Arcadia Discussion Zone

Rain as ya prob'ly are aware of, Mike Tsarion has been tootin' his self-created horn that Ireland was the refuge of the survivors of Atlantis and that's why he claims that civilization went from Ireland eastwards

Tsarion peppers his website with scholarly, pretentious cites from a myriad of sources to back up his work. I have never seen him use Tolkien as a source at all, surprisingly 'nuff considerin' Tolkien was on his way out when Tsarion was kickin' the slats out of his playpen.

If Tsarion does have the inside track in all of this Atlantean lore, all of Tolkien's work has been for naught when it comes to this wanna-be epic for the UK. It makes Tolkien come across more like a fantasy comic book creator, cadgin' bits from here + there, then cobble them up with his polyglot terms. At least C.S Lewis started off with a clean slate with his Narnia stuff.

Have ya ever checked into the college krowd called The Inklings Tolkien + Lewis belonged to?

Tolkien's devout faith was a significant factor in the conversion of C. S. Lewis from atheism to Christianity, although Tolkien was dismayed that Lewis chose to join the Church of England,[81].

In the last years of his life, Tolkien became greatly disappointed by the reforms and changes implemented after the Second Vatican Council,[82] as his grandson Simon Tolkien recalls:

I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn't agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right.[83]

Mabel Tolkien was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1900 despite vehement protests by her Baptist family,[25] who then stopped all financial assistance to her. She died of acute complications of diabetes in 1904, when Tolkien was 12, at Fern Cottage in Rednal, which they were then renting. Mabel Tolkien was then about 34 years of age, about as long as a person with diabetes mellitus type 1 could live with no treatment—insulin would not be discovered until two decades later. For the rest of his own life Tolkien felt that his mother had become a martyr for her faith. This feeling had a profound effect on his own Catholic beliefs.[26]

The Space Trilogy

The Space Trilogy, Cosmic Trilogy or Ransom Trilogy is a trilogy of science fiction novels by C. S. Lewis, famous for his later series The Chronicles of Narnia. A philologist named Elwin Ransom is the hero of the first two novels and an important character in the third.

The books in the trilogy are:

Out of the Silent Planet (1938), set mostly on Mars
Perelandra (1943), set mostly on Venus. Also known as Voyage to Venus
That Hideous Strength (1945), set on Earth. In 1958, the publishing house Avon (now an imprint of HarperCollins) published a version called The Tortured Planet from which they had cut one-third of the book.
Lewis stated in a letter to Roger Lancelyn Green:

Tsarion peppers his website with scholarly, pretentious cites from a myriad of sources to back up his work. I have never seen him use Tolkien as a source at all, surprisingly 'nuff considerin' Tolkien was on his way out when Tsarion was kickin' the slats out of his playpen.

Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic, and in his religious and political views he was mostly conservative, in the sense of favouring established conventions and orthodoxies over innovation and modernization; in 1943 he wrote, "My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood to mean abolition of control, not whiskered men with bombs)—or to 'unconstitutional' Monarchy."[73]

Tolkien had an intense dislike for the side effects of industrialization, which he considered to be devouring the English countryside. For most of his adult life, he was disdainful of automobiles, preferring to ride a bicycle.[74] This attitude can be seen in his work, most famously in the portrayal of the forced "industrialization" of The Shire in The Lord of the Rings.[75]

Many[76] have commented on a number of potential parallels between the Middle-earth saga and events in Tolkien's lifetime. The Lord of the Rings is often thought to represent England during and immediately after World War II. Tolkien ardently rejected this opinion in the foreword to the second edition of the novel, stating he preferred applicability to allegory.[76] This theme is taken up in greater length in his essay "On Fairy-Stories", where he argues fairy-stories are so apt because they are consistent with themselves and some truths about reality. He concludes that Christianity itself follows this pattern of inner consistency and external truth. His belief in the fundamental truths of Christianity and their place in mythology leads commentators to find Christian themes in The Lord of the Rings, despite its noticeable lack of overt religious references, religious ceremony or appeals to God. Tolkien objected strongly to C. S. Lewis's use of religious references in his stories, which were often overtly allegorical.[77] However, Tolkien wrote that the Mount Doom scene exemplified lines from the Lord's Prayer.[78]

His love of myths and devout faith came together in his assertion that he believed that mythology is the divine echo of "the Truth".[79] This view was expressed in his poem Mythopoeia,[80] and his idea that myths held "fundamental truths" became a central theme of the Inklings in general.

Tolkien's first civilian job after World War I was at the Oxford English Dictionary, where he worked mainly on the history and etymology of words of Germanic origin beginning with the letter W.[48] In 1920 he took up a post as Reader in English language at the University of Leeds, and in 1924 was made a professor there. While at Leeds he produced A Middle English Vocabulary and, with E. V. Gordon, a definitive edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, both becoming academic standard works for many decades. He also translated Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo. In 1925 he returned to Oxford as Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon, with a fellowship at Pembroke College.

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Hungarian Revolution of 1956
Part of the Cold War

Hungarians gather around the head of the vandalized Stalin Monument in Budapest
Date 23 October – 10 November 1956
Location People's Republic of Hungary
Result Revolution crushed

Belligerents
Soviet Union
Hungary ÁVH (Hungarian State Protection Authority) Ad hoc local Hungarian militias
Commanders
Ivan Konev Various independent militia leaders
Strength
31,550 troops,
1,130 tanks[1] Unknown number of militia and rebelling soldiers
Casualties and losses
(Soviet casualties only)
722 killed
1,251 wounded[2] 2,500 killed (est.)
13,000 wounded (est.)[3]
The Hungarian Revolution[4] of 1956 (Hungarian: 1956-os forradalom) was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Stalinist government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956.

The revolt began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. A student delegation entering the radio building in an attempt to broadcast its demands was detained. When the delegation's release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired upon by the State Security Police (ÁVH) from within the building. The news spread quickly and disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital.

The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government fell. Thousands organized into militias, battling the State Security Police (ÁVH) and Soviet troops. Pro-Soviet communists and ÁVH members were often executed or imprisoned, as former prisoners were released and armed. Impromptu councils wrested municipal control from the ruling Hungarian Working People's Party and demanded political changes. The new government formally disbanded the ÁVH, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October, fighting had almost stopped and a sense of normality began to return.

After announcing a willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On 4 November, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. Hungarian resistance continued until 10 November. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet troops were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. Mass arrests and denunciations continued for months thereafter. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. These Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened Soviet control over Central Europe.

Public discussion about this revolution was suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but since the thaw of the 1980s it has been a subject of intense study and debate. At the inauguration of the Third Hungarian Republic in 1989, October 23 was declared a national holiday.

Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas




From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians, Romanians, Serbs, Italians, and Croats, all of whom attempted in the course of the revolution to either achieve autonomy, independence, or even hegemony over other nationalities. The nationalist picture was further complicated by the simultaneous events in the German states, which moved toward greater German national unity.

Besides these nationalisms, liberal and even socialist currents resisted the empire's longstanding conservatism.

Ultimately, the revolutions failed, in part because the various revolutionaries had conflicting goals.

Tolkien is difficult because he uses such an expansive and ancient amount of time. He was writing from 5000years before what he believes is the fall of Atlantis and he also believes in pre-hyperborean society. He writes at a time where the U.K. especially the upper rings was joined to the mainland and the survivours are those that escaped Atlantis came to the upper reaches of what is now the U.K., Brittany, and France. Tolkien uses archeolinguistics to recreate an approximate timeline along with The Mythology and on occasion mistook Allegory for Myth. In a biography written on Tolkien it is said he had access to specific records. The biographer comments on the statement saying Tolkein never divulged what these "records" may have been. As I've stated previously his "Great Work" was the Silmarillion - not the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy

ARGINY

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http://au.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate ... &fr=mcafee

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ATTENTION, the castle of Arginy is a private property and it is not opened with the public (except at the time of the days of the Inheritance).



GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION.





Arginy, is located on the territory of the commune of Charentay (the Rhone). The castle, isolated in the plain between the Saone and Beaujolais, seems to spout out the Middle Ages. Flanked several turns and of two drawbridges, surrounded by heavy and greenish water, he undoubtedly saw successively passing Templiers, the lords of the Rebirth and all the fine flower of the modern esotericism.




At the time Gallic, the site was the center of a forest where a salt mine was worked. At the time of the Roman conquest, lieutenant de César, named Arginus, made build a oppidum in this place, which, thereafter, took its name. This first red brick building was going to last nine centuries. And on his ruins one built a castle with the Middle Ages. On the road which leads to the castle close to Girardière and which passes in front of the castle, a Roman way attests the presence of a very old past.

The castle was built in two times: in XIe century - of this period there remain practically nothing - and in XVIe century. Near the tower known as of the eight Blisses, close to the ditches, of research allowed to release an old ground passage.

On this passage, the remains of two turns belonging to the old defense system were discovered, as well as the remainders of a 5,80 meters length bridge. In XIe century, the castle seems to have been a not very important construction, including/understanding only three turns and a keep.

