by Tania Szabô
They talked on for the next twenty minutes, showing Violette the route and each giving their knowledge of places to note as she rode along. Philippe then took her aside and discussed how to approach the woman in Magnac. Violette listened carefully, asked a few well-chosen questions and then stated, ‘I’ve got a small revolver that a Pole gave me in England and I’m going to tuck that away in the back of my belt with a light cardigan over it. On this mission, I do not intend to go anywhere unarmed. If I’m stopped, I should be able to get through with a sweet smile and perhaps a worried look. Does wonders, that does!’
‘All right,’ acquiesced Philippe with a frown. ‘You know what I usually think about arms. However, down here the situation is quite different. I, too, shall be armed at all times. Here we are in danger of attack from ambush and unexpected SS-Das Reich units on patrol. You should leave as soon as we finish here. Go carefully. Don’t rush, and keep your eyes peeled.’
‡
* * *
119 Bal-musette – a local dance with small accordions – akin to a barn dance. ‘Bal-musette is a style of French popular music which arose in 1880s Paris especially the 5th, 11th and 12th districts, where Auvergnats had settled in large numbers in the nineteenth century, opening cafés and bars where patrons danced the bourrée (a French court two-step dance) to the accompaniment of musette (an accordion) and grelottière (a leather strap with tiny bells strapped to the ankles of men and women, as with English Morris men and other groups over Europe.’ (Musée archives, Mémorial de Caen).
120 OS = Organisation spéciale created by the Communist Party in France prior to setting up the FTP.
121 Polytechnicien = one who has graduated from one of the highest and most prestigious French educational establishments – a polytechnic or ‘grande école’ – that have huge prestige.
122 This was not the Raymond Barre who later became prime minister of France from 1976 to 1981.
123 Leo Marks created the worked-out keys printed on silk. After an operator used one key of five characters and sent the message, he or she would immediately tear off the strip.
124 Captain Jack (or Capitaine Jack), alias Nestor, alias Digger, was Jacques Poirier, Violette’s friend and co-student. Colonel Berger was André Malraux, representing de Gaulle to gather assorted political and military groups loyal to de Gaulle in preparation for a peaceful transition to democracy after liberation.
29
Sussac
8 June 1944, SS-Das Reich Panzer Division, Maquis, Tulle, Oradour
‘The political situation at the time of our arrival and departure from the field was the same. The entire region is communist … However, there was no political outburst at all during our stay; only consciousness that France should be freed – before starting politics again.’
From a 1944 report of Jean-Claude Guiet – accurate if one
discounts minor but often heated arguments and
individual hot-headed actions
One of Violette’s tasks on this mission was to travel to and fro between leaders of groups of Maquisards as well as between Philippe, Colonel Charles and Anastasie, carrying messages, wirelesses, money, plans and instructions – the last two being memorised. This was intended to unite the distinct and often adversarial groups while preventing the SS-Das Reich from reaching the battlefields of Normandy. Another of her tasks was to help where necessary in sabotage activities, primarily in disrupting and incapacitating rail and road communications.
In the central zone where the Salesman II team had dropped, three key groups were to be brought together to pledge allegiance to de Gaulle. Since autumn 1940, many groups had been created and merged in the south. At the start of 1944, non-communists in the southern and northern zones regrouped yet again. In the south, they were Combat, Libération and the non-communist Franc-Tireur (FT). These three groups became the Mouvements d’Unité de la Résistance (MUR). In the north, Défense de la France, Lorraine and Voix du Nord fused. It was one of Salesman II’s tasks, with André Malraux, to fuse these groups and the communist groups – such as the FTP – into one national cohesive whole.
The Armée Secrète (AS), divided into four battalions, remained the military wing of the MUR. The AS had been founded and directed by Jean Moulin.125 Moulin, an iconic French Résister, was under direct orders from General Charles de Gaulle as a prime member of de Gaulle’s Comité national français in London to create an administration to organise common services for the disparate movements and networks. This pledge of allegiance was accomplished with the eventual active help of the SOE F Section and de Gaulle’s SOE RF section.
