List of networks and movements of the French Resistance
Encyclopedia
It is customary to distinguish the various organisations of the French Resistance
between movements and networks. A resistance group or network was an organization created for a specific military purpose (intelligence, sabotage, helping prisoners of war escape and preventing shot-down pilots from falling into the hands of the Germans). In contrast, the main goal of a resistance movement was to educate and organize the population.
The majority of resistance movements in France were unified after Jean Moulin
's formation of the Conseil National de la Résistance
(CNR) in May 1943. CNR was coordinated with the Free French Forces
under the authority of the French Generals Henri Giraud
and Charles de Gaulle
and their body, the Comité Français de Libération Nationale
(CFLN).
Ultimately, unification took place from late 1943 to early 1944 when the Armée Secrète, the Francs-tireurs
and other organisations gave birth to the French Forces of the Interior
(FFI).
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
between movements and networks. A resistance group or network was an organization created for a specific military purpose (intelligence, sabotage, helping prisoners of war escape and preventing shot-down pilots from falling into the hands of the Germans). In contrast, the main goal of a resistance movement was to educate and organize the population.
The majority of resistance movements in France were unified after Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin
Jean Moulin was a high-profile member of the French Resistance during World War II. He is remembered today as an emblem of the Resistance primarily due to his role in unifying the French resistance under de Gaulle and his courage and death at the hands of the Germans.-Before the war:Moulin was...
's formation of the Conseil National de la Résistance
Conseil National de la Résistance
The Conseil National de la Résistance or the National Council of the Resistance is the body that directed and coordinated the different movements of the French Resistance - the press, trade unions, and members of political parties hostile to the Vichy regime, starting from...
(CNR) in May 1943. CNR was coordinated with the Free French Forces
Free French Forces
The Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
under the authority of the French Generals Henri Giraud
Henri Giraud
Henri Honoré Giraud was a French general who fought in World War I and World War II. Captured in both wars, he escaped each time....
and Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
and their body, the Comité Français de Libération Nationale
French Committee of National Liberation
The French Committee of National Liberation was a body formed by the French leaders Gens. Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle to provide united leadership, organize and coordinate the campaign to liberate France from Nazi Germany during World War II. The committee was formed on June 3, 1943 and...
(CFLN).
The eight major Resistance movements
- Ceux de la LibérationCeux de la Libération"Ceux de la Libération" was a French resistance movement during the German occupation of France in World War II.CDLL was one of the eight major resistance groups of the Conseil National de la Résistance .-History:...
(CDLL) (Right-leaningRight-wing politicsIn politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
) - Ceux de la RésistanceCeux de la RésistanceCeux de la Résistance" was a French resistance movement during the German occupation of France in World War II.At first the members of CDLR distributed copies of the underground newspaper Combat in the north zone of France which was directly occupied by the Germans...
(CDLR) (ApoliticalApoliticalThe state or quality of being apolitical can be the apathy and/or the antipathy towards all political affiliations. Being apolitical can also refer to situations in which people take an unbiased position in regard to political matters.-References:...
) - CombatCombat (French Resistance)Combat was a large movement in the French Resistance created in the non-occupied zone of France during the Second World War .Combat was one of the eight great resistance movements which constituted the Conseil national de la Résistance....
(Christian democraticChristian DemocracyChristian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
) - Franc-Tireur (Left-leaningLeft-wing politicsIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
) - Front NationalFront National (French Resistance)The National Front was a World War II French Resistance movement, created in 1941 by Jacques Duclos and Pierre Villon, both members of the French Communist Party...
(Communist) - Libération-NordLibération-NordLibération-Nord was one of the principal resistance movements in the northern occupied zone of France during the Second World War.It was one of the eight great networks to make up the National Council of the Resistance.- History :...
(Left-leaningLeft-wing politicsIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
) - Libération-SudLibération-sudThe Libération-sud resistance group was established by a group of French people, including Emmanuel d'Astier, Lucie Aubrac and Raymond Aubrac. The first important Resistant group to emerge after the German occupation, it began publishing Libération in July 1941...
(Left-leaningLeft-wing politicsIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
) - Organisation civile et militaireOrganisation civile et militaireThe Organisation civile et militaire was one of the great movements of the French Resistance in the zone occupée, the northern German-occupied region of France, during the Second World War....
(OCM) (Right-leaningRight-wing politicsIn politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
at first and left-leaningLeft-wing politicsIn politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
at the end of the war)
Unifications of the major movements
- L'Armée SecrèteArmée secrèteThe Armée secrète, created in 1943, was an organisation of French resistance fighters during World War II set up by Jean Moulin. It resulted from an amalgamation of three smaller resistance groups:*Combat*Libération-Sud*Franc-Tireur...
(AS) was formed in 1942 to combine the military organisations of the major resistance movements of Vichy FranceVichy FranceVichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
. The organisation had a particularly strong presence in the VercorsVercorsVercors is an upland district in the south-east of France:* Vercors Caves, a set of long caves* Vercors Plateau, a range of mountains and plateaus in the department of Isère, French Alps* Vercors Regional Natural Park, a protected area of southeastern France...
, LyonLyonLyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
and Massif centralMassif CentralThe Massif Central is an elevated region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaux....
départements of the Rhône-AlpesRhône-AlpesRhône-Alpes is one of the 27 regions of France, located on the eastern border of the country, towards the south. The region was named after the Rhône River and the Alps mountain range. Its capital, Lyon, is the second-largest metropolitan area in France after Paris...
region. - Mouvements Unis de la Résistance (MUR) was formed in January 1943 as the civilian branch of the Armée Secrète.
