Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves (, 3 June 1901 – 29 August 1941) was a
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
officer and one of the major heroes of the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
, said to be the "first martyr of
Free France
Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
".
Early life
He was born in
Verrières-le-Buisson
Verrières-le-Buisson () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is from the centre of Paris, in the Essonne department just outside the inner ring of the Île-de-France.
The commune borders the river Bièvre.
History
T ...
(now in the
Essonne
Essonne () is a department of France in the southern Île-de-France region. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659 across 194 communes.department). Educated in a conservative
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
family, he was a remote cousin of writers
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...
André Malraux
Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and Minister of Culture (France), minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Go ...
. Estienne d'Orves spent the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
as a high school student at the prestigious
Lycée Louis-le-Grand
The Lycée Louis-le-Grand (), also referred to simply as Louis-le-Grand or by its acronym LLG, is a public Lycée (French secondary school, also known as sixth form college) located on rue Saint-Jacques in central Paris. It was founded in the ...
and the
Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague
The Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague (Franklin), founded in 1894, is a highly selective Roman Catholic, Jesuit school in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It is regarded as the most prestigious French private school and has been ranked #1 lycée in ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
, and entered the
École Polytechnique
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in 1921. He joined the ''
École Navale
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
'', (French Naval Academy), two years later, becoming an '' enseigne de vaisseau de 2e classe'' in October 1923 and joining the school ship ''Jeanne d'Arc''. He was then an officer on the battleship ''
Provence
Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...
'', and several other vessels. In 1929, he married Éliane de Lorgeril, with whom he had five children.
In 1930, he was promoted to ''lieutenant de vaisseau'', and was made a ''chevalier de la Légion d'honneur'' in 1935. In December 1936, he joined the Naval War School for one year. When
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
broke out in 1939, he was serving aboard the ''Jaguar'', as under-chief of the headquarters of the 2nd flotilla of torpedo boats in
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
. In December 1939, he was an aide to Admiral Godfroy in the Headquarters of the "Force X" aboard cruiser '' Duquesne''
On 25 June 1940, the day the
Armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
was signed, he was in
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...
. Politically, d'Estienne d'Orves belonged to the
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...
, and had sympathies for
Charles Maurras
Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-parl ...
and Catholic
monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...
; nonetheless, while many far-right wing theoricists welcomed the arrival of Marshal
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...
, the strongly patriotic d'Estienne d'Orves was unwilling to accept France's defeat. He attempted to join General
Paul Legentilhomme
Paul Louis Legentilhomme (March 26, 1884 – May 23, 1975) was an officer in the French Army during World War I and World War II. After the fall of France in 1940, he joined the forces of the Free French. Legentilhomme was a recipient of the ...
, commander of French troops on the coast of
French Somaliland
French Somaliland (french: Côte française des Somalis, lit= French Coast of the Somalis so, Xeebta Soomaaliyeed ee Faransiiska) was a French colony in the Horn of Africa. It existed between 1884 and 1967, at which time it became the French Te ...
, who had announced his intention to refuse the armistice, but the colony had chosen to rally itself to the Vichy régime. D'Estienne d'Orves then gathered a group of volunteer sailors and officers, took the ''nom de guerre'' "Châteauvieux" (name of one of his ancestors) and came into relations with the
Free France
Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
authorities. He set sail on a cargo ship from
Aden
Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 peopl ...
to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, sailing around Africa for two months, and rejoined General
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 Governm ...
in London on 27 September 1940.
He met with Admiral
Émile Muselier
Émile Henry Muselier (Marseilles, 17 April 1882 – Toulon, 2 September 1965) was a French admiral who led the Free French Naval Forces ('' Forces navales françaises libres'', or FNFL) during World War II. He was responsible for the idea ...
, but was unable to obtain a command at sea. Promoted to ''Capitaine de corvette'' (lieutenant commander) on 1 October 1940, he joined the Second Office of the Free French Naval Forces and requested to be sent to occupied France. After having convinced General de Gaulle, he received the mission to organise an intelligence network in western France, codenamed ''Nemrod'', which had been created in September 1940 by Maurice Barlier and Jan Doornik, but lacked coordination and development. He was officially assigned to this task on 15 December 1940.
Role in Occupied France
D'Estienne d'Orves was codenamed "Jean-Pierre Girard". On 21 December 1940, he set sail from Newlyn to Plogoff in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
on a fishing boat, the ''Marie-Louise'', along with his 20-year-old radio operator Alfred Gaessler, a German-speaking Alsatian, codenamed Georges Marty. They arrived at the
Pointe du Raz
The Pointe du Raz is a promontory that extends into the Atlantic from western Brittany, in France. The local Breton name is ''Beg ar Raz''. It is the western point of the ''commune'' of Plogoff, Finistère.
It is named after the ''Raz de Sein' ...
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, at the house of M. and Mme Clément, and made several trips to Paris and in Brittany, with the notable assistance of Maurice Barlier. He set up the basic organisation of the spying web, and was able to transmit significant information about German forces (coastal defences, submarines, aerodromes and refueling point near Nantes).
From 6 January to 19 January 1941, he was in Paris to set up a second network, meeting with
Max André
Max or MAX may refer to:
Animals
* Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog
* Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE)
* Max (gorilla) ...