The farm which is in front of the castle was built at one later time. As for the turns which rise in front of the drawbridge, they date from XVIe century.

Who were the owners of the primitive castle? The regional files did not have the memory of it. But in 1253, Louis de Beaujeu, suzerain of all the valley, chooses to leave the family castle to settle in Arginy. Its descendants will also make of Arginy their principal residence: Guichard VI the Large one in 1295, Edouard 1st in 1331, Antoinette de Beaujeu in 1343. Then a few times later appear the family of Vernet which had some grounds on the commune of Charentay. They will increase their field while acquiring in 1365 the farm of Arginy, then in 1388 the castle and all its dependences.

The wire of XVe century, follow one another like owners of the places, Guichard II of Vernet (1422), Thomas de Vernet (1430), Jacqueline de Chalon (1453), Thomas of Bussière (1485).

In 1533, Claude the Flat-bottom ones repurchases with king François the 1st right of justice which enjoyed Beaujeu two centuries earlier. The castle is restored and increased, then the farm is built.

In 1576, Antoinette the Flat-bottom ones continues the enlarging of the field by acquiring of several grounds. It is into 1883 that the family of Rosemont became owner of the eight hundred hectares ground and the castle of Arginy. Rosemont were one of the best families of the French nobility. Their stronghold, at XIVe century, was at Figeac in the Batch.

The interest caused by Arginy with regard to the treasure of the Temple is related to the Master Guillaume de Beaujeu, family member to which belonged the field of XIIIe to XIVe century. Guillaume de Beaujeu, as in particular Dupuy in its “History of Templiers” of 1653 indicates it, had initially been buried at Midsummer's Day d' Acre. Then brought back to France, its skin had been deposited in the enclosure of the Temple of Paris. Did it then take the way of Arginy thanks to Guichard de Beaujeu? it is here that the mystery starts, and that the treasure hunt is launched…

This treasure hunt, would go back to the end of XVe century: Anne of France (Anne de Beaujeu) girl of Louis XI, made carry out excavations in the undergrounds of the castle with the hope to find the treasure of Templiers there.

Its research, brings back the tradition, were completed tragically. One of its workmen, who was descended in an underground, suddenly pushed an appalling cry which his/her comrades remained with the free air perceived. The man arose nevertheless from the gallery, approximately fifteen minutes later, it walked like an automat, with his crushed cranium from where escaped from the scraps of brain.

Arrived in front of his companions, it drew aside the arms and fell finally. Those palpated its already cold body and, noting this last “mischief”, refused to resume work to flee, terrified.
In 1883, Arginy was the property of Chambrun d' Uxeloup de Rosemont. About the years 1900, the count Pierre de Rosemont undertook in his turn of the excavations to find the treasure of Templiers. He released a vertical gallery in which one of its workmen went down at the end of a cable. Its descent was completed by an accident quite as tragic as previously: the man had the foot crushed by a species of articulated grinding stone…


photo catch in 1971
photo catch in 1995

It there has several years, his daughter-in-law, - wife of Jacques de Chambrun d' Uxeloup de Rosemont (deceased today) - revealed in Breyer and some of his friends, that his/her father-in-law had carried out excavations in the castle in 1914. However, this one would brutally have received “the spiritual order” to cease its investigations and to block the openings of the undergrounds from which it had started its research.

In fact, Pierre de Rosemont would have discovered a mysterious sarcophagus. Breyer, as for him, was persuaded that Rosemont would have arrived to a low-size room, located at less than 12 meters of depth, in which would rest a baron de Camus and his wife, a lord trained with the esotericism templier, initiate of the Rebirth, principal author of the graffiti alchemical found inside the rooms and on the blazon of entry.

Always at the time of the count Pierre, two tragic accidents would have also taken place with Arginy. A foreigner being presented to the castle while affirming to be able to discover the treasure of Templiers, was found two days later on the roadside, the broken cranium. A farmer having undertaken clandestine excavations was victim of a similar accident: a wheel of its tank crushed the head to him.




In 1950, Jacques de Rosemont, wire of Pierre, launched out in his turn to the research of the treasure of Templiers while working to the bulldozer. In vain… This same year, an English officer, representing a British secret society, proposed a large sum for the castle with the count de Rosemont who refused to sell. Many were thereafter those which also sought to acquire the field…

Because for some, the treasure of Templiers must generally be regarded as protected by occult forces unchaining a curse against those which would try to bore the secrecy of it. However, the site of Arginy famous like most dangerous, inviolable, the most “is occulted by far”. Therefore, the treasure could be hidden well there. Thus, the amateurs of mystery and irrational do not fear to handle the syllogism if it can consolidate them.



Here the members of “the sovereign order of the solar Temple are brought together.” Wearing hat, Jean brother, 23e Large Master of the order. At its sides arms crosseds, the owner of the castle.

In 1953, whereas Jacques de Rosemont was still of this world, a team of occultists, médiums and researchers decided undertook with the agreement and the support of Rosemont, to attack with the mystery of Arginy and her treasure templier. There were Jacques Breyer, writer and esotericism, Armand Barbault, alchemist, and his wife, remarkable medium, Maxime de Roquemaure, Mr. and Mrs. Michon, of Beaujeu, Claude Cariven, scenario writer, Mr. Champion and well of others. All these specialists in occult sciences devoted themselves to many spiritistic experiments night invocations, of which some were particularly spectacular. The “contact” was established, appears it, with eleven entities templières, keeping the treasure, and by no means laid out to indicate the access of them!

Occult work and excavation campaigns continued during a certain time. Then incidents as multiple as varied disturbed them little by little.

The ones after the others, the visitors left Arginy. The old feudal masonry found soon silence.

Not for a long time. All that France counts occultists, hermetists, médiums, alchemists and other magi ravelled in Arginy. As for the clandestine researchers, it is almost impossible to estimate the number of it: how much were they, during thirty years, to penetrate on the field, handling the pendulum or dynamite, probing each stone, turning over each inch of ground? …

In a work as strange as enthralling, published in 1973 at Robert Laffont, Time out of time, Gabrielle Carmi, medium, specialist in the cabal and the compared religions, revival the mystery of Arginy while bringing new precise details on this one. The treasure would be a trunk containing a collection of parchments making, state of capital revelations on a crowd of subjects, works of the initiates of the Temple.

Nevertheless, Arginy still, officially at least, did not deliver its secrecy. Then, how to explain the marked passion of researchers, come from very diverse horizons, for this place?



Then one finds the Schiffmann document which reports that Jacques de Molay, discovering the iniquity of the lawsuit conclua that there was no more hope, neither for him nor for the Order. It made come meadows from him, a few days before its torment, the count de Beaujeu, his nephew, “who for a long time had testified a vocation decided to enter the Order”, “initiated it with the mysteries” and held to him of the obscure remarks.

The document specifies then: “As soon as Jacques de Molay was expired, Beaujeu was put in having to discharge its engagements. It secured 9 knights, unfortunate remainders escaped with the furies of persecution and terrors of the torments; it interfered its blood with that his brothers and made v œ U propagate the Order on the sphere as long as it would be nine perfect architects.

It went to ask for to king Philippe the permission of remove tomb of the Large Masters the coffin of the Large Master Beaujeu his uncle paternal predecessor of Molay and having obtained it, it went down with his brothers in the tomb from the Large Masters and made carry the coffin, which instead of ashes of his/her uncle contained the money case, of which it was made mention. It made also remove the treasures contained in the two columns and transport, the whole in place of safety. “


Graffiti carried out in the tower known as “of the Eight Blisses”

Esoterists and treasure hunters to deduce from it that this “place of safety” could be only the castle of Arginy, located on the grounds from the old field from Beaujeu. However, it should be specified that Arginy was at the time of the Temple only one dependence: the true castle was Beaujeu and it will be destroyed by the revolutionists.

Moreover, if one sticks to the Schiffmann document, how to conceive that “a few days before his torment”, Jacques de Molay had as much facility to receive visits, to initiate, give precise instructions etc without monitoring and with complete freedom? Molay, in addition to its geôliers, was to be surrounded spies… How to explain the good grace with which Philippe the Beautiful one acceded to the request of the count de Beaujeu?

No historian leaned either on the reality of this relationship between Jacques de Molay and the count de Beaujeu.



To our knowledge, the Schiffmann document, for the first time was published in France by John Charpentier in 1945. It could not thus influence Pierre de Rosemont, nor the various researchers of the years 1900. Less still Anne of France which, the first, carried out excavations with Arginy. Lastly, another contradiction, the document does not make any allusion to the field of Beaujeu. Indeed, following the preceding quotation, one can read: “It is probable that was in Cypre where résidoit Archimandrit or Patriarch with the Great clerical Chapter of the Order.”

Thus, if one believes the document Schiffmann of it (provided that it is authentic and that its content is not only symbolic system) the treasure of Templiers should be in Cyprus, undoubtedly in Limassol, thesis to which adhered several historians besides.