The Résistance was tightening its grip around Brive-la-Gaillarde while Guingouin’s FTP continued its work of disrupting the railways through relentless sabotage activities. These communication networks were also pounded by Allied aircraft diving to drop their bomb loads precisely on railways, depots and yards. Strict instructions were given to avoid hitting the civilian populations at all costs.
It was now imperative, and the major purpose of Salesman II, to create more confusion and cause damage and destruction to enemy forces, further distracting them and causing the SS-Das Reich Panzer Division to slow its progress north. Already, the SS-Das Reich had split its forces so that they were able to detour around heavier concentrations of Maquis. The Germans were finding it decidedly tricky to avoid ambushes and sabotage.
During the war, bombing raids over towns reduced to cinders trillions of French banknotes, not only in businesses and homes but also in bank branches. The Bank of France and the Treasury wrote off these losses simply as ‘notes not presented’, but there were other disappearances reported discreetly as ‘withdrawals’ for the Résistance, the Wehrmacht and the Milice. The Résistance was permanently short of funds and as the Allied invasion arrived, caution was abandoned. An audacious hold-up at the station of Clermont-Ferrand on 6 February 1944 delivered 1 billion francs in 1,000-franc notes and more than 3 million in 20-franc notes in over forty sacks into Résistance hands.
Then there was a train carrying around 50 billion francs. The wagon was derailed, German soldiers killed and the money disappeared. A rogue Maquis group, decidedly communist, had allegedly done the deed. On the other hand, rumour also had it that Anastasie and possibly even Paco126 and the Soleil group had been involved. Whatever group accomplished this act of daring, it did not share the spoils with other groups.
On D-Day, a Bank of France wagon containing almost 3 billion francs in new banknotes from the mint’s printers in Chamalières was coupled to a passenger train in Périgueux and attacked between Périgueux and Bordeaux on the Neuvic stretch. Close accounts of these monies were kept by the Dordogne préfet, the departmental head of the FFI and the treasurer Monsieur Latappy. Many such hold-ups took place.
Throughout the regions of Corrèze and the Haute-Vienne, the many disparate groups of the Maquis fighters were slowly being harnessed into a hard-hitting, well-trained and well-armed force. It was an extremely difficult task as the Résistance – all over France – had instantly grown by thousands after the Normandy landings. Those who had been undecided, the ‘attentistes’ or wait-and-see brigade, suddenly saw an Allied victory and wanted to be part of it – on the winning side.
‡
‘Listen,’ said Philippe, catching the attention of the group bent over the maps. ‘With your groups, Colonel Charles and Roger Magadoux, and Fernand’s OS, we must pull the Maquis movements into a force to be reckoned with, ranging from Châteauroux in the north to Brive in the south – together you must number a good few thousand, I shouldn’t wonder.’
‘Well,’ jumped in Anastasie, ‘tell me what you want to do and where you want to go and I’ll have the car brought round so you can travel just about anywhere you like.’
‘Okay. Just make sure it’s not a car but a truck. Something unobtrusive, please. The first person I want to speak to is Georges Guingouin – I want to do that today. Can you take me?’
‘Sure, but I don’t …
’ started Anastasie.
‘I don’t exactly know where he is,’ butted in Colonel Charles rather too quickly, ‘but I can take you over to various groups who probably know how to get in touch with him. He keeps himself and his men well-hidden.’
Anastasie tried hard to hide his humiliation at not being in the know. He had so much to learn.
‘Thanks, Charles. The sooner I meet him the better. I also want to take a look over his territory,’ Philippe responded. ‘We’ve got to get hold of that chap – imperative!’ He turned to Violette. ‘I think you should come with me later on so you get an idea of the geography and topology here about. There are huge expanses of very hilly wooded land and flat bare terrain. There are, as I understand it, some huge fields on fairly high plateaus suitable for parachute drops of men and equipment. I need to know exactly where they are and what they offer. I also want you to meet as many people as you can before travelling down to Digger the day after tomorrow.’