, Jan Doornik and numerous other members of the French Resistance. Back in Nantes on 20 January, he came back to the Cléments who reported to him suspicious activities by the radio operator Gaessler, seen hanging around in bars and talking with German soldiers. When interrogated, Gaessler said that this was a good way to gather information. D'Estienne d'Orves decided to lay down Marty at the next trip to London but, two days later, the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
stormed the house and arrested him. After a brief resistance, a wounded and handcuffed d'Estienne d'Orves was brought to
Angers
Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
, along with his companions.
Marty's treason allowed the Nazis to also arrest Barlier, Doornik and most of the network, totaling 26 persons. The small intelligence network created by Max André, however, was untouched, and continued its operations until the
Liberation of Paris
The liberation of Paris (french: Libération de Paris) was a military battle that took place during World War II from 19 August 1944 until the German garrison surrendered the French capital on 25 August 1944. Paris had been occupied by Nazi Ger ...
in August 1944. For several weeks, Gaessler sent false information to London and allowed the Nazis to arrest several other agents. He was evacuated by the Nazis to
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, and disappeared in 1945.
Trial and death
On 24 January, the prisoners were sent to Berlin, then brought back to Paris, to the
Cherche-Midi Prison
The Cherche-Midi prison was a French military prison located in Paris, France. It housed military prisoners between 1851 and 1947.
Construction on the prison began in 1847, when the former convent of the Daughters of the Good Shepherd was demolis ...
. D'Estienne d'Orves was treated especially harshly, yet managed to cheer up his fellow prisoners; the moral strength which he would find in his faith would later be testified to by German chaplain Franz Stock.
His trial began on 13 May. D'Estienne d'Orves claimed full responsibility of the network, defending his fellow prisoners. On the 23rd, a German court martial sentenced him to death, along with eight of his companions, and transferred them to the
Fresnes Prison
Fresnes Prison (''French Centre pénitentiaire de Fresnes'') is the second largest prison in France, located in the town of Fresnes, Val-de-Marne, south of Paris. It comprises a large men's prison (''maison d'arrêt'') of about 1200 cells, a small ...
.
Acknowledging their patriotism, the court martial filed a request for grace immediately, and German legal advisor Keyser took it upon himself to make the trip to Berlin and request a grace for the prisoners from Hitler himself. However, the invasion of USSR by the Third Reich, on 22 June 1941, forced the French Communists to join the Resistance and greatly increased the attacks against German forces, inducing a harshening of the repression. Hence, on 28 August, the execution order was given for d'Estienne d'Orves, Barlier and Doornik. The three condemned were granted to spend their last night together, and to be shot standing and without a blindfold. They were blessed by Chaplain Franz Stock.
D'Estienne d'Orves had an interview with president Keyser, the German military judge who had sentenced him to death, where he said: "Sir, you are a German officer. I am a French officer. We both did our duty. Please allow me to embrace you".
The execution took place on 29 August 1941 at dawn at the Fort du Mont Valérien. Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves was buried in Verrières-le-Buisson.
A German poster advertised their deaths. A number of people joined the Resistance as a consequence of this execution.
The ''Capitaine de corvette'' d'Estienne d'Orves was later posthumously promoted to '' Capitaine de frégate'' (Commander) and made a ''
Compagnon de la Libération
The Order of Liberation (french: Ordre de la Libération) is a French Order which was awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is a very high honour, second only after the ''Légion d’Honneur'' (Legion of Honour) ...
'' ("Fellow of the Liberation").
Honours and awards
* ''Chevalier de la
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
''
* ''
Compagnon de la Libération
The Order of Liberation (french: Ordre de la Libération) is a French Order which was awarded to heroes of the Liberation of France during World War II. It is a very high honour, second only after the ''Légion d’Honneur'' (Legion of Honour) ...
'' by decree of 30 October 1944
* Officer of ''Ouissam Alaouite''
* Officer of the Romanian ''Pour la couronne'' order
* Officer of the Bulgarian Military Merit
* Knight of the Chinese order of the Precious Brilliant Golden Grain
* Two ships of the French Navy have been named in his honour:
** A , launched in 1942, and which fought in the French Naval Forces:
** The lead ship of the A69 type aviso F781 ''D'Estienne d'Orves''
* A square in the
9th arrondissement of Paris
The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France.
In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as the neuvième (; "ninth").
The arrondissement, called Opéra, is loc ...
, ''Place d’Estienne d'Orves'', is named after him, which in turn gives his name to a station of the Paris Métro Line 12,: ''Trinité-d'Estienne d'Orves''
* A high-school in
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...
is named after him: ''Lycée Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves'' as well as an adjacent 15-hectare park.
* The
Scouts et Guides de France
Scouts et Guides de France (''Scouts and Guides of France'', SGdF) is the largest Scouting and Guiding association in France. It was formed on 1 September 2004 from the merger of two Roman Catholic Scouting organizations: the Guides de France (fo ...
Sea Scout group of
Vannes
Vannes (; br, Gwened) is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago.
History Celtic Era
The name ''Vannes'' comes from the Veneti, a seafaring Celtic people who live ...
(
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...