There is thus there an authentic mystery: did a solid oral tradition, going up at the time of the business of Templiers, indicate Arginy like a hiding place of the order, tradition whose girl of Louis XI, by one does not know which means would have been informed?


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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Special Historia
Hullabaloo
Gabriel CARMI
Robert CHARROUX
: N°385bis. Hunting for the treasure. Rene HILLAL. 1978.
: N°19. Eight blisses of Arginy. March 1974.
: Time out of time. Editions Robert Laffont. 1973.
: Treasures of the World. 1962.

Round towers: lanterns of the dead

The Irish round towers are enigmatic constructions: refuges, belfries or “needles” in the system of leylines have all been proposed as their true purpose. Could it be, however, that they were beacons for the souls of the dead?

Furthermore, we should note that in construction, the so-called “Tower of the Eight Beauties” of the French medieval castle of Arginy might at first not appear to be a round tower, but nevertheless shares many characteristics both with round towers and brochs. Perhaps unsurprising is therefore to note that its lord Guillaume de Beaujeu is known to have travelled to Scotland and Ireland. In the 1950s, it was specifically this tower that would become the “seat” of one of the 20th century most notorious esotericists: Jacques Breyer. Using infrared photography, it has been noted that though there is clearly a roof on this tower, on infrared photographs, this does not show up – hinting at the possibility that certain considerations in its construction were in place to create this effect.

This topic well extremely gone thru a few years back. It'd pay ya to go back in the forum to find those threads. They make for a pleasant read.

For Rain:

One such Arcadian thread, called "Towers", and started by Roscoe way back in February 2007.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=483

I think there's at least one other in the archive here somewhere.

I believe that Talleyrand would be more to the point.

Roger, ya missed the point completely dude, the left behind's work in both directions, yes?

Rain simply forgot to factor in the corrupt human element in her take.

Marianne knew she was a lost woman. She tried to
sustain the morale of the youngsters. She was offered a
chance to escape, planned by her two Jewish friends; but
she refused. She could not leave the children; they would
be shot. During the night of July 7–8, 1944, she was taken
away with three other partisans, to a clearing outside of the
town. Marianne was beaten with a shovel and killed. She
was not recognizable when her friends found her.

http://www.wfjcsh.org/mishpocha/MISHSpring2005.pdf

Quote:
6 Mishpocha _
FRANCE: MEMOIR OF HELEN KOENIG STEIN
Member of Marianne Cohn’s Convoy, arrested Annemasse, France, May 31, 1944
I was a little girl of six in 1936. I lived in Strasbourg,
France, near the German border. We had a pleasant family
life, but were aware of the oppression suffered by the
German Jews. In 1939, war broke out in Europe. My
father was in the French army and my mother, alone with
three small children, settled in the center of France near
Limoges. All our relatives were dispersed. Once France
was occupied, the government issued anti-Semitic laws.
We lived in fear of being taken away. Many friends had
been arrested, and never heard of again. Sometimes a
friendly police officer would warn a Jewish friend of a raid
and we would hide in a convent or on a farm for a few
days. When we were living in our apartment, I was
frightened of the doorbell ringing and daydreamed of
running away. We had so much stress that often we
couldn’t eat. We listened secretly to the BBC from London,
which gave us the news of Jews being murdered.
By the end of 1943, Jewish organizations knew about our
fate and set up networks to hide children in farms and with
families. They also organized illegal passages to
Switzerland and Spain. In May, 1944, my parents made the
heartbreaking decision to send my 10-year old sister, our 8-
year old brother, and me to Switzerland. We were given
false papers. We went to Limoges, where a convoy of 28
children was formed. As we left Limoges, the station was
full of Germans. They looked mighty; I was terrified and
shaking. In Lyon, we were given hospitality in a convent.
After two days, we left Lyon to go to Annecy, which is
near the Swiss border. We were 28 kids, waiting on the
shore of a lake in a cheerful mood, so near freedom. Our
group leader arrived at last. Her name was Marianne. She
told us not to be frightened and explained the difference
between the Swiss and German guards. We went in the van
and traveled to the border. The van stopped and we had to
walk a short distance through fields to reach Switzerland. I
saw a black car appear and four men with dogs stepped out.
Germans. Marianne had self-confidence. She had a Red
Cross armband and showed them our false papers. She
explained we were from the bombarded city of Marseille
and were on our way to a children’s home. Somehow it
worked, but at three o’clock in the morning, the Germans
came back. Marianne was questioned and slapped, the
boys beaten up. At dawn, we were taken away in a van. I
told my sister and brother “we are going to die.”
They took us to a prison in Annemasse. Partisans were
being tortured, and we heard their screams. We were put in
cells; we sat and slept on straw mattresses. The youngest
child was three years old and we all tried to mother her.
Marianne gave us warmth and cheered us up. When the
mayor, Jean Deffaugt, heard about us, he came to the
prison. He arranged for us to get soup every day. He was
very kind, and he gave us hope. We were traumatized. He
gave us a drink; I think it was egg yolk with alcohol.
Marianne was taken away every day for questioning and
tortured. She came back, her face red and swollen. She
was subjected to hot and cold baths. She was courageous
and did not betray her contacts. She told the Gestapo that
she had saved 200 children and would do it again.
We were told that we would each be interrogated by the
Gestapo. My turn came; my heart was pounding. I saw
two Nazis, one sitting on a desk with a revolver pointed
towards me and the other in front of a typewriter with a
whip. He asked my name, my parents’ address, who
organized the journey, who provided the false papers.
After each question, he said, “Are you Jewish?” I was in
turmoil and undecided of what to say or not say.
Afterwards I was drained by the sadism of that man
terrorizing me. I was only 13 years old.
The boys had been beaten up. Marianne asked the
mayor to plead with the Nazis to free us. They let the
younger ones under 14 years old go to a Catholic children’s
orphanage under German supervision. We had to promise
not to escape, as we as well as the mayor would be shot.
The older children who stayed in prison had to work
cleaning the cells, etc.
Marianne knew she was a lost woman. She tried to
sustain the morale of the youngsters. She was offered a
chance to escape, planned by her two Jewish friends; but
she refused. She could not leave the children; they would
be shot. During the night of July 7–8, 1944, she was taken
away with three other partisans, to a clearing outside of the
town. Marianne was beaten with a shovel and killed. She
was not recognizable when her friends found her.
Two weeks later, the chief Nazi told Monsieur Deffaugt,
“These children must disappear. I need the space.” The
mayor pleaded, “These children are innocent. They don’t
stop you from winning the war. I’ll look after them.” The
Jewish organization had sent two Resistance fighters to
Annemasse to rescue the children. They met Monsieur
Deffaugt in a secret place and asked him to negotiate with
the chief Nazi. Their message to the Nazi was this: The
German Occupation is coming to an end. If you kill the
children you’ll pay with your life, as we have your address
in Germany. But, if you don’t touch them, we will let you
escape to Switzerland.
At the same time, fierce battles were raging between the
Germans and the French Resistance, which was very strong
in that part of France.
On August 18, 1944, the Germans in Annemasse
capitulated. That day, our two partisans came and took us
28 children to Geneva because they were worried that the
Germans might recapture Annemasse. The mayor told us
we had been in great danger of being shot.
Helen Stein (née Koenig) lives in Manchester, England,
with her husband. The Steins have two children, 5
grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren !.

Maquis (World War II)


Members of the Maquis in La TresorerieThe Maquis (French pronunciation: [maˈki]) were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire (STO) to provide forced labour for Germany. In an effort to escape capture and deportation to Germany, what had started as loose groups of individuals became increasingly organized; initially fighting only to remain free, these bands eventually became active resistance groups.

Contents [hide]
1 Meaning
2 Operations
3 Politics in Maquis
4 Role
5 Customs
6 Notable maquis
7 See also
8 References


[edit] Meaning
Originally the word came from the kind of terrain in which the armed resistance groups hid, the type of high ground in southeastern France covered with scrub growth.[1] Although strictly meaning thicket, maquis could be roughly translated as "the bush"[2].

Members of those bands were called maquisards. Eventually the term became an honorific that meant “armed resistance fighter.” The Maquis have come to symbolize the French Resistance.

[edit] Operations
Most maquisards operated in the mountainous areas of Brittany and southern France, especially in the Alps and in Limousin. They relied on guerrilla tactics to harass the Milice and German occupation troops. The Maquis also aided the escape of downed Allied airmen, Jews and others pursued by the Vichy and German authorities. Maquisards usually relied on some degree of sympathy or cooperation from the local populace. In March 1944, the German Army began a terror campaign throughout France. This included reprisals against civilians living in areas where the French Resistance was active. The Maquisards were later to take their revenge in the épuration sauvage that took place after the war's end.[3]

Most of the Maquis cells — like the Maquis du Limousin or the Maquis du Vercors - took names after the area they were operating in. The size of these cells varied from tens to thousands of men and women.

