Young, Brave and Beautiful

by Tania Szabô

  The Panzer Grenadier regiment was mostly equipped with trucks and halftracks. Germany was not able to keep up the production of tanks to supply all the Panzer divisions, but this SS-Das Reich had a full complement of men and armoured vehicles, including tanks. It had begun to move on 8 June 1944, starting along the N20 and then deploying its advance units along the D902 at the same time that Violette and her team were planning their next moves. Philippe knew time was short.

  Some elements of SS-Das Reich that were not yet fully mobile remained near Bordeaux at Montauban, but the main body of the Division then set out north from its assembly area at 08:00 hours on 8 June. It planned to reach its destination of the Tulle–Limoges area that evening. The distance between Tulle and Limoges is about forty-five miles or so. The troops divided and travelled along several routes, spreading their lines far behind them. The SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 4 ‘Der Führer’, made up of four battalions, was ordered by Sylvester Stadler to take the lead of the vanguard.

  Hitting hard over the next months, the Allies unleashed hundreds of tons of bombs in air raids all over France, damaging, even obliterating, rail and road communications used by the German military, destroying railway stations before the enemy could utilise them to amass their forces. Bridges were bombed, major radio and telecommunication centres used by the Germans were attacked and concentrations of enemy vehicles were shot up.

  The side effect of this was extremely painful and endlessly sad for the French in the loss and wounding of thousands of French civilians and the destruction of their fine towns and villages. For the Allies, it was akin to going in to destroy a virulent cancer with massive bombardments of radiotherapy, destroying much that was good along with the incurably bad.

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  As de Gaulle put it from Radio London to his people on 4 June, ‘For the sons of France … the simple and sacred duty is to fight the enemy by any means available.’ That is exactly what the French did – valiantly and for as long as was necessary – as did the Allies.

  The Germans had nicknamed Region 5, where Salesman II was operating, petit Russie or ‘little Russia’ as it was heavily suffused with communist beliefs, dogma and training. Marcel Godefroy (Rivière), a dedicated fundamentalist communist, was the commandant of the FTPF for this region. Georges Guingouin, communist in training but independent in thought, was decidedly disillusioned with his communist comrades and their constant meddling in his plans. He found it particularly unacceptable to put the civil population at risk and was quietly making overtures to the FFI, the Gaullists, and even London, along with politically more moderate groups, eventually and especially, the Salesman II circuit led by Philippe.

  From D-Day the entire region was in revolt. An entire series of military operations was implemented, greatly supported by Allied drops of armaments and agents.

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  SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment Der Führer began its ponderous approach to Brive, between Cahors and Limoges, along the N20. A reconnaissance group detached itself from the Brive column, deviating towards Tulle, where the Maquis had been only too successful in creating havoc amongst the enemy troops.

  Among seven of SS-Das Reich Panzer Division submissions, General Lammerding’s submission number 6 to his superiors, accepted and passed to his troops, translated reads:

  To let it be known that for every German wounded, three terrorists will be hanged (and not shot) and for every German killed this will be ten terrorists – and get on with it.

  And they did so with gusto, along the entire route with the first mass hangings in Tulle. The barbarism of a demented ideology gone rabidly mad, trying to shake off Résistants snapping at its heels. Ninety-nine civilians were hanged in direct reprisal of Résistance activities along the streets of Tulle on 9 June as Violette was cycling across the countryside, just a little to the north. One hundred and forty-nine other civilians were deported to concentration camps. Just over 100 never returned.

  The advance reached the tiny village of Oradour-sur-Glane on 10 June at about two in the afternoon, some four hours after what would turn out to be a fateful roadblock at Salon-la-Tour for Violette. Insisting, without a shred of evidence, that the town was infested with Résistants, the Nazi troops herded the civilians into the small pretty village church; in all, 642 people, including 100 children. Then, Kommandur Adolf Diekmann ordered the troops to pile straw inside and out, to pour gasoline over the whole village and the church and set them alight. Among the people rounded up, only two Résistants were found and hanged and a handful deported. The others were simply townsfolk.

  All those people were burned alive; there was no escape from the growing inferno in the church. Just one woman of all those men, women and children escaped incineration. Some inhabitants who happened to be away from home survived. But not many. The ruin of the village remains testimony to this most dreadful deed, along with the atrocity of Tulle.

  The SS-Das Reich Panzer Division continued its way on the N20 to Bellac and Poitiers.

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  It was indeed fortunate that the British SOE agents acted neutrally with regard to political factions, or acted with circumspection when aligning themselves to one faction or another. By this process, British agents prevented loss of life through infighting and were able to help a great deal in the melding and welding of small units into a greater force shortly before D-Day and in the following months in the push to defeat the enemy.

