André Girard (born 22 April 1909 in

Cahors Cahors (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Region. The capital and main city of t ...

, died 4 June 1993 in La Mulatière, near

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

) was a French civil servant and Resistance worker with the ALLIANCE network.

Life

Pre-war

André Girard worked for the ''Société d'exploitation industrielle des tabacs et des allumettes'' in France from 1929 onwards.

French Resistance

He was captured at the

Battle of Dunkirk The Battle of Dunkirk () was fought around the French Third Republic, French port of Dunkirk, Dunkirk (Dunkerque) during the Second World War, between the Allies of World War II, Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle ...

in 1940, but escaped from Germany in 1941 to

Brive-la-Gaillarde Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the aggl ...

and soon joined 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 ...

. Under the pseudonym "Pointer", André Girard was the regional head of the Alliance or "Arche de Noé" resistance network in occupied France from 1940 to 1945, the only network whose supreme commander was a woman, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade (Alias "Hérisson"). This network was notable for giving almost all of its three thousand agents codenames based on animals :

Bleu d'Auvergne Bleu d'Auvergne () is a French blue cheese, named for its place of origin in the Auvergne (province), Auvergne region of south-central France. It is made from cow's milk, and is one of the cheeses granted the Appellation d'origine contrôlée fr ...

, Setter, Labrador, Bichon, Abeille, Aigle... Divided up by region, the network's central command was "Hôpital" (centre-west sector), which André Girard led from 1943 to September 1944. In 1944, his sector numbered 185 main agents across 16 départements, from south of the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

to north of the

Garonne The Garonne ( , ; Catalan language, Catalan, Basque language, Basque and , ; or ) is a river that flows in southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux � ...

, a sector particularly marked by the

Tulle Tulle (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in central France. It is the third-largest town in the former region of Limousin and is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Corrèze, in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle- ...

and Oradour-sur-Glane massacres. Its agents were from diverse social backgrounds – the mayor of

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

and colonel in the reserve Léonce Vieljeux, the student Roland Creel, the vicar of Tulle cathedral Charles Lair, the usselois doctor Jean Sirieix, the

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

commissioner Henry Castaing, the briviste businessman Pierre Bordes, the secretary-general to the council of

Guéret Guéret (; Occitan: ''Garait'') is a commune and the prefecture of the Creuse department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in central France. Geography Guéret is a light industrial town, the largest in the department, with a big woodland a ...

Roland Deroubaix, the creusois lawyer René Nouguès or the electrician Vincent Renaud, as well as civil servants, peasants, surgeons, railway workers, architects, and ushers. On 30 June 1945, charged with a mission of the utmost importance for the ''Direction générale des études et recherches'' and promoted to captain, he was demobbed at his own request. Returning to his pre-war job, André Girard was transferred to the tobacco factory at Riom before becoming administrative director and inspector of the tobacco factory at

until his retirement. He also succeeded Jacques Soustelle on the municipal council of

in 1962 under Louis Pradel. He was for several years the national treasurer of the Old Comrades association for the ALLIANCE network. He published his war memoirs in 1965 with

éditions France-Empire France-Empire is an independent French publishing house, created in 1945 by advocate and politician . History In 1945, at the end of the World War II, Second World War, Éditions France-Empire began publishing works about the war years 1939-194 ...

under the title "Le temps de la méprise". He is buried in the cemetery at Saint-Sauves d'Auvergne.

Medals

* Officier de la Légion d'honneur *

Croix de guerre 1939–1945 Croix (French for "cross") may refer to: Belgium * Croix-lez-Rouveroy, a village in municipality of Estinnes in the province of Hainaut France * Croix, Nord, in the Nord department * Croix, Territoire de Belfort, in the Territoire de Belfort d ...

, 2 citations * Médaille de la Résistance * Médaille des évadés * Croix du combattant volontaire * Croix du combattant volontaire de la Résistance * Insigne des blessés militaires * Croix du combattant de l'Europe * Croix d'honneur du mérite Franco-britannique * King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom (UK)

Sources

* ''Le temps de la méprise'', by André Girard, éditions France-Empire, 1965 * ''L'arche de noé'', by Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, éditions

Fayard Fayard (complete name: ''Librairie Arthème Fayard'') is a French Paris-based publishing house established in 1857. Fayard is controlled by Hachette Livre. In 1999, Éditions Pauvert became part of Fayard. Claude Durand was director of Fayar ...

, 1968 * ''Les SS en Limousin, Quercy et Périgord'', by Georges Beau and Léopold Gaubusseau, éditions des Presses de la Cité, 1969 * '' Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, un chef de la Résistance'', by Michèle Cointet, éditions Perrin, 2006 * ''Centre national d'études de la Résistance et de la Déportation Edmond Michelet'', 4 rue Champanatier, 19100

External links

Site
on André Girard and the Alliance network {{DEFAULTSORT:Girard, Andre 1909 births 1993 deaths People from Cahors French Resistance members Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Officers of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Resistance Medal Recipients of the King's Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom French prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany French escapees Escapees from German detention French Army personnel of World War II