In French Indochina, the local resistance fighting the Japanese since 1941 was backed up by a special forces airborne commando unit created by de Gaulle in 1943, and known as the Corps Léger d'Intervention (CLI). They were supplied by airlifts of the British Force 136.

[edit] Politics in Maquis
Politically, maquis were very diverse — from right-wing nationalists to communists and anarchists. Some Maquis bands that operated in southwest France were composed entirely of left-wing Spanish veterans of the Spanish Civil War.

When Germans began a forced labor draft (Service du travail obligatoire, STO) in France in the beginning of 1943, thousands of young men fled and joined the Maquis. The British Special Operations Executive (SOE) helped with supplies and agents. The American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) also began to send its own agents to France in cooperation with the SOE and the French BCRA agents in Operation Jedburgh.

The British government also helped and supplied Charles de Gaulle to unify the Free French, resistance movement included.

[edit] Role
During the Allied invasion of Normandy, the Maquis and other groups played some role in delaying the German mobilization. The French Resistance (FFI Force Françaises de l'Interieur for "French Forces of the Interior") blew up railroad tracks and repeatedly attacked German Army equipment and garrison trains on their way to the Atlantic coast. Thanks to coded messages transmitted over the BBC radio, each Maquis group was alerted of the impending D-Day by listening for seemingly meaningless messages such as "the crow will sing three times in the morning" or any other pre-arranged messages read in a continuous flow over the British airwaves. As Allied troops advanced, the French Resistance rose against the Nazi occupation forces and their garrisons en masse. For example, Nancy Wake's group of 7,000 maquisards was involved in a pitched battle with 22,000 Germans on June 20, 1944. Some Maquis groups took no prisoners so some German soldiers preferred to surrender to Allied soldiers instead of facing maquisards. Captured Maquis faced torture and death or being sent to concentration camps, where few survived.

The Allied offensive was slowed and the Germans were able to counterattack in southeast France. On the Vercors plateau, a Maquis group fought about 8000 soldiers under general Karl Pflaum and was defeated with 600 casualties.

When De Gaulle dismissed resistance organizations after the liberation of Paris, many maquisards returned to their homes. Many also joined the new French army to continue the fight.

[edit] Customs
It was standard practice among the Maquis to identify members by wearing a Basque beret because it was common enough not to arouse suspicion but distinctive enough to be effective.

[edit] Notable maquis
Maquis de l'Ain et du Haut-Jura
Maquis de Corrèze
Maquis de Fontjun in the Hérault
Maquis des Glières in the French Alps
Maquis du Grésivaudan in the French Alps
Maquis du Limousin in Massif central
Maquis de Lozère directed by the German antifascist Otto Kühne
Maquis du Mont Mouchet en Auvergne
Maquis de Saffré
Maquis de Saint-Marcel in Brittany
Corps Franc du Sidobre (Tarn)
Maquis La Tourette in the Hérault created by Jean Bène
Maquis de Vabre (Tarn)
Maquis Vallier (Var)
Maquis du Vercors in the French Alps
Maquis des Vosges
Maquis de Rieumes in the Haute-Garonne
Meo Maquis (Indochina)
[edit] See also
Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP)
French Forces of the Interior (FFI)
Free French Forces (FFL)
Chant des Partisans
Spanish Maquis
Vang Pao "Meo Maquis", Indochina Wars leader of Hmong people
Vichy France
[edit] References
^ Online Etymology Dictionary. ""Definition of maquis"". http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maquis/. Retrieved 2007-12-14. from Dictionary.com website
^ Freedictionary definition: References in classic literature
^ Jackson (2003), p. 577

Capture of a Franc-Tireur, by Carl Johann LaschThe phrase francs-tireurs (literally "free shooters") was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) and from that usage it is sometimes used to refer more generally to guerrilla fighters who fight outside the laws of war[1][2]. The term was revived and used by French partisans to describe the French Resistance movements set up by the French against the Germans during World War II[3].

During the wars of the French Revolution, a franc-tireur was a member of a corps of light infantry organized separately from the regular army. The Spanish word francotirador and the Portuguese word franco-atirador, meaning sharpshooter or sniper, are derived from the word franc-tireur.

Contents [hide]
1 Franco-Prussian War
2 World War I
3 World War II
4 Prisoner status
5 Other
6 References
6.1 Notes
6.2 Bibliography


[edit] Franco-Prussian War

On September 1 of 1870, in a Bazeilles house, Ardennes, France, surrounded French soldiers fought against Prussian invaders to the very last bullets. Alphonse de Neuville painting, Les dernières cartouches (the last cartridges), 1873.Francs-tireurs were an outgrowth of rifle clubs or unofficial military societies formed in the east of France at the time of the Luxembourg crisis of 1867 (for which, see History of Luxembourg). The members were chiefly concerned with the practice of rifle-shooting, and were expected in war to act as light troops. They wore no uniforms, were armed with the best existing rifles, and elected their own officers.

In the words of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, they "were at once a valuable asset to the armed strength of France and a possible menace to internal order under military discipline." The societies strenuously and effectively resisted all efforts to bring them under normal military discipline. The Germans executed captured francs-tireurs as irresponsible non-combatants found with arms in their hands.

In July 1870, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, the societies were brought under the control of the minister of war and organized for field service, but it was not until November 4 by which time the levée en masse (universal conscription) was in force that they were placed under the orders of the generals in the field. After that they were sometimes organized in large bodies and incorporated in the mass of the armies, but more usually they continued to work in small bands, blowing up culverts on the invaders' lines of communication, cutting off small reconnaissance parties, surprising small posts, etc.

The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as "now acknowledged, even by the Germans," that the francs-tireurs, by these relatively unconventional tactics, "paralysed large detachments of the enemy, contested every step of his advance (as in the Loire campaign), and prevented him from gaining information, and that their soldierly qualities improved with experience."

Francs-tireurs blew up the Moselle railway bridge at Fontenoy, January 22, 1871. The defense of Chateaudun (October 18, 1870) was conducted by francs-tireurs of Cannes and Nantes, along with Lipowski's Paris corps.

The francs-tireurs were often vilified by the German armies and popular press as murderers and highwaymen and seemed to the Germans to have an unerring sense of the most vulnerable parts of the German armies in France. An ambush by francs-tireurs often resulted in violent German reprisals against the nearest village or town. Whole regiments or divisions often took part in "pacifying actions" in areas with significant franc-tireur activity and bred a lasting enmity and hatred between the occupying German soldiers and French civilians.

[edit] World War I
The experiences of French guerrilla attacks and of asymmetric warfare in general during the Franco-Prussian War had a profound effect on the German General Staff, resulting in the unusually harsh and severe occupation of areas conquered by Germany during World War I.

After the war, General Erich Ludendorff, Germany’s chief military strategist and its commander-in-chief on the Western Front at the end of the war tried to defend German behavior in his 1919, two-volume Meine Kriegserinnerungen, 1914-1918, which was published that same year in London by Hutchinson as My War Memories, 1914–1918 and in New York by Harper as Ludendorff’s Own Story, August 1914–November 1918.

In an article in the September 13, 1919 issue of Illustrated London News G. K. Chesterton responded to Ludendorff's book by remarking:

It is astounding how clumsy Prussians are at this sort of thing. Ludendorff cannot be a fool, at any rate, at his own trade; for his military measures were often very effective. But without being a fool when he effects his measures, he becomes a most lurid and lamentable fool when he justifies them. For in fact he could not have chosen a more unfortunate example. A franc-tireur is emphatically not a person whose warfare is bound to disgust any soldier. He is emphatically not a type about which a general soldierly spirit feels any bitterness. He is not a perfidious or barbarous or fantastically fiendish foe. On the contrary, a franc-tireur is generally a man for whom any generous soldier would be sorry, as he would for an honourable prisoner of war. What is a franc-tireur? A franc-tireur is a free man, who fights to defend his own farm or family against foreign aggressors, but who does not happen to possess certain badges and articles of clothing catalogued by Prussia in 1870. In other words, a franc-tireur is you or I or any other healthy man who found himself, when attacked, in accidental possession of a gun or pistol, and not in accidental possession of a particular cap or a particular pair of trousers. The distinction is not a moral distinction at all, but a crude and recent official distinction made by the militarism of Potsdam.

[edit] World War II

Monument honouring the FTP-MOI in Père Lachaise cemetery.The Francs-tireurs partisans (FTP, "Partisan irregular riflemen") were fighting formations of the French Resistance during World War II, which had as political front the Front National movement, created by French Communist Party (PCF) members Jacques Duclos and Pierre Villon.

They took their name from French irregular light infantry and saboteurs, first employed in the Franco-Prussian War.

Initially called Organisation Spéciale (OS), they were created by the Communist Party of France (PCF). A number of their leaders had served in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War (for instance, "Colonel" Henri Rol-Tanguy).

Although individual communists had opposed the German occupation, prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (see Great Patriotic War) the official communist position was not to offer resistance.

