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The armée secrète was a French military organization active during
World War II 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 ...
. The collective grouped the paramilitary formations of the three most important Gaullist resistance movements in the southern zone.


History

In mid-1942, in the R1 Region, the three major Gaullist movements (
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 ...
, Libération-sud and the Franc-Tireurs) wanted to coordinate the military units at their disposal to make them more effective. Henri Frenay, leader of Combat, claimed command of the new structure, but faced opposition from Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie, leader of Liberation-Sud and , head of the Franc-Tireurs. Jean Moulin insisted that the post should go to someone who with no affiliation to one of these groups, so Frenay proposed Charles Delestraint, a general recalled from his retirement during 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 ...
, who admired General
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 ...
and detested Vichy. He was the only general officer who had been promoted despite that defeat; the proposal was unanimously accepted. Jean Moulin and General Delestraint first met on 28 August 1942 in Lyon. At the end of the interview, Jean Moulin ordered the three regional chiefs of the paramilitary formations of the great movements made available to Delestraint, for him to choose the best suited to the regional direction of the Secret Army. To this position, eminently clandestine and dangerous, the general named Captain Claudius Billon. As early as September, Billon appointed each of the AS departmental heads for R1, with the exception of the AS chief for Ain, named by Delestraint himself. In October, Delestraint was appointed (officially) by General de Gaulle. General de Lattre had also been approached for this post, but had refused. Delestraint took command on 11 November 1942. His secretary was François-Yves Guillin; the head of the 2nd AS office was . André Lassagne was the deputy of Gastaldo, before becoming Delestraint, and the information was entrusted to Albert Lacaze (4th office). Its chief of staff was , from Combat, staff in which is also integrated
Raymond Aubrac Raymond Aubrac (born Samuel, 31 July 1914 – 10 April 2012) was a member of the French Resistance in World War II. A civil engineer by trade, he assisted General Charles Delestraint within the ''Armée secrète''. Aubrac and his wife Lucie Aubr ...
. On 27 November 1942, in
Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or (; ) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, central-eastern France. It is situated just north of Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the co ...
, the constituent meeting of the Southern Zone Coordination Committee was held and the head of the Secret Army was presented by Jean Moulin. This committee intended to unite the three major resistance movements. In December, Delestraint, inexperienced in the constraints of illegal life, crossed the demarcation line to make contact with the major movements in the northern zone: Liberation, the Civil and Military Organization (CMO) National, Libération-Nord. Then, back in the free zone, he took part in the creation of the United Movements of the Resistance (MUR) on 26 January 1943 in Miribel, in Ain. At the beginning of February 1943, , Kommandeur of the Sipo- SD in Vichy, decapitated the Secret Army of the R1 region. On 1 February in Lyon's Place du Pont, he arrested Billon, head of the AS in R1 (eleven departments), along with his deputy Pierre Lavergne. On 3 February, at 31 rue Basse-des-Rives in Saint-Étienne, during a secret meeting of the headquarters of the departmental AS, he also arrested the head of AS Loire, Lieutenant Vidiani, and his companions. On 10 February, in
Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay (, ; , before 1988: ''Le Puy'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Loire Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of south-central France. Located near the rive ...
, they continued to dismantle the AS in R1 with the arrest of the chief of AS in Haute-Loire Alfred Salvatelli and his companions at his home. After the 10 February arrest the Haute-Loire resistance joined region R6 (Auvergne). On 27 May 1943, these three arrests, orchestrated by Geissler, featured prominently at the beginning of the
Ernst Kaltenbrunner Ernst Kaltenbrunner (4 October 1903 – 16 October 1946) was an Austrian high-ranking SS official during the Nazi era, major perpetrator of the Holocaust and convicted war criminal. After the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942, and a ...
's report addressed to
Joachim von Ribbentrop Ulrich Friedrich-Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop (; 30 April 1893 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician and diplomat who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany from 1938 to 1945. ...
, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Reich. Delestraint then fought against the advice of Frenay (who had been provisionally delegated general of the Secret Army) to put the Army under the tutelage of the MUR. Frenay, on the one hand the No. 2 of the Secret Army and on the other a member of the Coordination Committee of the same army, then wished the recall of Delestraint and his own appointment as head of the Secret Army, which were rejected by the other members of the Coordinating Committee, Moulin, d'Astier and Levy. In London in February 1943 to meet Allied authorities, Delestraint was asked to make his troop the "nucleus of the future French army", estimated at 150,000 men. Unfortunately, Francois Morin-Forestier was arrested in March with Raymond Aubrac, Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont and Serge Ravanel of the MUR, and only released in May, thanks to the action of his former co-detainee Raymond Aubrac. His release did not allow his return to the staff: too exposed, he was ex-filtered to London. In April, Delestraint returned to Paris, arriving on 11 April. By the 4 June report, Moulin deplores the risks that Delestraint was taking, working alone when he would do better if assisted. On 9 June 1943 Delestraint, Gastaldo and their deputy Jean-Louis Théobald were arrested in Paris. On 21 June a staff meeting was held to find a successor to Delestraint in
Caluire-et-Cuire Caluire-et-Cuire (; ) is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon in the department of Rhône, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, eastern France. It is the fifth-largest suburb of the city of Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. ...
. Léonard Émile Schwarzfeld, candidate to replace Delestraint, Aubrac, candidate for the leadership in the northern zone, and Lassagne for the southern zone, as well as other leaders of the Resistance such as Moulin, Henri Aubry, René Hardy, and were taken prisoner. In July 1943, Colonel Pierre Dejussieu-Pontcarral was appointed chief of staff of a Secret Army now without an official leader. The Chief of Staff of the Southern Zone was General Jouffrault, until he was also arrested in August 1943. On 1 February 1944 the Gaullist Secret Army merged with the
French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (FFI; ) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as F ...
(FFI), with the Army Resistance Organization (ORA) and the French Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTPF, communists, not to be confused with the Franc-Tireur movement). This structure was mainly found in the southern half of France:
Rhône-Alpes Rhône-Alpes () was an administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it is part of the new region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. It is located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the river Rhône a ...
(R1) and Auvergne (R6), but also
Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...
(R5), South-East and the Southwest (R4). It corresponded to the organizational structure used by Combat. Uniting the regions of the free zone took only a few weeks, the various chiefs being chosen from among the regional chiefs in office. In Region A, the workforce was almost entirely composed of members of the CMO.


Regions


See also

*
Resistance during World War II During World War II, resistance movements operated in German-occupied Europe by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...
* Liberation of France *
Maquis (World War II) The Maquis () were rural guerrilla bands of French and Belgian Resistance fighters, called ''maquisards'', during World War II. Initially, they were composed of young, mostly working-class men who had escaped into the mountains and woods to a ...
* Military history of France during World War II *
Free France Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...
* Organisation de résistance de l'armée *
zone libre The ''zone libre'' (, ''free zone'') was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during World War II, established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940. It lay to the south of the demarcation line and was administered b ...
*
Francs-Tireurs et Partisans The ''Francs-tireurs et partisans français'' (, FTPF), or commonly the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP), was an armed resistance organization created by leaders of the French Communist Party during World War II (1939–45). The communist ...
*
French Forces of the Interior The French Forces of the Interior (FFI; ) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation of these groups to FFI occurred as F ...


References


Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Armee Secrete French Resistance networks and movements 1942 establishments in France