Paddy Ashdown - The Cruel Victory - The French Resistance, D-Day and the Battle for the Vercors 1944

I first became fascinated by the wartime epic of the Vercors in the early 1970s when I worked in the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. I was drawn to it because of the tragedy and the horror of the story. But also because it struck me as a powerful example of a subject that has always fascinated me: the consequences for those on the front lines of conflict when those at the top know too little about the harsh realities of war, or think too little about what their decisions mean on the ground.

This is a French story, of course. But it is also a very human epic which has lessons for us all. The strong are not always wise. The simple not always stupid. The weak do not always lose. In most cases, the final determiner of outcomes rests, not with machines, or might, or well-laid plans, but with how individuals behave at the moment of trial.

This story has another function too. In this, the year of the seventieth anniversary of D-Day, it is as well to remember that the Normandy invasion was about more than what happened on the Normandy beaches, most of which is minutely documented and recorded. This is the hidden story of D-Day, when thousands of ordinary, untrained and in most cases crudely armed French men and women put their lives at risk quite as much as those who stormed the beaches, because they were determined to help throw out a hated occupier and join the fight to liberate their country.

BENNES, Robert (BOB) *

Zeller’s radio operator and commander of La Britière radio house.

BILLON, Francis (TARTANE)

Parachuted in with Tournissa. Injured. One of those shot at the Grotte de la Luire.

BLAIN, Léa

Cipher and coding assistant to Eucalyptus. Runner for Jean Prévost.

BLANC, Paul (JEAN-PAUL)

Commander of the Trièves Maquis unit on the Pas de l’Aiguille.

BOIRON, Victor

Tractor driver in Vassieux.

BOISSIÈRE, Gustave (BOIS)

Speleologist and liaison officer to the Eucalyptus Mission.

BORDENAVE, André (DUFAU)

Commander of 6th BCA.

BOURDEAUX, Louis (FAYARD)

Commander of a Maquis company in Royans.

BOURGEOIS, Maurice (BATAILLE)

Maquis leader who accompanied Vernon Hoppers on the Lus-la-Croix-Haute ambush.

BOURGÈS-MAUNOURY, Maurice (POLYGONE)

Military delegate of R1, then National Military delegate.

BOUSQUET, René (CHABERT)

Huet’s deputy.

BUCKMASTER, Colonel Maurice

Head of SOE’s F Section.

CAMMAERTS, Francis (ROGER)

SOE F Section Organizer of Jockey circuit.

CATHALA, Gaston (GRANGE)

Maquis leader in the west of the plateau.

CHAMBONNET, Albert (DIDIER)

Commander of the Secret Army in the Lyon area.

CHAMPETIER DE RIBES, Maude (DANIELLE)

Milice spy and mistress of Dagostini.

CHAVANT, Eugène (CLÉMENT)

( Le Patron ) Political leader of the Vercors.

CONSTANS, Jean (SAINT-SAUVEUR)

Responsible for assistance to the Vercors in Algiers.

CONUS, Adrien (VOLUME)

Member of Eucalyptus Mission. Sent by Huet to get help from Bauges Maquis on 21 July.

COSTA DE BEAUREGARD, Roland (DURIEU)

Responsible for the northern sector of the Vercors.

COULANDON, Émile (GASPARD)

Resistance leader on the Mont Mouchet.

CROIX, Yves (PINGOUIN)

Eucalyptus Mission radio operator.

CROUAU, Fernand (ABEL)

Commander of Compagnie Abel.

DAGOSTINI, Raoul

Milice Chief.

DALLOZ, Pierre (SENLIS)

Conceived Plan Montagnards in 1942.

D’ANGLEJAN (ARNOLLE)

One of Huet’s staff officers. He organized the counter-attacks in Vassieux.

D’ASTIER DE LA VIGÉRIE, Emmanuel (BERNARD)

Senior French Resistance official in London and Algiers.

DARIER, Albert (FÉLIX)

Member of the Mens section of the Compagnie de Trièves.

DELESTRAINT, Charles (VIDAL)

General. Head of the Secret Army in southern France. Captured and died in Dachau.

DESCOUR, Jacques (LA FLÈCHE)

Marcel Descour’s son. Killed at Vassieux, 21 July 1944.