‘Madame Ribiéras was telling me that somewhere just north of here,’ commented Violette, ‘to the west of Mont Gargan, there’s a farmer who would be happy to have our agents and containers parachuted over his fields. I think it’s where we landed last night. Do you know it, Anastasie?’ She saw his self-esteem had been wounded and, although that was probably a good thing, thought it wouldn’t hurt to mollify him at this point.
Anastasie laughed warily, ‘Yes! It’s exactly where you landed and, as you now know, it’s not very far.’ He stood up, and then announced, ‘I’m off to find Alain and his camionnette. As soon as I’m back, we can be off.’
‘Merci, Anastasie,’ answered Philippe, thinking, he could be a real asset if he curbed that damned enthusiasm and conceit.
Violette and Philippe sat back down with the others and the maps that were laid out in front of them.
‡
‘Claude also needs a safe-house, reasonably high up for good reception and transmission and so that he can be well away from us. It would also be useful if he could be supplied with a bicycle,’ said Philippe to no one in particular.
‘Pas de problème,’ one man replied. ‘He can accompany me when I leave. There’s an ideal place not too far from here and a choice of five or six bicycles. A relative of mine.’
Jean-Claude stood up and moved towards the door onto the yard. ‘I’ll go and sit in the square until you’re ready to leave,’ he said. He turned quietly to Violette, ‘You know, Louise, you said in Cambridge that you were just a little concerned about your French after being back in England. Well, let me tell you. It’s fluent and perfectly normal. There is a slight tonal variation, which under normal conditions would go undetected except for someone on the alert for it.’
Violette smiled. She had wanted someone knowledgeable to endorse her French. It was satisfying to have it corroborated. ‘Actually, I think the “slight tonal variation” is Pas-de-Calais, the area where I grew up and went to school.’
‘Ah yes. That’s it, for sure. In fact, at the moment, it’s more current than mine – and,’ he laughed, ‘you know a damned sight more slang than I do.’
And off he went, with a wave of the hand after pecking Violette on both cheeks and shaking hands with the men in true French fashion.
He preferred to be seen as little as possible and was more than happy with his own company. Naturally a bit of a loner, he was a good judge of character and could spend hours observing people as they moved through the routines of their day. The little village of Sussac was not particularly busy but Jean-Claude, in old farmer’s trousers, disreputable hob-nailed boots and a beret pulled well down over his face, bought the local newspaper and sat on the edge of the market square in a half-hidden corner under a large tree, where he rolled a thin scraggy Gitane, struck a match and puffed the cigarette into life. No one even noticed his presence there. There was not a German in sight but farmers and farmhands from the surrounding countryside came into town. Farmers’ wives also came to town to buy a few extras from the market and Madame Ribiéras’ grocery store, which always seemed to have something interesting in stock, even in these hard times.
Jean-Claude noticed a few gendarmes strolling around. Pétain had about 200 of these country, semi-military police in the area. Anastasie had been one of them before he became a full-time Maquisard. Jean-Claude felt uncomfortable with that young man; he felt he was just too boisterous, too lacking in prudence, a know-all who knew quite a lot but not enough. Jean-Claude felt that Anastasie had not divested himself of his extreme dislike of the pro-communist elements in Sussac that had been instilled in him in the gendarmerie. However, Anastasie had started working for the Maquis long before leaving the military police and had helped out in any way he could from within the gendarmerie, sometimes disposing of police or enemy reports, sometimes handing over to the Maquis identity papers and other documents that could be used. So, even before the mass movement of the area’s gendarmes over to the Maquis, Anastasie had already participated in and led some pretty daring exploits that caused the Germans based in Limoges to the north-west of Sussac to consider him ‘the greatest bandit in the Limoges area’. However, Anastasie had no time for security and the Germans already knew his real name as well as his nom de guerre and he had a sizeable price on his head – dead or alive. The Germans had arrested and questioned the hotel-owning Dufour family in Anastasie’s hometown of Salon-la-Tour, only to discover that they were not related. This merely incited Jacques to further acts of bravado. He could not understand, even after the arrest and interrogation of this family, that his uncontrolled and unconsidered actions could needlessly put other people in great danger and cause considerable misery and fear, if not torture and death.
