Paris '44: The City of Light Redeemed

by Mortimer Moore, William

  Published in Great Britain and

  the United States of America in 2015 by

  CASEMATE PUBLISHERS

  10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW, UK

  and

  1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083, USA

  © William Mortimer-Moore 2015

  Hardcover Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-343-6

  Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-61200-344-3

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

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  For My Mother

  Contents

  Preface: A Mission of National Importance

  Acronyms

  Dramatis Personae of Key Characters

  Maps

  1 De Gaulle, the French, and the Occupation, 1940–1944

  2 D-Day—“It’s Happened!”

  3 The 2e DB Lands in France

  4 Laval, Taittinger and Nordling

  5 Marianne Rises, 18–21 August

  6 Rol-Tanguy Takes the Initiative

  7 Paris Saved, 22–25 August

  8 The Man of 18 June Arrives

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  Source Notes

  Select Bibliography

  Preface

  A Mission of National Importance

  GENERAL LECLERC HAD BEEN FOND OF PARTRIDGE SHOOTING since his boyhood in Picardy, and gladly pursued this sport again during off-duty hours in French Morocco during late 1943. His chief of staff, Colonel Jacques de Guillebon, or his young ADC, Lieutenant Christian Girard, usually accompanied him on these outings. Both men, like himself, had followed General de Gaulle and the small but splendid flag of “Free France” since the country fell to the Germans in June 1940. But on that first Sunday of December Leclerc was accompanied by Captain Alain de Boissieu.

  While Leclerc had been in Africa since de Gaulle gave him his first mission in August 1940, Boissieu’s route to the “Free French”, as de Gaulle’s followers were known, was more tortuous. Captured in 1940 following one of the last French cavalry charges, Boissieu was among a select group of officers who escaped from Germany to the Soviet Union only to be re-imprisoned. But when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941, Sir Stafford Cripps, Great Britain’s ambassador to Moscow, negotiated their release.

  De Gaulle always favoured men who made strenuous efforts to join him, and from this group, known as “Russians”, he selected Boissieu and Captain Pierre Billotte for his staff. Though Boissieu repeatedly begged to join Leclerc, de Gaulle prefered using him as a roving envoy to French colonies turning to Free France for leadership rather than Marshal Pétain’s collaborationist government in Vichy. In late 1943, de Gaulle finally allowed Boissieu to join La Colonne Leclerc when its successful conquest of southern Libya was finished and Leclerc was forming a new armoured division around his original force.

  But Leclerc was anxious, needing to know what he was aiming at. Which of the French Army’s new American-equipped armoured divisions would go to England and join in the invasion of Europe? What could he tell his men? When would he finally receive all the equipment he had been promised? Only General de Gaulle could tell him and, knowing that de Gaulle liked the dark, studious-looking Boissieu, he was the obvious envoy to send. There were even inklings of romance between Boissieu and de Gaulle’s pretty daughter Elizabeth.

  While spaniels gathered fallen partridges, Leclerc briefed Boissieu. Uppermost in Leclerc’s thoughts was that during September the Allies had informally agreed that a French division should join in the forthcoming invasion of northern France and “assure the liberation of Paris”.1

  On 6 December Boissieu boarded a Dakota transport aircraft for Algiers. Usually dour-faced, de Gaulle greeted Boissieu with a slight smile before reading Leclerc’s letter. “You tell Leclerc that I attach great importance to what happens to his division which, if it becomes necessary, will have to take the artillery it is still lacking from another large unit,” said de Gaulle firmly. “As for the Tank Destroyer regiment, maybe he will have to choose one from among those already formed. Your division, I very much hope, will be put at the disposal of the Allied command in Europe, but make it clear to Leclerc that if it happens that I need him for a mission of national importance then in such a case he must obey my instructions only. The situation among the Allies is not good, anything could happen. American politicians manoeuvre against me; in particular Roosevelt wants to impose AMGOT* in France, along with currency printed by the American treasury. All this is intolerable and at the first opportunity I will return to France with or without the Allies’ consent. You mustn’t speak of this except with Leclerc who must keep it secret even from his closest associates. If the Allies knew any of this they would invent the slightest pretext not to take the 2e DB* to England. I will have to see Eisenhower on 24 December when everything will be decided. There is a difference between Roosevelt, who understands nothing of French affairs and who moreover doesn’t like France—of which I am certain—and Eisenhower, who understands our political problems. In any case the conduct of French troops under General Juin has shown him what we can do. As regards the necessary, it is understood, we must try to find the self-propelled guns and three artillery regiments that you’re lacking, but tell Leclerc not to worry himself unduly. If I can obtain the transport for one division it will be his that goes to Great Britain.”2

  De Gaulle wrote the gist of this as a handwritten note and passed it to Boissieu. But when Boissieu turned towards the secretary’s door, de Gaulle shouted, “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “To Madame Aubert to get it typed up,” replied Boissieu.