FTP became the first resistance group in France to deliberately kill a German. The FTP were integrated in the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur in February 1944. Called the "party of 80,000 executed people" (le parti des 80 000 fusillés), the PCF's electoral success after World War II was, to a large extent, due to its prestige as a centre of resistance.[citation needed]

The foreign workers' section, FTP-MOI (Franc Tireurs Partisans-Main d'Oeuvre Immigrée; see French-language article FTP MOI) became especially famous when the Missak Manouchian Group was captured, its members executed, and the execution publicly advertised in the infamous Affiche Rouge. Another FTP-MOI member was Alter Mojze Goldman, father of Pierre Goldman and Jean-Jacques Goldman.

[edit] Prisoner status
The term Francs-tireurs has been used for an armed fighter who, if captured, is not necessarily entitled to prisoner of war status. This issue was a point of disagreement at the 1899 Hague Conference and was the genesis for the Martens Clause. The Martens Clause was introduced as a compromise wording for the dispute between the Great Powers who considered francs-tireurs to be unlawful combatants subject to execution on capture and smaller states who maintained that they should be considered lawful combatants[4][5].

In the Hostages Trial (or, officially, 'The United States of America vs. Wilhelm List, et al.), the seventh of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, the tribunal found that on the question of partisans, the then current laws of war (the Hague Convention No. IV from 1907), the partisan fighters in southeast Europe could not be considered lawful belligerents under Article 1 of said convention[6]. On Wilhelm List, the tribunal stated

"We are obliged to hold that such guerrillas were francs tireurs who, upon capture, could be subjected to the death penalty. Consequently, no criminal responsibility attaches to the defendant List because of the execution of captured partisans..."[6]
With the Geneva Conventions, namely Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, francs-tireurs were entitled to prisoner of war status provided that they are commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates, have a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance, carry arms openly and conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

[edit] Other
Le Franc-Tireur was the name of an underground French Resistance newspaper.

[edit] References
[edit] Notes
^ Rupert Ticehurst The Martens Clause and the Laws of Armed Conflict 30 April 1997, International Review of the Red Cross no 317, p.125-134
^ See the sections in this article Franco-Prussian War and Prisoner status and the article Hostages Trial
^ French Partisans
^ Rupert Ticehurst The Martens Clause and the Laws of Armed Conflict 30 April 1997, International Review of the Red Cross no 317, p.125-134. In hist footnote 1 cites The life and works of Martens are detailed by V. Pustogarov, "Fyodor Fyodorovich Martens (1845-1909) — A Humanist of Modern Times", International Review of the Red Cross (IRRC), No. 312, May-June 1996, pp. 300-314.
^ Rupert Ticehurst The Martens Clause and the Laws of Armed Conflict 30 April 1997, International Review of the Red Cross no 317, p.125-134. In hist footnote 2 cites F. Kalshoven, Constraints on the Waging of War, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1987, p. 14.
^ a b The hostages trial, trial of Wilhelm List and others: Notes held at University of the West of England original source: United Nations War Crimes Commission. Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. Volume VIII, 1949
[edit] Bibliography
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
The 1911 EB references Les Chasseurs des Vosges by Lt. Colonel St. Etienne, Toul, 1906, about the blowing up of the Moselle railway bridge.
Audoin-Rouzeau, Stéphane. 1870: La France dans la guerre. Paris: Armand Colin, 1989.
Horne, John and Alan Kramer. German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Howard, Michael. The Franco Prussian War: The German Invasion of France, 1870-1871. 1961. London and New York: Routledge, 1988.
Stoneman, Mark R. “The Bavarian Army and French Civilians in the War of 1870-1871: A Cultural Interpretation.” In: War in History 8.3 (2001): 271-93. Reprinted in Peter H. Wilson, ed., Warfare in Europe 1825-1914. The International Library of Essays on Military History, ed. Jeremy Black. Ashgate Publishing, 2006. 135-58. abstract

French Forces of the Interior


Members of the Maquis in La Tresorerie, 14 September 1944, Boulogne, France.The French Forces of the Interior (French: Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur) refers to French resistance fighters in the latter 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 France's status changed from that of an occupied nation to one of a nation being liberated by the Allied armies. As regions of France were liberated, the FFI were more formally organized into light infantry units and served as a valuable manpower addition to regular French forces. In this role, the FFI units manned less active areas of the front lines, allowing regular French army units to practice economy of force measures and mass their troops in decisive areas of the front. Finally, from October 1944 and with the greater part of France liberated, the FFI units were amalgamated into the French regular forces, thus ending the era of the French irregular in World War II.

Contents [hide]
1 Liberation
2 Political Tension
3 Amalgamation
4 Weapons and equipment
5 French strategic asset
6 Citations


[edit] Liberation
After the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, at the request of the French Committee of National Liberation, SHAEF placed about 200,000 resistance fighters under command of General Marie Pierre Koenig,[1] who attempted to unify resistance efforts against the Germans. General Eisenhower confirmed Koenig's command of the FFI on June 23, 1944.

The FFI were mostly composed of resistance fighters who used their own weapons, although many FFI units included former French soldiers. They used civilian clothing and wore an armband with the letters "F.F.I."

According to General Patton, the rapid advance of his army through France would have been impossible without the fighting aid of the FFI. General Patch estimated that from the time of the Mediterranean landings to the arrival of U.S. troops at Dijon, the help given to the operations by the FFI was equivalent to four full divisions.[2]

FFI units seized bridges, began the liberation of villages and towns as Allied units neared, and collected intelligence on German units in the areas entered by the Allied forces, easing the Allied advance through France in August 1944.[3] According to a volume of the U.S. official history of the war,

In Brittany, southern France, and the area of the Loire and Paris, French Resistance forces greatly aided the pursuit to the Seine in August. Specifically, they supported the Third Army in Brittany and the Seventh U.S. and First French Armies in the southern beachhead and the Rhône valley. In the advance to the Seine, the French Forces of the Interior helped protect the southern flank of the Third Army by interfering with enemy railroad and highway movements and enemy telecommunications, by developing open resistance on as wide a scale as possible, by providing tactical intelligence, by preserving installations of value to the Allied forces, and by mopping up bypassed enemy positions.[4]

[edit] Political Tension

Member of the FFI in Châteaudun.On June 20, 1944, the French high command decreed the mobilization requirements dating from the start of the war were still in effect, that the FFI units were to be made part of the French Army, and that the FFI was subject to French military law.[5] Assuming control of the French national government after the liberation of Paris, Charles de Gaulle was almost immediately confronted with a challenge to his authority by an FFI flush with triumph as towns and cities were liberated in the wake of the German retreat from France. In late August 1944, there were incidents of FFI misbehavior in the region of Paris, highlighting the risks of having an armed and organized citizenry that suddenly found itself without a mission. De Gaulle believed France required a single decisive leader to restore effective government. The FFI believed they should have a share in national power because of their contribution to the Allied war effort. Subsequently, de Gaulle declared the FFI would be either disbanded or integrated into the French Army, and a series of tense meetings between de Gaulle and FFI leaders in major cities ensued. Despite FFI disenchantment with de Gaulle's methods, in large part they accepted his decision that FFI members would either be amalgamated into the French regular army or return to civilian life.

[edit] Amalgamation

FFI and Vercors Republic marked captured truck during the battle for Paris (1944).Subsequent to the liberation of areas where FFI units operated, they often formed battalions and brigades named for their commanders or region of origin (Battalion Oziol, etc.) These FFI units were predominantly of the light infantry class, although some formed light reconnaissance units like the 12th Regiment of Dragoons. Some of these units were used to besiege German troops in still-occupied French ports or to secure France's alpine frontier with Italy, others were used to secure Allied lines of communications in France, and still others were assigned as army reserve units for the use of General de Lattre de Tassigny's French First Army. From October 1944 to March 1945, the FFI units were amalgamated into the French Army in order to regularize the units. Units such as the 49th Infantry Regiment (formerly the FFI Corps Franc Pommiés) and the 3rd Demi-Brigade of Chasseurs (formerly the FFI Alsace-Lorraine Brigade) were constituted in this manner using FFI manpower. Amalgamation was successful in varying degree; the training, tactics and attitudes of the former French Resistance fighters often differed from those of the regular soldiers with whom they served. General De Lattre's comments on this situation are enlightening:

[Traditional military values] were not and could not be the characteristics of the F.F.I. units. Condemned to be born and live in secret, placed outside the law by the enemy and by the enemy's accomplices, they had above all developed the revolutionary military virtues, those of partisans. By force of circumstances the personalities of the leaders had played a determining role and had stamped each maquis with a different brand. . . . To the regiments we had landed the extreme variety of the F.F.I. organizations, their at least peculiar discipline, the differing quality of their groups, the poverty of their equipment, the crying inadequacy of their armament and supplies, the heterogeneity of their officering, the facility with which their superior ranks had been assigned, and in certain cases the ostensibly political nature of their aims, ran counter to the classical military outlook of many officers, some of whom, in reaction, exaggerated their regulation strictness. . . . The part [the FFI] had taken in the fight for liberation not only encouraged them rightly in the wish to retain their individuality; their successes, valued often from a local angle, established in their view the excellence of the military system which circumstances had led them to create and which they intended to substitute for the traditional system, which they considered out-of-date.[6]

[edit] Weapons and equipment

FFI soldier on Atlantic coast, 1945. Note nonstandard uniform.The weapons and equipment of the FFI were highly varied. Because they were not units that the United States had formally agreed to logistically support, they were not eligible to receive the standard U.S. equipment that was provided to French regular army units. Thus, the FFI units often clothed themselves in nonstandard uniforms or uniforms of 1940 vintage. The same condition existed with weapons, with the use of captured German infantry weapons a common practice. Because of the mix of American, British, French, German, and other weapons, the supply of ammunition and spare parts was complicated and often difficult to accomplish. Some heavy armored fighting vehicles were obtained, notably British Cromwell tanks (150 provided by Great Britain) and captured German tanks (44, of which 12 were Panthers).[7] The 12th Regiment of Dragoons received 12 Cavalier tanks among other British equipment in April 1945.[8] In other cases, FFI units used vehicles no longer favored by Allied forces, such as the U.S. M6 Fargo, a light truck with a portee 37-mm antitank gun. Finally, civilian vehicles and practically anything else in running condition were pressed into service and used until they could no longer be maintained.