  Most importantly, during the last two weeks of June and all of July, Philippe was skilful in organising about 10,000 men. Guingouin, who eventually accepted Salesman II aid, had around 8,000 men. They all trained hard, London sent material, new and larger terrains were found for the American paratroopers.128

  Colonel Maurice Rousselier (Rivier), regional head of the FFI, liaised with the regional military representative (DMR).129 The legendary figure of Georges Guingouin, ‘le Préfet du Maquis’, operated in Corrèze. His was a tough, well-trained and disciplined group of young men. He kept them isolated in Maquis country, not allowing them home so they became inured to discomfort and were rarely a security risk. During the month of June alone, nearly 800 railway lines were severed in the Indre and not one plan for sabotage failed. All railway communications were interrupted and long-distance lines sabotaged, with the exception of that between Clermont and Tulle. The technicians of the telecommunications group, Groupe PTT, had been shot dead just before they were able to report where exactly to cut the lines.

  The work of the Résistance and Plan Tortue provoked heavy reprisals, from Carzac to Oradour-sur-Glane. The objective of Plan Tortue was the sabotage and disruption of enemy road transport. Three more French ‘plans’ existed to deal with disrupting other spheres of enemy activity.

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  125 ‘The SS staff in France were comparatively, but only comparatively, human. Many were inexpert and brutal interrogators, and Jean Moulin, the most important man SOE and the BCRA[M] (Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action [Militaire]) sent to France they ever captured, was interrogated by them so brutally and so stupidly that he died in their hands without saying a word (not that he would have said anything had he lived).’ 1940–1941, Foot, SOE in France, p.109.

  126 Paco and Bob Mortier = field names for Robert ‘Bob’ Maloubier.

  127 Today called Impasse [Antoine de] Saint-Exupéry, named after the author of many bestsellers including Pilot de Guerre and the delightful allegory Le Petit Prince, written during the war in the US where he was sent against his will to assist with propaganda as he was a bestseller there too and pilot extraordinaire.

  128 Finally Philippe took the German surrender in Limoges signed by Gleiniger on 22 August 1944.

  129 DMR = Délégué militaire de région (Regional Military Representative).

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  Magnac, Madame Lazerat and Meeting the Maquis

  Thursday 8 June 1944

  Violette pedalled along in a happy frame of mind through lovely countryside. There were few people a
bout in the tiny hamlets she cycled through and she did not see one German, not even a Milicien or Gendarme, and yet there had been talk of the SS-Das Reich Panzer Division moving north from Montauban, a huge force of some 23,000 men with tanks, armoured vehicles, packed with weaponry.

  That was what these virtually untrained, unruly, unarmed Maquisards were up against. It was the job of the Salesman II team to help obstruct the force every way possible. Bob had already started work, training men in the forests. Jean-Claude was moving to a safe-house high in the hills to relay messages back and forth to London.

  She stopped at a little café-bar in Curzac to buy a bottle of mineral water. The woman who served her wanted to chat a little. Saying she had come from way up north, Violette asked about the rumours of a huge force moving towards the north. A worried, scared look crossed the face of the waitress.

  She spoke of how they had had enough of war and now these dirty Boches were ransacking and burning their way north. Thousands and thousands of them. She had heard some dreadful things and was so frightened, not sure at all that she should keep her family in this little village – but what else could she do? Where else could they go? Violette recommended that she stay put as it was out of the way and very unlikely the Panzers would roll through there as they had no reason to, even for advance detachments. Violette advised her not to wander too far to which the woman nodded gratefully telling Violette to take care of herself.

  She left and pedalling fast much of the way, it took Violette just over an hour to reach the little railway station of Magnac-Vicq. The grocer’s shop stood close to the railway. She could see no Milice or other obvious enemy. It seemed so calm and devoid of danger but she had learned that appearances could be deceptive. She walked around a while, looking as if she were waiting for someone and finally she went in.

  ‘Madame Lazerat?’ Violette had entered from the bright sunlight into a dark interior and walked straight over to the rather severe-looking woman behind the counter.

  ‘Oui,’ was the suspicious reply. ‘What can I do for you?’

  ‘Albert says you have the best vegetables for miles around, madame.’

  ‘Ah, does he now? Now, just which Albert would you be talking about, mademoiselle?’

  ‘Votre gendre, madame.’ As Violette mentioned the second part of her code of the son-in-law, after the first: ‘the best vegetables for miles around’, Madame Lazerat smiled thinly and gave the second part of the code, Just what’s he up to now? Simple, appropriate but just different enough not to be confused with everyday exchanges. Violette was assured she had the right person and Madame Lazerat was happy to trust the young woman, for now.

  She led Violette into a back room where she offered her chicory-laden coffee while they quietly discussed all the instructions from London that Violette passed on and supplies that Madame Lazerat and her son-in-law could call upon, and how many other leaders of small groups there were in her area. Mostly the leaders only met here in the grocery store to finalise plans, or dropped in singly with messages to be passed to others who would also come in singly or pairs, ostensibly to buy produce and goods.