  “I don’t want a record of this,” said de Gaulle. “If the Americans know that I intend to use the 2e DB to re-establish the French state in Paris, they won’t transport you. Leclerc must keep this to himself.”3

  Boissieu stayed in Algiers to chase up the balance of the 2e DB’s artillery, which had erroneously been sent to Anzio, even though equipment allocated to the French rearmament programme was marked with long Tricolore stripes before leaving the USA. But, when Boissieu returned to the 2e DB’s HQ in Morocco, Leclerc grinned broadly at de Gaulle’s note. Now Leclerc wanted Boissieu to visit de Gaulle again, before the meeting with Eisenhower planned for 24 December.

  De Gaulle received Boissieu at Les Glycines on 15 December. Leclerc’s second letter assured Free France’s leader that the 2e DB would do what he expected, but they could not embark for England without the promised equipment and missing artillery regiments. Recognising how much Leclerc wanted this plum mission, de Gaulle smiled and explained to Boissieu that while he wanted the 2e DB to liberate Paris, this goal was only notional to les Anglo-Saxons. Then, taking a piece of writing paper from his desk, de Gaulle wrote that he appointed General Leclerc “interim military governor” of Paris, while saying that the appointment was “interim” because General Koeni
g* would take over after the liberation. While Madame Aubert typed it up, de Gaulle insisted to Boissieu that this document was for Leclerc’s eyes only.4

  Immediately afterwards Boissieu telephoned General Leclerc, “Everything is going for the best.” Back in Temara, Boissieu suffered a serious malarial attack and was hospitalised in Rabat.5

  On 30 December 1943, General de Gaulle welcomed the Allied Supreme Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, to Les Glycines to discuss the progress of the US-sponsored French rearmament programme. De Gaulle also obtained Eisenhower’s verbal confirmation that Leclerc’s division would join in “the northern operation” while General de Lattre de Tassigny’s French First Army prepared for landings in Provence. In closing, de Gaulle asked Eisenhower to promise that the Allies would not enter Paris without French troops. Eisenhower replied, “You may be sure that I have no notion of entering Paris without your troops. People have given me the reputation of being abrupt. I have the feeling that you informed your opinion of me without having made enough allowance for the problems I was confronted with in performing my mission with regard to my government. At that time it seemed to me that you did not want to put your full weight behind me. As a government you had your own very difficult problems. But it seemed to me that the carrying out of operations had absolute priority. (At present) I admit that I was unjust to you and I had to tell you so.”

  De Gaulle always regarded the French language as part of France’s identity, always to be kept in the forefront. On this occasion he relented. “You are a man,” he told Eisenhower in English, before assuring him that France would give him every assistance; especially “when confronted with the question of Paris in the field of action”.

  “I am prepared,” continued Eisenhower, “to make a declaration stating the confidence I have derived from our contacts, acknowledging my injustice with regard to you, and adding that you have said that you are ready to help me in my mission. For the forthcoming French campaign I shall need your support, the assistance of your civil servants, and the backing of French public opinion. I do not yet know what theoretical position my government will require me to adopt in my relations with you. But apart from principles there are facts. I must tell you that, as far as facts are concerned I shall acknowledge no other authority in France other than yours.”6

  Eisenhower knew that President Roosevelt saw de Gaulle as something between a twentieth-century Joan of Arc and an unelected Franco-style dictator. Any undertakings given to de Gaulle regarding Paris were subject to whatever realities prevailed once the Allies landed in France. The US high command regarded the re-equipped French forces training in French North Africa, Leclerc’s division included, as under their operational control, to be used as they saw fit. Every bullet the 2e DB fired on the training ranges was manufactured in the USA. But to keep France’s end up, de Gaulle, in the name of the Committee for National Liberation, mentioned that if the Allies’ use of French units did not “correspond to the national interest, our armies and our freedom of action”, those units might be withdrawn. While Eisenhower’s priorities were practical and military, de Gaulle’s hopes of re-establishing the French state depended on Leclerc entering Paris as its Liberator.

  * AMGOT = Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories, an organisation for recreating basic government functions once any part of a Nazi-occupied country was liberated.

  * Deuxième Division Blindée, Leclerc’s famous Second Armoured Division, always called the Deuxième DB in French.

  * General Koenig commanded the First Free French Brigade whose stand at Bir Hakeim on the southern end of the Gazala Line in June 1942 was the first major action the French had fought against the Germans since the fall of France in 1940.

  Acronyms

  2e DB = Deuxième Divison Blindee. French Second Armoured Division.

  AMGOT = Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories.

  CFLN = Comité Français de Libération National. The French National Liberation Committee which, under de Gaulle’s leadership, evolved into a government in exile.

  CGT = Confédération générale du travail. A French trade union.

  CNR = Conseil National de la Résistance. The National Council of the Resistance created in 1943, of which Jean Moulin was the first president. Many of its members were involved in de Gaulle’s preparations to reinstate the French Republic.

  COMAC = Comité Militaire d’Action. – Military action committee consisting of three men, the three ‘Vs,’ who had the authority to order military operations to the resistance in France.

  COSSAC = Chief of Staff Supreme Allied Commander and those under his authority.

  CP = Command Post.