DESCOUR, Marcel (BAYARD and PÉRIMÈTRE)

Chief of Staff of the Secret Army in R1 and FFI Commander of Region 1.

DESMAZES, Marie Alphonse Théodore René Adrien (RICHARD)

Secret Army conspirator with Delestraint in Bourg-en-Bresse.

DROUOT, Jean (HERMINE)

FFI leader in the Drôme.

EYSSERIC, Gustave (DURAND)

Maquis commander at Malleval.

FARGE, Yves (GRÉGOIRE and BESSONNEAU)

Commissioner of the Republic.

FISCHER, Dr Ladislas

Doctor in Saint-Martin and Grotte de la Luire. He sometimes used the false identity Lucien Ferrier while in the Vercors.

GANIMÈDE, Dr Fernand

Doctor in Saint-Martin and Grotte de la Luire.

GARIBOLDY, Paul (VALLIER)

First leader of Groupe Vallier.

BLUM-GAYET, Geneviève (GERMAINE)

Early Vercors Resistant activist.

GAGNOL, Abbé

The priest of Vassieux.

GEYER, Narcisse (THIVOLET)

Maquis commander. Responsible for the southern sector of the Vercors.

GODART, Pierre (RAOUL)

Maquis commander at Malleval.

GRANVILLE, Christine (née Krystyna SKARBEK) (PAULINE)

SOE F Section courier for Jockey circuit.

GUBBINS, Brigadier Colin

The operational head of SOE.

GUÉTET, Dom (LEMOINE)

Marcel Descour’s counsellor/monk.

HAEZEBROUCK, Pierre (HARDY)

Commander of the defence of Vassieux. Killed 21 July 1944.

HOPPERS, Vernon G.

Commander of the US Justine Mission.

HOUSEMAN, John (RÉFLEXION)

Member of Eucalyptus Mission.

HUET, François (HERVIEUX)

Commanded the Maquis on the Vercors.

HUMBERT, Jacques

Retired General who walked to the Vercors to join the battle on 21 July 1944.

JACQUIER, Paulette (MARIE-JEANNE and LA FRETTE)

Leader of Maquis group in the Chambarand forest.

JOUNEAU, Georges (GEORGES)

Garage owner and head of the Motor Transport Depot on the Vercors.

KALCK, *Louis (ANDRÉ and JOB-JOB)

Commander of Compagnie André defending the eastern passes.

KNAB, Werner

Commander German Sipo/SD Lyon area.

KOENIG, Marie Joseph Pierre François (known as Pierre)

Appointed by de Gaulle as CO of FFI.

LASSALLE, Pierre (BENJAMIN and BOLIVIEN)

Descour’s radio operator at La Matrassière and La Britière.

LE RAY, Alain (BASTIDE and ROUVIER)

Vercors military commander until January 1944 and then FFI commander of Isère Department.

LONGE, Desmond (RÉFRACTION)

Leader of Eucalyptus Mission.

MARTIN, Léon Dr

One of the founders of Grenoble resistance in the Café de la Rotonde.

MAYAUD, Charlotte (CHARLOTTE)

Early Vercors Resistant and organizer in Villard de Lans. Also a courier and liaison agent.

MOCKLER-FERRYMAN, Eric

Director for SOE operations in western Europe.

MONTEFUSCO, Mario (TITIN and ARGENTIN)

Radio operator at La Britière.

MOULIN, Jean (REX, MAX and RÉGIS)

De Gaulle’s representative in southern France and the architect of the unified southern Resistance.

MYERS, Chester L.

Hoppers’ second-in-command on the Justine Mission.

NIEHOFF, Heinrich

German military commander southern France.

ORTIZ, Peter Julien (CHAMBELLAN and JEAN-PIERRE)

US Marine parachuted in with the Union Mission and subsequently the head of Union II.

PECQUET, André Édouard (BAVAROIS and PARAY)

Eucalyptus Mission radio operator.

PFLAUM, Karl Ludwig

Commander 157th Reserve Division.

PINHAS, France

Nurse at the second Battle of Saint-Nizier.

PRÉVOST, Jean (GODERVILLE)

Writer and friend of Dalloz. Commander of Compagnie Goderville in the north of the Vercors.

PROVENCE, Mireille