Émile Coulaudon
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Émile Coulaudon (29 December 1907 - 1 June 1977), known as Colonel Gaspard, was one of the principal leaders of the
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
in Auvergne during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.Ordre de la Libération
/ref>


Life prior to the Resistance

Coulaudon was born on 29 December 1907 in
Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...
to a socialist family. His father ran a business that distributed electrical goods for
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
. His brother, Aimé Coulaudon, a lawyer, was elected as a député for the
French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...
in 1936. After military service, Coulaudon became commercial director of the family business, in 1930. In 1939, he was conscripted as a medical
master sergeant A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries. Israel Defense Forces The (abbreviated "", master sergeant) is a non-commissioned officer () rank in the Israel Defense Force ...
. Following the
Battle of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembour ...
, he was imprisoned at Gérardmer on 22 June 1940, and escaped on 8 July. Soon after, with Jean Mazuel, he founded in Clermont-Ferrand and Brioude one of the first Resistance groups in Auvergne.


Resistance

By November 1942, Coulaudon was head of
Combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...
in Puy-de-Dôme. In April 1943, he went into hiding and created the Auvergne 1st Corps Franc, whose command post was situated in the hamlet of Lespinasse, in the commune of Pulvérières. He led this group in numerous acts of sabotage (including Ancizes steel mill, a German transmitter at Royat, a train carrying German troops at Martres de Veyre) and rescued numerous Resistance fighters. His acts also enabled the recovery from Vichyist stores of over 200,000 litres of petrol, 100 tonnes of food and clothing (from the ''Chantiers de la jeunesse française'' youth organisation at Chatelguyon), and 150 vehicles of different kinds, among which was the Hotchkiss belonging to Joseph La Porte du Theil, national chief of ''Chantiers de la jeunesse française''. While looking for the command centre of the ''
Mouvements unis de la Résistance The Communist Party of Belgium (, , abbr. PCB) is a communist party in Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is border ...
'' in Puy-de-Dôme on 11 December 1943, the
Sicherheitsdienst ' (, "Security Service"), full title ' ("Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''"), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the Schutzstaffel, SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence ...
launched an offensive at
Saint Maurice Maurice (also Moritz, Morris, Maurits, or Mauritius; ) was an Egyptians, Egyptian military leader who headed the legendary Theban Legion of Roman Empire, Rome in the 3rd century, and is one of the favourite and most widely venerated saints of tha ...
. Coulaudon, Antoine Llorca ("Laurent") and the main local Resistance members fled, but the next day the Sicherheitsdienst found a briefcase containing important documents, which it had not been possible to dispose of. The next day, at
Billom Billom (; Auvergnat: ''Bilhom'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in central France. Population Notable natives Billom was the birthplace of the philosopher Georges Bataille. It was also the birt ...
, Gaspard and his comrades ("Laurent", Robert "Prince" Huguet, Max "Bénevol" Menut, Camille "Buron" Leclanché), narrowly evaded a search party led by Hugo Geissler, comprising 2,000 soldiers from the 66th Army Reserve Corps. In the following days, Resistance munitions and supplies were seized. On 15 April 1944 at Montluçon, Coulaudon met Maurice Southgate, an SOE agent known as Major Philippe, head of the Hector-Stationer Resistance network. They discussed creating a Resistance hideout in Auvergne. This was based on an idea of the official French army and General Georges Revers, of the
Organisation de résistance de l'armée The ''Organisation de résistance de l'armée'', ''O.R.A.'' (Fr: resistance organisation of the army) was a French paramilitary Resistance during World War II, resistance organisation during the Second World War. It was created on 31 January 194 ...
, of whom Gaspard had a vague awareness. Southgate organised a mission, Operation Benjoin, which involved parachuting in light and medium arms including machine-guns, anti-tank rocket launchers and light artillery. Despite Southgate's arrest in May, the maquis welcomed the participants in an SOE operation codenamed Freelance, Captain John Hind Farmer ("Hubert"), Captain Denis Rake ("Justin") and the Australian Lieutenant Nancy Wake ("Hélène"), then those of Operation Benjoin, led by British major Freddy Cardozo. In spring 1944, Coulaudon became head of the ''Forces françaises de l'intérieur'' in the Clermont region, comprising four ''départements'':
Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.Cantal Cantal (; or ) is a rural Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Aurillac. Its other principal towns are Saint-Flour, Cantal, Saint-Flou ...
and
Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...
. As a member of the Regional Liberation Committee, he took part on 2 May in the General Meeting of the Auverge Resistance, chaired by Henry Ingrand at Boitout farm, a few kilometres from Paulhaguet.Gilles Lévy and Francis Cordet, p. 197. He proposed three hideouts: one at Mont Mouchet, one in the
Truyère The Truyère () is a river in south-western France, right tributary of the Lot (river), Lot. Its source is in the south-western Massif Central, north of Mende, Lozère, Mende. It flows generally west through the following ''département in France ...
valley and one at Le Lioran. The proposal was approved and it was decided to create two
divisions Division may refer to: Mathematics *Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication * Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military *Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...
, one political and one military. Coulaudon was put in charge of the military division, and he set up headquarters at the forest rangers' house at Mont Mouchet, after sending out an order for mobilisation on 20 May. Quickly, in the Auvergne mountains, 10,000 men were assembled under Coulaudon's command at the three hideouts. After repelling an initial attack on 2 June, on 10 June, the 2,700 maquisards at Mont Mouchet were attacked by elements of two German columns from Brioude, Saugues and Saint-Flour, under the command of Kurt Jesser. The resistants fought hard and managed to escape the hideout, and the same happened at La Truyère. After that, they carried out an intensive campaign of ambush and sabotage. The activity of ''Forces françaises de l'intérieur'' in Massif Central, including those in the Auvergne led by Coulaudon, led to the pinning-down of 2,000 German soldiers in the region, who surrendered at Decize,
Nièvre Nièvre () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019.


Post-war

Until 1947, Coulaudon was
Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
deputy mayor of
Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...
, under Gabriel Montpied. After that, he took on the running of the family business and became involved in associations for former members of the Resistance, becoming the founding president of the "Federation of the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance and the Maquis", and founding, in 1969, along with ex-''Forces françaises de l'intérieur'' members in Auverge, the ''Comité d'Union de la Résistance d'Auvergne''. In 1958, he welcomed to Mont Mouchet his comrade in arms Gaston Monnerville, who had become president of the
French Senate The Senate (, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. It is made up of 348 senators (''sénateurs'' and ...
and, on 5 June 1959, he welcomed
Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...
. In 1969, he was interviewed for Marcel Ophuls' film '' The Sorrow and the Pity'', giving his reasons for joining the Resistance and recounting some of his wartime activities. The same year, he was instrumental in the creation of the ''Foire de Clermont-Ferrand'' festival, in Cournon-d'Auvergne. Coulaudon died of a heart attack during a prize-giving ceremony organised by former Resistance members at Clermont-Ferrand on 1 June 1977. He is buried at Pontgibaud, Puy-de-Dôme. Two years after his death, one of the organisations he had helped to found, the ''Comité d'Union de la Résistance d'Auvergne'', opened a Museum of the Resistance adjacent to the site of his wartime headquarters at Mont Mouchet. He is memorialised there with a plaque.


Awards

*
Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...


Filmography

* '' The Sorrow and the Pity''. Dir: Marcel Ophuls, 1969.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulaudon, Emile French Resistance members French Army officers 1907 births 1977 deaths