  CPL = Comité Parisien de Libération. Paris Liberation Committee created in 1943 in parallel with other resistance committees; its role was preparation during the period before the insurrection but not actual fighting. Their role included the identification of collabos, hence the interrogators of Sacha Guitry in Cartier-Bresson’s photograph are wearing CPL arm bands.

  ERR = Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg. A German art theft bureau.

  FFI = Forces Françaises de l’Intérieure. French Forces of the Interior or, in other words, the Resistance, including all its factions, under the nominal leadership of General Marie-Pierre Koenig.

  FTP = Franc-Tireurs et Partisans. The most disciplined and committed of the Communist inspired resistance groups, from which men like Henri Rol-Tanguy emerged.

  GPRF = Gouvernement Provisoire de la République Française. – De Gaulle’s provisional government which emerged from the CFLN.

  GT = Groupement Tactique. Battle group.

  LST = Landing Ship Tank.

  LVF = Légion des Volontaires Français. French soldiers fighting voluntarily for the Wehrmacht in Russia.

  OKW = Oberkommando der Wehrmacht. The German High Command.

  OSS = Office of Strategic Services. US intelligence agency.

  P1 = Resistance code for the Paris area.

  PPF = Parti Populaire Français. French fascist party led by Jacques Doriot.

  RBFM = Régiment Blindée des Fusiliers Marins. Leclerc’s anti-tank regiment recruited from naval personnel.

  RCA = Régiment des Chasseurs d’Afrique. A colonial hussar-style cavalry regiment.

  RCC = Régiment des Chars de Combat. Tank regiment.

  RMSM = Régiment de Marche de Spahis Marocains. Leclerc’s reconnaissance regiment.

  RMT = Régiment de Marche du Tchad. The Chad Regiment.

  SD = Sicherheitsdienst. German security service within the SS.

  SHAEF = Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.

  SIPO = Sicherheitspolizei. Nazi security police.

  STO = Service de Travail Obligatoire. German war work imposed on French populace.

  TD = Tank Destroyer. A long-range 76mm anti-tank gun mounted in a light, fully turning turret on a Sherman hull.

  Dramatis Personae of Key Characters

  The “2e DB” (Deuxième Division Blindée—French Second Armoured Division)

  Colonel Pierre Billotte—ADC to General de Gaulle from 1942 until 1944. When Leclerc needed a third battle group commander in July 1944, de Gaulle sent Billotte to replace Marcel Malaguti. Billotte later became a general and distinguished postwar politician.

  Captain Alain de Boissieu—Acted as de Gaulle’s roving emissary before joining Leclerc in 1943. By 1944 Boissieu was head of the 2e DB’s HQ protection squadron.

  Captain Jacques Branet—An experienced cavalry officer captured in 1940 who escaped to join de Gaulle. He trained an armoured squadron in England and later led the assault on the Hotel Meurice.

  Colonel Louis Dio—One of Leclerc’s old-timers from Chad who became a 2e DB battle group commander.

  Captain Raymond Dronne—Journalist, lawyer, author and post-war politician. Also one of Leclerc’s most experienced infantry officers from the Chad era, appointed to command the Chad Regiment’s 9th Company, La Nueve, composed almost entirel
y of Spanish Republicans.

  Lieutenant Philippe de Gaulle—Naval officer and son of General Charles de Gaulle, Philippe transferred to Raymond Maggiar’s Régiment Blindée des Fusiliers Marins (the 2e DB’s anti-tank regiment) shortly after D-Day.

  Lieutenant Christian Girard—Pre-war trainee diplomat from Paris. Leclerc’s urbane and well-mannered ADC.

  Commandant (Major) André Gribius—Also from Paris, Gribius joined the 2e DB as part of Langlade’s 12e Chasseurs d’Afrique regiment, quickly becoming Leclerc’s G3, head of operations planning.

  Colonel Jacques de Guillebon—Another of Leclerc’s old-timers from Chad days, subsequently the 2e DB’s chief of staff.

  Commandant (Major) Jean Fanneau de la Horie—Saint-Cyr classmate and old friend of Leclerc who remained loyal to Vichy until 1942. Leclerc claimed la Horie from du Vigier’s 1e DB when forming his division. La Horie played a major role on Liberation Day.

  Colonel Paul de Langlade—Loyal to Vichy until after Operation Torch. When Leclerc formed his division, Langlade brought in his 12e Chasseurs d’Afrique, comprising enough men for two armoured regiments on the US model. He subsequently became one of the 2e DB’s three battle group commanders.

  Major-General (général de division) Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque—A high flyer throughout his early military career, as soon as Leclerc presented himself to de Gaulle in July 1940 he was given important tasks in the Free French interest, culminating in command of the 2e DB.

  Colonel Jacques Massu—Former camel soldier of La Coloniale and Free French old-timer from Chad, Massu commanded the Chad Regiment’s second battalion. Subsequently a post-war paratroop general.

  Colonel Paul Repiton-Préneuf—A pre-war oil executive who became the 2e DB’s head of intelligence.

  Colonel Joseph Putz—An experienced French officer with left-wing leanings who fought in the Spanish Civil War. He commanded the Chad Regiment’s third battalion and was Dronne’s immediate superior.