- Le Mouvement de Libération Nationale (MLN) was formed in early 1944 to combine the MUR of the Southern Zone with several movements in the Northern Zone. Many of the volunteers involved in the MLN went on to found the Democratic and Socialist Union of the ResistanceDemocratic and Socialist Union of the ResistanceThe Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance was a French political party found at the Liberation and in activity during the Fourth Republic...
. - The Bataillons de la Jeunesse militant communist youth movement was incorporated into the Francs-tireurs partisansFrancs-tireursFrancs-tireurs – literally "free shooters" – was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War...
(FTP).
Ultimately, unification took place from late 1943 to early 1944 when the Armée Secrète, the Francs-tireurs
Francs-tireurs
Francs-tireurs – literally "free shooters" – was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War...
and other organisations gave birth to the French Forces of the Interior
French Forces of the Interior
The French Forces of the Interior refers to French resistance fighters in the later 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...
(FFI).
Other movements
- The Special Operations ExecutiveSpecial Operations ExecutiveThe Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
(SOE) was a BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
military organisation that directed from LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. It parachuted more than four hundred agents into occupied France to establish escape routes, coordinate acts of sabotage and set up radio communications. It also supplied materials and armaments for French groups. - The American OSS and the SOE contributed Jedburgh teamsOperation JedburghOperation Jedburgh was a clandestine operation during World War II, in which personnel of the British Special Operations Executive, the U.S...
in 1944 to aid the resistance and arrange air supply of equipment. - Défense de la FranceDéfense de la FranceDéfense de la France is the name given to a group of the French Resistance during the Second World War.Essentially developed in the Northern Zone, Défense de la France distinguishes itself by an activity centred on the distribution of a clandestine newspaper created in August 1941 by a group of...
was a resistance group in the Northern zone that was centred around the distribution of a clandestine newspaper, whose circulation had reached 450,000 by January 1944. - The Groupe du musée de l'Homme was formed by Parisian academics and intellectuals in 1940 after General Charles de GaulleCharles de GaulleCharles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
's Appeal of 18 June. It distributed clandestine newspapers, but with a more patriotic conservative position than others. It also transmitted political and military information to Britain and helped to hide escaped Allied Prisoners of Wars (POWs). Vichy agents eventually infiltrated the group and many members were arrested and later executed. - The Noyautage des administrations publiquesNoyautage des administrations publiquesNoyautage des administrations publiques, also known by the abbreviation NAP, was an arm of the French Resistance, started by André Plaisantin of the Combat movement, with the aim of infiltrating the Vichy Government...
(NAP) was a resistance organisation launched in 1942 with the mission of infiltrating the administration of the Vichy regime. The main intelligence missions it carried out on behalf of the Free FrenchFree French ForcesThe Free French Forces were French partisans in World War II who decided to continue fighting against the forces of the Axis powers after the surrender of France and subsequent German occupation and, in the case of Vichy France, collaboration with the Germans.-Definition:In many sources, Free...
were providing false papers and preparing for the seizure of power after the liberation of France. - The Mouvement National des Prisonniers de Guerre et Déportés (MNPGD)
Networks
- Alliance
- The Brutus NetworkBrutus NetworkThe Brutus Network was a French Resistant movement during World War II. It was founded in 1941 by Pierre Fourcaud, parachuted in France with instructions from Charles de Gaulle to set up an intelligence network , and other socialist members of the French Section of the Workers' International ,...
- The Notre-Dame Brotherhood
- The Carte OrganisationThe Carte OrganisationThe Carte Organisation was a putative organ of French resistance during the Second World War.It was the brainchild of André Girard, an artist who claimed to have at his command a secret army of hundreds of thousands of would-be résistants waiting to rise against the Germans once they were properly...
- Comité d'Action Socialiste (CAS) - Founded in January 1941 by Daniel Mayer, member of the French Socialist Party.
- Comité Départemental de Libération (CDL or Departmental Liberation Committee)
- Comité de libération du cinéma françaisComité de libération du cinéma françaisComité de libération du cinéma français was an organization of filmmakers in France created in 1943. Most known members are Jacques Becker, Pierre Blanchar, Louis Daquin, Jean Painlevé, Jean-Paul Le Chainos. Members of this organization made projects for French cinema for after the War...
- Interallié - An intelligence organization formed by Roman Sziarnowski and Mathilde Carre. It was crushed in 1942.
- Pat O'Leary NetworkAlbert GuérisseMajor-General Comte Albert-Marie Edmond Guérisse, GC, KBE, DSO was a Belgian Resistance member who organized escape routes for downed Allied pilots during World War II under the alias of Patrick Albert "Pat" O'Leary, the name of a Canadian friend...
- Réseau MorhangeRéseau MorhangeRéseau Morhange was a French resistance group created in 1943 by Marcel Taillandier in Toulouse. The group organised direct action and counterintelligence against the German occupied and collaborators of Vichy France....
- Résistance-FerRésistance-FerRésistance-Fer was a French Resistance group against the German occupation of France during the Second World War.This specific movement was essentially composed of French railway workers from the SNCF and played an active role in the French Resistance....
- Resistance-Reseau Vaneau