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Pierre De Vomécourt
Pierre de Crevoisier de Vomécourt (1 January 1906, Chassey-lès-Montbozon, Haute-Saône – 1986), code name Lucas, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe against the Axis powers. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. Vomécourt founded and headed SOE's first Resistance network (also called circuit) in occupied France. His AUTOGIRO network operated in and around Paris from May 1941 to April 1942. He was captured by the Germans in April 1942. After nearly a year of mostly solitary confinement in Fresnes Prison near Paris, he spent the rest of the war imprisoned in Nazi Germany in Colditz Castle, a POW camp for military officers. He was freed by the allied armies in April 1945. In the estimation of the official historian of SOE, M. R. D. Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chassey-lès-Montbozon
Chassey-lès-Montbozon (, literally ''Chassey near Montbozon'') is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. See also *Communes of the Haute-Saône department The following is a list of the 539 communes in the French department of Haute-Saône. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Communes of Haute-Saône {{HauteSaône-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippe De Vomécourt
Philippe Albert de Crevoisier, Baron de Vomécourt (16 January 1902 – 20 December 1964), code names Gauthier and Antoine, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) organization in World War II. He was the organiser (leader) of the Ventriloquist network (or circuit) from May 1941 until the liberation of France from Nazi German occupation in September 1944. The purpose of SOE in occupied France was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance. SOE agents allied themselves with French Resistance groups and supplied them with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England. The primary area of Vomécourt's activity was in the Sologne region about south of Paris. Philippe's older brother Jean and younger brother Pierre were also members of the French Resistance. Vomécourt was controversial. Author Sonia Purnell is critical of Vomécourt, but acknowledges that he was one of "the biggest legends of the Resistance." A colleague in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second World War. Alongside the Vickers Wellington and the Handley Page Hampden, the Whitley was developed during the mid-1930s according to Air Ministry Specification B.3/34, which it was subsequently selected to meet. In 1937, the Whitley formally entered into RAF squadron service; it was the first of the three medium bombers to be introduced. Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, the Whitley participated in the first RAF bombing raid upon German territory and remained an integral part of the early British bomber offensive. In 1942 it was superseded as a bomber by the larger four-engined " heavies" such as the Avro Lancaster. Its front-line service included maritime reconnaissance with Coastal Command and the second line roles of glider- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CLE Canister
The CLE Canister, or CLE Container was a standardized cylindrical container used by the British during World War 2 to airdrop supplies to troops on the ground. The name initially derived from the Central Landing Establishment The Central Landing Establishment was the Second World War British development centre for airborne warfare at RAF Ringway airfield near Manchester.Thompson 1989, p. 4. Establishment Following Prime Minister Winston Churchill's decision to crea ... that developed them, although this was later backronymed to ''Container Light Equipment''. Design Initially, the canisters were of wood and metal construction. The Mark 1 canister weighted around empty and when filled. It was cylindrical, long and in diameter. The Mark 1T canister was similar except it was of metal construction and slightly heavier, weighing empty and again when filled. The Mark III canister was similar, but slightly longer . One end of the canister carried a parachute pack. The par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Airdrop
An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, themselves often airborne forces, airdrops can also refer to the airborne assault itself. History Early airdrops were conducted by dropping or pushing padded bundles from aircraft. Later, small crates fitted with parachutes were pushed out of aircraft side cargo doors. Later, cargo aircraft were designed with rear access ramps, lowerable in flight, that allowed large platforms to be rolled out the back. As aircraft grew larger, the U.S. Air Force and Army developed ''low-level extraction'', allowing vehicles like light tanks, armored personnel carriers and other large supplies to be delivered. Propaganda leaflets are another commonly airdropped item. Airdrops evolved to include massive bombs as payload. The 15,000-pound (6,800&n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pontarlier
Pontarlier ( ; Latin: ''Ariolica'') is a commune and one of the two sub-prefectures of the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France near the Swiss border. History Pontarlier occupies the ancient Roman station of Ariolica, in Gallia and is placed in the ''Tables'' on the road from Urba (modern Orbe, Canton Vaud, Switzerland), to Vesontio (modern Besançon). Although the distances in the Antonine Itinerary do not agree with the real distances, French geographer D'Anville recognized a transposition of the numbers. The Theodosian Tabula names the place "Abrolica", which William Smith states as a possible error of transcription. After the Burgundian invasion in the 5th century, Pontarlier became an unavoidable way of trade from the kingdom of Burgundy to Switzerland, Germany or Lombardy. Until the 17th century it lay on the easiest way to cross Jura mountains. Pontarlier is one of the staging posts from northern France, Britain and the Benelux count ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated on the first western foothills of the Massif Central, Limoges is crossed by the river Vienne (river), Vienne, of which it was originally the first ford crossing point. The second most populated town in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine, New Aquitaine region after Bordeaux, a University of Limoges, university town, an administrative centre and intermediate services with all the facilities of a regional metropolis, it has an urban area of 323,789 inhabitants in 2018. The inhabitants of the city are called the Limougeauds. Founded around 10 BC under the name of Augustoritum, it became an important Gallo-Roman culture, Gallo-Roman city. During the Middle Ages Limoges became a large city, strongly marked by the cultural influence of the Abbey ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Châteauroux
Châteauroux (; ; oc, Chasteurós) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Châteauroux temperatures range from an average January low of to an average August high of . History The old town, close to the river, forms a nucleus around which a newer and more extensive quarter, bordered by boulevards, has grown up; the suburbs of St. Christophe and Déols lie on the right bank of the Indre. The castle from which the city takes its name was built in the latter part of the 10th century by Raoul, prince of Déols. From 920 to 1008, the Norman raids forced the monks of the abbey of Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys, founded in Brittany by Saint Gildas, to bring his relics to the abbey of Saint-Gildas of Châteauroux that they founded under the protection of the prince Ebbes of Déols, father of Raoul. During the Middle Ages it was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles De Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Republic from 1944 to 1946 in order to restore democracy in France. In 1958, he came out of retirement when appointed President of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) by President René Coty. He rewrote the Constitution of France and founded the Fifth Republic after approval by referendum. He was elected President of France later that year, a position to which he was reelected in 1965 and held until his resignation in 1969. Born in Lille, he graduated from Saint-Cyr in 1912. He was a decorated officer of the First World War, wounded several times and later taken prisoner at Verdun. During the interwar period, he advocated mobile armoured divisions. During the German invasion of May 1940, he led an armoured divisio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Free French Forces
__NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, label=none or FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated in the Italian and Tunisian campaigns before landing in France with the allies liberating the country and occupying Germany until it had forced its capitulation in 1945. History The French Liberation Army was created in 1943 when the Army of Africa () led by General Giraud was combined with the Free French Forces of General de Gaulle. The AFL participated in the campaigns of Tunisia and Italy; during the Italian campaign the AFL was known as the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy ( ''en Italie or CEFI)'' making a quarter of the troops deployed. The AFL was key in the liberation of Corsica, the first French metropolitan department to be liberate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dunkirk Evacuation
The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the north of France, between 26 May and 4 June 1940. The operation commenced after large numbers of Belgian, British, and French troops were cut off and surrounded by German troops during the six-week Battle of France. In a speech to the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called this "a colossal military disaster", saying "the whole root and core and brain of the British Army" had been stranded at Dunkirk and seemed about to perish or be captured. In his "We shall fight on the beaches" speech on 4 June, he hailed their rescue as a "miracle of deliverance". After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, France and the British Empire declared war on Germany and imposed an economic blockade. The British Expeditionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