[edit] French strategic asset
As regions of France were liberated, the FFI provided a ready pool of semi-trained manpower with which France could rebuild the French Army. Estimated to have a strength of 100,000 in June 1944, the strength of the FFI grew rapidly, doubling by July 1944, and reaching 400,000 by October 1944.[9] Although the amalgamation of the FFI was in some cases fraught with political difficulty, it was ultimately successful and allowed France to re-establish a reasonably large army of 1.2 million men by VE Day.[10]


[edit] Citations
^ Harrison, Gordon A., Cross-Channel Attack, pages 206-207. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1989, and Pogue, Forrest C., The Supreme Command, page 236. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1996.
^ "Gripe 17" from the 1945 U.S. forces booklet "112 Gripes about the French"
^ Blumenson, Martin. Breakout and Pursuit, pages 363-364 and 674. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1989. These are only two examples of many cited in this volume.
^ Pogue, Forrest C., The Supreme Command, page 238. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1996.
^ Vernet, J. Le réarmement et la réorganisation de l'armée de terre Française (1943 - 1946), page 28. Ministere de la Defense, Château de Vincennes, 1980.
^ De Lattre de Tassigny, Jean. The History of the French First Army, page 170. London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1952.
^ Vernet, J. Le réarmement et la réorganisation de l'armée de terre Française (1943 - 1946), pages 76-77. Ministere de la Defense, Château de Vincennes, 1980.
^ Gaujac, Paul. L'Armée de la Victoire, Vol. IV, page 161. Charles Lavauzelle, Paris, 1986.
^ Sumner, Ian. The French Army 1939-45 (2), page 37. Osprey Publishing, London, 1998. ISBN 1-85532-707-4. 200,000 FFI members in October 1944 were believed to be armed.
^ Vernet, J. Le réarmement et la réorganisation de l'armée de terre Française (1943 - 1946), page 86. Ministere de la Defense, Château de Vincennes, 1980. Vernet lists 10 divisions that were formed with FFI manpower. Ultimately, some 103 light infantry battalions and six labor battalions were formed with FFI personnel prior to VE Day.

The Cross of Lorraine, chosen by General de Gaulle as the symbol of the Free French Forces.[1]The Free French Forces (French: Forces Françaises Libres, FFL) were French fighters in World War II who decided to continue fighting against Axis forces after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation.

Contents [hide]
1 Definition
2 History
2.1 Prelude
3 Composition
3.1 Cross of Lorraine
3.2 Mers El Kébir
3.3 The struggle for control of French colonies
3.4 The Air War
3.5 The War at Sea
3.6 The Forces Françaises Combattantes and National Council of the Resistance
3.7 Liberation of France
3.8 End of the war
4 Units and commands on 8 May 1945
4.1 Armies
4.2 Corps
4.3 Divisions
5 Notable Free French
6 Notable French who joined after 1942
7 See also
8 References
9 External links


[edit] Definition
In many sources, Free French describes any French individual or unit that fought against Axis forces after the June 1940 armistice. The reality is more complex as some French forces did take part in the fight against the Axis, for example in Tunisia in early 1943, without any relationship with Charles de Gaulle's organization.

Historically, an individual became Free French after he enlisted in de Gaulle's Free French organisation located in London. Free French units are units formed by these people. De Gaulle's organization stopped accepting members in mid-1943 as Free French forces were merging with the French forces in North Africa, and the Comité français de libération nationale (CFLN) was set up in Algiers.

Postwar, to settle disputes over the Free French heritage, the French government issued an official definition of the term. Under this "ministerial instruction of July 1953" (instruction ministérielle du 29 juillet 1953), only those who served with the Allies after the Franco-German armistice in 1940 and before 1 August 1943 may correctly be called "Free French".[2]

French forces after July 1943 are therefore correctly designated as the "forces of Liberation".

This article temporarily includes the activities of French forces after 1942, in order to maintain continuity.

[edit] History
[edit] Prelude

General De GaulleIn 1940, General Charles de Gaulle was a member of the French cabinet during the Battle of France. As French defense forces were increasingly overwhelmed, de Gaulle found himself part of a small group of politicians who argued against a negotiated surrender to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. As these views were shared by the President of the Council, Paul Reynaud, de Gaulle was sent as an emissary to the United Kingdom; it was during this time that the French government collapsed.

On 16 June, the new French President of the Council, Philippe Pétain, began negotiations with Axis officials. On 18 June, de Gaulle spoke to the French people via BBC radio. He asked French soldiers, sailors and airmen to join in the fight against the Nazis. In France, de Gaulle's "Appeal of the 18th of June" (Appel du 18 juin) was not widely heard that day but, together with [Gaulle's BBC broadcasts] in subsequent days and his later communications, they echoed throughout France and Her Empire as the voice of national honour and freedom. Some of the British Cabinet had attempted to block the speech, but were overruled by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. To this day, the Appeal of 18 June remains one of the most famous speeches in French history. Nevertheless, on June 22, Pétain signed the armistice followed by a similar one with Italy on June 24; both of these came into force on 25 June.[3] Pétain became leader of the puppet regime known as Vichy France, the town of Vichy being the seat of government.

De Gaulle was tried in absentia in Vichy France and sentenced to death for treason; he, on the other hand, regarded himself as the last remaining member of the legitimate Reynaud government able to exercise power, seeing the rise to power of Pétain as an unconstitutional coup.

[edit] Composition
Many of the Free French forces were initially not French nationals. Overall 65% were West African conscripts - largely from Senegal[citation needed]. The Foreign Legion included many non-French soldiers. Other contingents were Moroccan, Algerian and Tahitian (the latter serving with particular distinction in the Western Desert). 17,000 Senegalese died defending France in 1940, many being shot by the Germans after being taken prisoner.

Finding an all-white division that was available proved to be impossible due to the enormous contribution made to the French Army by West African conscripts. The 2nd Armoured Division was chosen to lead the Liberation of Paris as it had only 25% black troops.[4]

[edit] Cross of Lorraine
Capitaine de corvette Thierry d'Argenlieu[5] suggested the adoption of the Cross of Lorraine as symbol of the Free French, both to recall the perseverance of Joan of Arc, whose symbol it had been, and as an answer to the Nazi swastika.[6] In his general order № 2 of 3 July 1940, Vice Admiral Émile Muselier, two days after assuming the post of chief of the naval and air forces of the Free French, created the bow flag displaying the French colours with a red cross of Lorraine, and a cockade also featuring the cross of Lorraine.

Following repeated broadcasts, by the end of July that year, 7,000 people had volunteered to join the Free French forces. The Free French Navy had fifty ships and some 3,700 men operating as an auxiliary force to the British Royal Navy.

A monument on Lyle Hill in Greenock in western Scotland, in the shape of the Cross of Lorraine combined with an anchor, was raised by subscription as a memorial to the Free French naval vessels which sailed from the Firth of Clyde to take part in the Battle of the Atlantic, and is also locally associated with the memory of the loss of the Maillé Brézé which exploded at the Tail of the Bank.

The French flag with the Cross of Lorraine, emblem of the Free French.
The Free French memorial on Lyle Hill, Greenock, overlooks Gourock, Scotland.
Free French Naval ensign and French Naval Honour Jack.
Free French Forces Adrian helmet with the Cross of Lorraine replacing the 1939-1940 French Republic "RF" emblem.


[edit] Mers El Kébir
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill deemed that, in German or Italian hands, the French fleet would have been a grave threat to the Allies. He ordered the French ships to rejoin the Allies and agree to be put out of use in a British, French, or neutral port. As a last resort, Churchill indicated that the French fleet would be destroyed by British attack.