‡
To the south of Sussac were the Corrèze Maquis and to the east, the Creuse Maquis, while other Maquis groups extended westward across the Dordogne into Cognac country. In addition to French Résistance and Maquis groups of deep country folk, in the Limousin and Périgourd were the Brigardistes, Spanish Republicans who had fought in the Spanish Civil War and were now escaping Franco’s regime. There were also the Polish officers demobilised in 1940 who formed the Réseau F2 (F2 network). Now D-Day had arrived, uniforms of all descriptions abounded. The men resembled – often acting like – a motley crew of pirates, not well-trained guerrilla fighters. Feathers fluttered in hats and berets, jackets sported gold epaulettes while khaki shorts or corduroys with khaki berets at jaunty angles did double duty as farming clothes and Maquis disguise.
From Sussac to Châteauroux some 3,000 Maquis – many still untrained – roamed freely and hid in huge expanses of woodlands. From time to time heavily armed German detachments made raids into the hills and forests; a skirmish would take place – a few men being lost on both sides.
Frustrated in the extreme by the lack of security and discipline that he found on his arrival, Philippe sent in a stinging report to Baker Street:
When I left London I was given to understand that I would find on arrival a very well-organised Maquis, strictly devoid of any political intrigues, which would constitute a very good basis for extending the circuit throughout the area. On arrival, I did find a Maquis, which was roughly 600 strong, plus 200 French gendarmes who joined up on D-Day. But these men were strictly not trained, and were commanded by the most incapable people I have ever met, as was overwhelmingly proved by the fact that none of the D-Day targets had been attended to and that each time it took me several hours of discussions to get one small turn out, either to the railway or the telephone lines.
He is likely referring to Anastasie and Charles Gaumondie. His exasperation is evident.
On receiving arms and explosives, the men had donned their fighting clothes, put rifle to shoulder and hung cartridges, explosives and grenades from their belts to rush off with no discipline or training, provoking the enemy into battle. Consequently, they suffered heavy casualties. They had no campaign plan but went on wild quests, only to flounder and reap terrible reprisals on their families and neighbo
urs. Bob Maloubier as assistant instructor had his work cut out for him.
Had Philippe been able to start from scratch, as he had in Rouen, he might have succeeded in mounting a controlled, disciplined and well-trained number of Maquis cells – each separate from, and unknown to, the other. However, these bands of Résistants were disorganised and frequently rejected instruction – and, he thought angrily, under the leadership of a man he presumed to be the remote figure of Châteauroux, Georges Guingouin. Rivalry between civil and military Résistants or between FTP and Secret Army heightened London’s distrust, fearing spontaneous uprisings.
In his later report, Philippe explains:
The Chief of the Maquis … a man who calls himself Colonel Charles, was by trade a saxophonist in a Bal Musette; a soldier of the second class with no war experience. He had been for Hector, Samuel and Anastasie (the leaders of the separate sections) their only contact with the neighbouring Maquis, which none of these leaders had ever really visited, relying on Charles for their information.
‡
The main road to Normandy, the N20, ran from Toulouse through Limoges, which the Germans had made their regional stronghold. They had taken over the town’s prison and set up a Gestapo headquarters a kilometre or so from it in the Impasse Tivoli.127 The Wehrmacht headquarters and barracks for the soldiers spread across the town. To hear of someone being taken to ‘La Tivoli’, or to be taken there oneself, was to instil fear and loathing.
Since 27 April 1944, the SS-Das Reich Panzer Division had been stationed in and around the town of Montauban, between Toulouse and Limoges. The battle group consisted of 2,500 men commanded by Heinz Lammerding. Many of them had fought on the steppes of Russia, where they had committed innumerable atrocities on the Russian army and people. On 3 February 1944, the Sperrle Orders had been issued to SS-Das Reich Panzer Division, ordering harsh reprisals for terrorist attacks and tasking officers to place the welfare of their men ahead of that of the civilian population.