and recruit allied governments to support an invasion that eventually led to D-Day.

The French prepared for World War II with the Maginot Line, a series of concrete bunkers and walls along what they perceived to be the most vulnerable part of their border. It didn’t work as the Germans sidestepped the barriers and stormed through the Belgian forests to enter France. The country went down quickly,

Service du travail obligatoire (abbreviated as STO and translated as “mandatory service work”) was instituted by the Germans to provide a wartime labor force in Germany. Those young French men who didn’t want to participate headed to the mountains and other remote areas to avoid the service and exportation. From this group came the Maquis, or French Resistance. Members were called maquisards.

Maquisards included among them many women. That was a great tactic because they were initially beyond suspicion. Kate Mosse’s book shows how they organized an underground press to spread news for the liberation forces. Because it was illegal to even listen to radio broadcasts from DeGaulle and his cohorts in London, they would print this information and quietly spread the news. Often the printed releases were passed from one person to another to increase awareness.

There were shortages of many kinds including food and gasoline. Despite this being an agricultural region, the priority was food for the troops. Rubber was also important for military transport. Leather, too, for boots. Gasogene cars emerged that burned wood and charcoal as fuel. The people did what they could to survive.

The occupied zone was primarily in the north of France and along the Atlantic coast. The rest of the country was initially left pretty much alone and called the Zone Libre (Free Zone). A provisional government was set up in Vichy by a well-known WW I general, Marechal Philippe Pétain who was appointed head of the new French state in July 1940. Initially, he had no real plan and undertook a nationwide tour to engender support for this new set of circumstances. He even visited Carcassonne as seen below.

In a literal betrayal to France, Pétain attempted to rewrite the French motto of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternite (“Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood”) to Travail, Famille, Patrie (“Work, Family and Fatherland”).

He was no doubt playing up to Hitler. Without a more definitive plan, Pétain eventually allied himself as a collaborator in 1944 with Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Working as agents of the Vichy government were the Milice française (French Militia), a paramilitary organization created to fight the French Resistance. This made for great conflicts as French citizens battled one another. One can only imagine the insecurity not knowing who was aligned with which side.

As the allies won North Africa, the Zone Ocupée extended to include the entire country. As it did, life became increasingly difficulty and the work of the Maquisards even more important.

Carcassonne, given its geographic position on the major train lines, was a coordinating point for individuals attempting to flee the country – including Jews and allied soldiers who had escaped capture. Spain was a destination to get to Gibraltar held by the British for safe passage to England and other points thereafter.

On our tour we identified a safe house where over 300 people had been temporarily housed on their path to escape.

Individuals coming to this house would be clandestinely taken farther south and west to the mountains and handed over to Passeurs (“Passers”). Passeurs were individuals in the Resistance who guided those escaping over the Pyrenées to Spain. These passeurs would lead their charges to the Spanish border then pass them along to representatives from the Spanish underground. Once there, however, their safety wasn’t necessarily guaranteed due to the Franco government. Getting to Gibraltar was key. And occasionally there were corrupt infiltrators who instead set up ambushes to capture the escapees. These were rough times.

The Maquisards used code names and often didn’t know one another’s names. It was a time of great distrust as even one’s neighbor could be an informer. There were sad and difficult times.

Mary Louise Dissard, code name Francoise, ran one of the escape lines. Known as an eccentric, this actually served her well to disguise her underground activities.  

Juliette Bazille, owner of a small market, worked quietly behind the scenes saving a Jewish widow and her three sons, the Dreyfus family. She was later recognized by the Israeli government as Righteous Among the Nations, an honorific title awarded to those who saved Jews from the Holocaust.

Most of the maquis were anonymous and able to work effectively because of this. But one individual, Albert Gau, a Roman Catholic priest educator, openly criticized the Vichy regime. This was rather remarkable because Catholic Church leadership, including the bishops, said little. He too was later recognized by Israel.

A Carcassonne resident by the name of Remy Bach, obviously had a more tarnished reputation. Known as a collaborator, he was quickly tried and shot at the end of the war.

As monitoring by the German occupiers and Vichy government was extensive, there were resistance workers at the post office managing and intercepting phone calls and letters. 

Incarceration camps existed in the region as well. One camp was about six kilometers from my village near Bram and is today marked by a memorial to the over 400 prisoners who died. This camp housed refugees from Spain. A notorious German camp was established to hold French prisoners near La Vernet, 50 km west.

Just yesterday I finished a third book entitled Lauragais by Colin Duncan Taylor (Troubador Publishing, Leicester UK, 2018). It is an expansive history beginning with the Cathars of the Lauragais region which lies between my village and Toulouse. In this book I learned the Resistance was very active because the Montagne Noire to the east provided protective secrecy.

The Resistance was initially very strong. As time wore on and German spy planes identified their hideouts, they became more vulnerable. Nonetheless, they persisted until the Allies landed near Marseilles (about three hours away by car) on August 15, 1944. With the writing on the wall, the Germans began to evacuate. It was the beginning of the end. But in retaliation, they did muchdamage randomly killing people and destroying property. We saw evidence of gunshots as people were lined up against the wall of a bridge to be executed.

Immediately following the war, there were trials sauvages (“wild trials”) where traitors to France, collaborators with Germany and the Vichy government, were executed prior to full judicial review. These executions occurred in the barracks which now house French paratroopers. Marcéchal Pértain was imprisoned as a traitor, only saved from execution by his WW I reputation and contributions.

Contrary to what I thought, the Languedoc saw a lot of action though of a different nature during World War II. There were many brave men and women who secretly did what they could to preserve their nation. Their stories are many and all heroic. This memorial wall across from Cathedrale Saint Michel lists their names.

We are 75 years away and history seems to be repeating itself with authoritarian dictators springing up in many countries, including the US. History has a way of repeating itself. If I’ve learned nothing, I have learned that democracy is fragile.