The Royal Navy attempted to persuade the French Navy to agree to these terms but, when that failed, they attacked the French Navy at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. This attack on 3 July 1940 caused bitterness and division in France (over 1,000 sailors had been killed), particularly in the Navy, and discouraged many French soldiers from joining the Free French forces in Britain and elsewhere.

Some French warships did remain on the Allied side and others re-joined later after the Axis occupation of Vichy France (codenamed Case Anton) and the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon. Those ships flew a separate flag, the Free French Naval Ensign, which is still in use as a mark of honour by ships that continue to use the name of a Free French ship.

[edit] The struggle for control of French colonies

The fall of Damascus to the Allies, late June 1941. A car carrying Free French commanders General Georges Catroux and General Paul Louis Le Gentilhomme enters the city, escorted by French Circassian cavalry (Gardes Tcherkess).After the fall of France in 1940, the French colonies of Cameroun and French Equatorial Africa (except for Gabon) joined the Free French while the remainder sided with the Vichy Regime. With the addition of French African colonies came a large number of African colonial troops. From July to November 1940, Free French forces fought French troops loyal to Vichy France during the West African Campaign. The outcome of this campaign was mixed with the Vichy French claiming victory at the Battle of Dakar and the Free French claiming victory at the Battle of Gabon. The French West African colonies remained Vichy French and the French Equatorial African colonies remained Free French.

In Asia and the Pacific, the French South Pacific colonies of New Caledonia, French Polynesia and the New Hebrides joined the Free French later. The South Pacific colonies would become vital Allied bases in the Pacific Ocean. French Indochina was invaded by Japan in September 1940, although the colony remained under nominal Vichy control. On 9 March 1945, the Japanese took full control of Indochina and launched the Second French Indochina Campaign.

In North America, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (near Canada) joined the Free French after an "invasion" on 24 December 1941 by Rear Admiral Emile Muselier and the forces he was able to load onto three corvettes and a submarine of the Free French Naval Forces (Forces navales françaises libres, or FNFL).

During 1941, Free French units fought with the British Commonwealth army against Italian troops in Ethiopia and Eritrea during the East African Campaign. During the Syria-Lebanon Campaign, Free French forces fighting alongside British Commonwealth forces once more faced French troops loyal to Vichy France — this time in the Levant. By July 1941, General Henri Dentz and his Vichy Army of the Levant were defeated. Free French General Georges Catroux was appointed as High Commissioner of the Levant. From this point, Free France controlled both Syria and Lebanon until they became independent.


15,000 Chadian soldiers fought for Free France during WWII.[7]In Africa, the Vichy colonies were gradually overthrown as Free French forces took part in the allied campaigns on the continent. Free French soldiers participated in the Allied North African campaign, in Libya and Egypt. General Marie Pierre Koenig and his unit, the 1st Free French Brigade, fought well against the Afrika Korps at the Battle of Bir Hakeim in June 1942, although eventually obliged to withdraw. To the west the Allies launched Operation Torch, an invasion of Vichy-controlled French North Africa in November 1942. Many Vichy troops surrendered and joined the Free French cause. Vichy coastal defences were captured by the French Resistance. Vichy General Henri Giraud rejoined the Allies, but he lacked the authority that was required and de Gaulle kept his leadership of the Free French, despite American objections. In late 1942, after the Battle of Madagascar, the Vichy French forces under Governor-General Armand Léon Annet were defeated and Free French General Paul Legentilhomme was appointed High Commissioner for Madagascar. On 28 December, after a prolonged blockade, the Vichy forces in French Somaliland were ousted.

The Nazi Germans lost faith in the Vichy regime after Operation Torch and, during Case Anton in November 1942, German and Italian forces occupied Vichy France. In response, the 60,000-strong Vichy forces in French North Africa — the Army of Africa — joined the Allied side as the French XIX Corps within the British 1st Army, which also included the U.S. II Corps and two British corps. They fought in Tunisia for six months until April 1943. Using antiquated equipment, the XIX Corps took heavy casualties (16,000) against modern armour and a desperate Axis enemy.

After these successes, Guadeloupe and Martinique in the West Indies, as well as French Guiana on the northern coast of South America, joined Free France in 1943. In November 1943, the French forces received enough military equipment through Lend-Lease to re-equip eight divisions and allow the return of borrowed British equipment. At this point, the Free French and ex-Vichy French Corps were merged. In 1943, Colonel (later General) Philippe Leclerc and Lieutenant-Colonel Camille d'Ornano led a column of 16,500 colonial troops from Chad to attack Italian forces in southern Libya and to occupy Kufra in the Fezzan region.

[edit] The Air War
Main article: Free French Air Force
There were sufficient Free French pilots to man several squadrons based in Britain and North Africa, mainly from African colonial bases but also volunteers from South American countries such as Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. They were initially equipped with a mixture of British, French and American aircraft. They had mixed success at first, and French army-air cooperation was often poor.

At de Gaulle's initiative, the Groupe de Chasse 3 Normandie was formed on 1 September 1942, for service on the Eastern Front. It served with distinction and was awarded the supplementary title Niemen by Stalin.

[edit] The War at Sea
Main article: Free French Naval Forces
The Free French Navy, commanded by Admiral Emile Muselier, played a role in the occupation of French colonies in Africa, in supporting the French Resistance, in D-Day (Operation Neptune), and the Pacific War.

[edit] The Forces Françaises Combattantes and National Council of the Resistance
The French Resistance gradually grew in strength. Charles de Gaulle set a plan to bring together the different groups under his leadership. He changed the name of his movement to "Fighting French Forces" (Forces Françaises Combattantes) and sent Jean Moulin back to France to unite the eight major French Resistance groups into one organisation. Moulin got their agreement to form the "National Council of the Resistance" (Conseil National de la Résistance). Moulin was eventually captured, and died under brutal torture by the Gestapo.

Later, the Resistance was more formally referred to as the "French Forces of the Interior" (Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur, or FFI). From October 1944 to March 1945, many FFI units were amalgamated into the French Army in order to regularize the units.

[edit] Liberation of France

FFF leaders General Henri Giraud and General Charles de Gaulle in front of Roosevelt and Churchill at the Casablanca Conference, 14 January 1943.During the Italian Campaign of 1943 and 1944, 100,000 Free French soldiers fought on the Allied side, notably in the fighting on the Winter Line and Gustav Line. By the time of the Normandy Invasion, the Free French forces numbered more than 400,000 strong. 900 Free French paratroopers landed as part of the in the British Special Air Service Brigade (S.A.S.); the Free French 2nd Armoured Division, under General Leclerc, landed at Utah Beach in Normandy on 1 August 1944, and eventually led the drive towards Paris, while the divisions which had been fighting in Italy became part of the French First Army, under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, and joined the U.S. 7th Army in Operation Dragoon. This operation was the Allied invasion of southern France. The Allied forces advanced up the line of the Rhône River to liberate the Vosges and southern Alsace.


Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division parading after the battle for Paris (August 1944)Fearing the Germans would destroy Paris if attacked by a frontal assault, General Dwight Eisenhower ordered his forces to cease their advance and reconnoitre the situation. At this time, Parisians rose up in full-scale revolt. As the Allied forces waited near Paris, General Eisenhower acceded to pressure from de Gaulle and his Free French Forces. De Gaulle was furious about the delay and was unwilling to allow the people of Paris to be slaughtered as had happened in the Polish capital of Warsaw during the Warsaw Uprising. De Gaulle ordered General Leclerc to attack single-handedly without the aid of Allied forces. In response, General Eisenhower, in an attempt to spare De Gaulle's forces heavy casualties during his initiative, granted the Free French forces the honour of spearheading the Allied assault and liberating the capital city of France.

General Leclerc sent a small advance party to enter Paris, with the message that the 2e Division Blindée (composed of 10,000 French, 3,600 North Africans and 3,000 Spaniards) would be there the following day. This party was commanded by Captain Raymond Dronne, and was given the honor to be the first Allied unit to enter Paris ahead of the 2e Division Blindée. The 9th company of the 3rd Battalion of the Régiment de Marche du Tchad was made up mainly of Spanish Republican exiles. After hard fighting that cost the 2nd Division 35 tanks, 6 self-propelled guns, and 111 vehicles, von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris, surrendered the city at the Hôtel Meurice. Jubilant crowds greeted the Liberation of Paris. French forces, and de Gaulle conducted a now iconic parade through the city.

[edit] End of the war
By September 1944, the Free French forces stood at 560,000. This number rose to 1 million by the end of the year. French forces were fighting in Alsace, the Alps, and Brittany. In May 1945, by the end of the war in Europe, the Free French forces comprised 1,300,000 personnel, and included seven infantry divisions and three armoured divisions fighting in Germany making it the fourth allied army in Europe behind the Soviet Union, the USA and the United Kingdom.[citation needed] The French offered to send a division to the Pacific to help fight the Japanese towards the end of the war, but it ended before they could be sent.