  About an hour later, they had gone into some depth about what was to be done and whether it was possible. Madame Lazerat was quite pleased with the care taken in the instructions and the way they were delivered by this young, but self-assured woman. She asked if Violette would accompany her to her friend’s house just a couple of minutes away. There she was introduced as Louise to Léonard Lornac (Raoul), a wheelwright from Monceau, Robert and two women who seemed to be very much on the periphery of things. Cautiously, Violette chatted with them for a good ten minutes. Feeling greatly reassured, she asked many questions, including what London could do for them, and then she passed on instructions from Philippe for sabotage activities to take place during the next seven days, with the admonition that to fail would be to put liberation in great jeopardy but success would hasten its approach. As they returned to the grocer shop, a man stepped out and hurried away. Marguerite Lazerat pointed and said, ‘Celui-là, c’est le Préfet des Maquis.’ It was none other than Colonel Georges Guingouin, who, it turned out, was being given shelter at her grocery shop.

  Violette felt she had done all she could, convinced of the woman’s ability, and the others, their patriotism and loyalty to liberating France. She stood up to take her leave, hoping they would meet again. It was noticeable how a certain resilience was reappearing in the people now that liberation was expected in months rather than years.

  She got back to Sussac in mid-afternoon, reported on the great deal of useful information she had gained, on the fact that Madame Lazerat and the two men promised to follow Philippe’s instructions to the letter, and that she had almost bumped into a man she was sure was Georges Guingouin, referred to as le Préfet du Maquis. Madame Lazerat and the two Maquisards kept her son-in-law, Colonel Charles, informed of the activities and plans of the groups in their areas so that over the next few weeks they would concentrate on keeping the Paris–Toulouse railway line out of order and cut the telephone lines everywhere and as often as they could.

  Philippe was delighted. Violette was a perceptive liaison officer. Her intuition had not failed her in Rouen. It would not do so here, he was convinced. She was vital to his operations until Limoges was liberated. She had natural ability to get on with people, see things from their point of view and in that way could persuade them to do what she had been instructed to ask them to do.

  Philippe smiled, praising her on a job well done. He continued to tell her that she would accompany him so that she would know whom he had met and what plans they would all make. The figures and general intelligence she had given him on the Lazerat groups would be reported to London and useful in their discussions that evening.

  After they had eaten, Violette freshened up and came down the stairs just as an old gazogène drew up. They both climbed in and were driven off.

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  The truck rumbled and bumped along the highway. The driver, Adrien, talked non-stop all the way to their destination, giving them a full rundown of events, groups, plans and general Maquis positions. He stressed they were communist to the core but still lauded the Gaullists who, he felt, would bring in democratic government after liberation, as de Gaulle had promised when speaking over the BBC. Although the communists were doing a great job, he had heard stories of breakaway groups caching arms and money for their own use after liberation. He was sure it was not Guingouin who was doing this: he was far too prudent and was working for a peaceful socialist revolution once liberation arrived. Guingouin had become seriously disillusioned by the communists. Philippe and Violette listened to this very carefully. They asked Adrien how they could contact Guingouin but only received evasive answers.

  It was going to be difficult to get the various networks and groups working along the same lines, particularly where a group’s activity overlapped that of others. Violette and Philippe would be walking on eggshells. As it turned out, that evening they did not get to see Guingouin, but did meet Maurice Rousselier under his name of Colonel Rivier, regional head of R5130 of the FFI, directly under the control of General Marie Pierre Koenig who had, coincidently, been Étienne’s commanding officer in the Legion in Africa.

  After D-Day, SOE F and RF sections with the Jedburghs were brought under the overall command of Koenig, as part of the FFI. In 1942, Koenig had led the heroic stand of the 136th Brigade of the 13ème French Foreign Legion at Bir Hakeim just south of Tobruk. Now, two years later, Violette was under the same overall commander as had been her gallant husband. In March 1944, Koenig had been appointed delegate of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, at the side of Eisenhower and commandant supérieur of the French Forces in England and commandant of the FFI. Rivier was soon to become General Rousselier, on 28 June 1944 and awarded Violette her Croix de Guerre avec Étoile in absentia during August.

  Violette and Philippe were also to meet Rivier’s second-in-command, Roger Lescure (Murat)
,131 who, as a very active member of the French Communist Party, had been arrested and escaped in September of 1943 to rejoin his group in the Corrèze.

  The road entered the forest of Châteauneuf-la-Forêt, and finally the truck turned off, bumping and rattling rather alarmingly along a small lane. An isolated clearing appeared ahead, far from enemy patrols. As they approached it, they could hear barking. Guard dogs, thought Violette. Good idea.

  Two Maquis aggressively stepped out, pointing Sten guns at them. Adrien shouted at them to let them through. One of the guards, Michel Boulestin, was only sixteen years old and came from the town that seemed to grow out from the forest, Châteauneuf-la-Forêt. His comrades in the township’s Maquis FTP had given him the small dog that yapped at his heels since Michel was so very young. Without youths like Michel, and without the many families from the Limousin who fed, hid and cared for the young and older Résistants, they would not have been able to maintain their forest life, living in shacks and abandoned hovels and cottages that were often not even watertight. The farming people of the Haute-Vienne were, like so many, a micro-society with a strong identity based on their old language, Occitan, and an old tradition of rejecting central power (power emanating from Paris). It is from these tough, courageous country people that the Résistance found the solid base on which to build.