At that time, general Alphonse Juin was the chief of staff of the French army, but it was General François Sevez who represented France at Reims on 7 May, while it was General de Lattre de Tassigny who was the leader of the French delegation at Berlin on V-E day, as he was the commander of the French First Army. France was then given an occupation zone in Germany, as well as in Austria and the city of Berlin, but they were given it slightly later than those of the "Big Three". It was not only the role that France played in the war which was recognized, but its important strategic position and significance in the Cold War as a major democratic, capitalist nation of Western Europe in holding back the influence of communism on the continent.

[edit] Units and commands on 8 May 1945

Arms of General Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division involved in the battle for Paris.[edit] Armies
French First Army
Atlantic Army Detachment
Alpine Army Detachment
[edit] Corps
I Army Corps
II Army Corps
III Army Corps[8]
[edit] Divisions
1st Free French Division[9]
2nd Moroccan Infantry Division
3rd Algerian Infantry Division
4th Moroccan Mountain Division
9th Colonial Infantry Division
27th Alpine Infantry Division[10]
1st Armoured Division
2nd Armoured Division[9]
3rd Armoured Division[8][10]
5th Armoured Division
1st Infantry Division[8][10]
10th Infantry Division[10]
14th Infantry Division[10]
19th Infantry Division[10]
23rd Infantry Division[10]
25th Infantry Division[10]
36th Infantry Division[8]
1st Far East Colonial Division[8]
2nd Far East Colonial Division[8]
3rd and 4th Free French S.A.S. (Special Air Service) Battalions
[edit] Notable Free French

Henri Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves, hero of the French Resistance.Dimitri Amilakhvari
Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu
Josephine Baker
Georges Bidault
Pierre Billotte
Pierre Bourgoin
Claude Hettier de Boislambert
René Cassin
Georges Catroux
Pierre Clostermann
Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel
Eve Curie
Suzanne David Hall
André Dewavrin
Félix Éboué
René Iché
Jean Gabin
Charles de Gaulle
Joseph Kessel
Marie Pierre Koenig
Edgard de Larminat
Pierre-Olivier Lapie
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
Paul Legentilhomme
Pierre Marienne
Anna Marly
Pierre Mendès-France
Pierre Messmer
Jean Moulin
Émile Muselier
Gaston Palewski
René Pleven
Gabriel Brunet de Sairigné
Maurice Schumann
Tereska Torres
Susan Travers
Martin Valin
Raoul Magrin-Vernerey
Simone Weil
Raymonde Reimbert
Pierre Bertaux
(More cited on French Resistance)

[edit] Notable French who joined after 1942
Antoine Béthouart
Jean René Champion
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Henri Giraud
Alphonse Juin
Marcel Marceau
Jean Monnet
Joseph de Goislard de Monsabert
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
[edit] See also
French Forces of the Interior
Maquis
Goumiers
Francs-Tireurs & Partisans
Chant des Partisans
Military history of France during World War II
1st South African Infantry Division
[edit] References
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

^ Pharand (2001), p. 169
^ La France Libre et les Français Libres : éléments de définition
^ P. M. H. Bell, France and Britain 1900-1940: Entente & Estrangement,London, New York, 1996, p 249'
^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7984436.stm
^ www.france-libre.net, Le site de la France-Libre, "Les origines des FNFL, par l’amiral Thierry d’Argenlieu" (French)
^ The Cross of Lorraine from charles-de-gaulle.org at the Internet Archive
^ S. Decalo, 53
^ a b c d e f Did not see combat during the Second World War
^ a b Free French origin
^ a b c d e f g h Formed with FFI personnel.
[edit] External links
FFF fighting units (France-Libre.net)
France-Libre.net (Free French Forces foundation)
Bibliographie about 1st Free French Division
Fights of the the population in Gers in the regular army from Nov.8, 1942 to Aug.31, 1944 (1992- O.N.A.C.- S.D. GERS translated in English)
Flags and Ensigns of Free France
France’s true greatest day
Composition and situation of the Free French Force in combat
WW2 from the French Point of view
[1] Free French Black troops

Maquis des Glières

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maquis_des_Gli%C3%A8res
The Maquis des Glières was a Free French Resistance group, which fought against the 1940-1944 German occupation of France in World War II. The name is also given to the military conflict that opposed Resistance fighters to German, Vichy and Milice forces.

Battle of Glières
Part of Second World War

Monument commemorating the Maquis des Glières
Date 31 January 1944 – 26 March 1944
Location Plateau des Glières, Massif des Bornes, Haute-Savoie, France
Result German and Vichy victory, but propaganda boost for the French Resistance

Belligerents
French Resistance Germany
Milice
Vichy police
Commanders
Tom Morel †
Maurice Anjot † Karl Pflaum
Jean de Vaugelas
Jacques de Bernonville
Georges Lelong
Strength
circa 450 maquisards (including 56 spanish fighters and 80 Francs-tireurs) over 1,400 Vichy policemen, 700 Milice Franc-Gardes, 3,000 German soldiers
Casualties and losses
140 dead or deported 21 dead
Contents [hide]
1 Resistance
2 Repression
3 Retreat
4 See also
5 External links


[edit] Resistance
At the end of 1943, the French Resistance in the French Alps of Haute-Savoie needed arms. To find good drop zones to supply the Maquis with arms and sabotage equipment, a mission composed of Lieutenant Colonel Heslop from the Special Operations Executive and Captain Rosenthal from the Free French Forces was sent from London. The plateau of Glières, a high remote mountain table close to Lake Annecy, was chosen.

On 31 January 1944, Lt. Tom Morel, a Chasseur alpin from the 27th chasseurs alpins battalion (mountain light infantry) in Annecy, was commissioned to collect parachute drops from the Royal Air Force with a hundred men. But Capt. Rosenthal, the Free French representative, convinced the other staff members to regroup the majority of maquisards on the plateau of Glières in order to establish a base to attack the Germans and carry out sabotage. Because the Allies were in doubt about the value of the French Resistance, it was necessary to show its capabilities to undermine the German military power in France.

[edit] Repression
At the same time, the state of siege was declared in Haute-Savoie. Anyone found carrying arms or assisting the Maquis was subject to immediate court martial and execution. Hunted by the Vichy police and badly supplied, most of maquisards gathered on the plateau of Glières to set up the base of operations. Soon after, a hundred French communist resistants and about fifty Spanish lumberjacks joined forces with them in taking refuge and getting weapons. From the 13 February on the four hundred and fifty maquisards, under the command of officers from the 27th chasseurs alpins battalion, were besieged by two thousand French militiamen and police. Although they suffered from starvation and freezing conditions, they collected three parachute drops consisting of about three hundred containers packed with explosives and small arms (Sten submachine guns, Lee-Enfield rifles, Bren light machine guns, Mills bomb grenades).

On the night of the 9th and the 10 March 1944 the commander-in-chief, Lt. Tom Morel, was killed in a skirmish with the Vichy forces.

On the 12 March 1944, after the largest Allied parachute drop, the Germans started to bomb the area with ground attack aircraft. The French Militia staged several attacks, but they ended in failure. On the 23 March three battalions from the 157th Reserve Division of Wehrmacht and two German police battalions, composed of more than four thousand with heavy machine guns, 80 mm mortars, 75 mm mountain guns, 150 mm howitzers and armoured cars, concentrated in Haute-Savoie.

[edit] Retreat
Word had seeped out of France to Britain and America that a great and glorious uprising had taken place in southeast France. Clearly, Glières had become an important element in the psychological warfare. To honour the French Resistance, the new leader, Capt. Anjot, an experienced, thoughtful and impassive officer, would fight in the face of defeat, but his aim was to save his men's lives.

Finally, on the 26 March 1944, after another air raid and shelling, the Germans took the offensive. They split their attacking parties into three Kampfgruppen and designated to each one specific target. Reconnaissance was carried out by ski patrols dressed in white camouflage. One of the patrols with a Gebirgsjäger platoon made an attack on the main exit to the plateau and captured an advanced post in the rear. Sustaining the attack from about fifty German soldiers, eighteen maquisards fought and resisted into the night, but were outnumbered and overwhelmed, even if most of them succeeded in escaping under cover of darkness. At ten o'clock, Capt. Anjot thought honour had been satisfied and ordered the Glières battalion to retreat. In the days that followed, Capt. Anjot and almost all his officers as well as one hundred and twenty maquisards were found dead. They had been killed in battle or, if taken prisoner, had been tortured, shot or deported. For the Germans, the maquisards were not regulars but terrorists.

The region of Savoie had been absolutely shattered. But this defeat would be transformed into a moral victory and give a boost to the French Resistance in spring 1944. After the American and French landing in Provence on the 15th of August 1944, it is a mark of the Maquis' success in the French Alps that the speed of the American advance and the rapid retreat of the Germans was far beyond the expectations of Allied planning staff.

(See Discussion.)

[edit] See also
Maquis du Vercors
Maquis du Mont Mouchet
French Resistance
Free French Forces
French Forces of the Interior
Liberation of Paris
[edit] External links
The Battle of Glières

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