Forgotten Heroes of WW II, The French Resistance

In 1940, when the Germans invaded France, many independent résistance cells were formed in France. Initially, these résistance cells provided only minimum opposition to the Germans. The opposition was in the form of strikes, bureaucratic delays, and occasional vandalism. What the French Résistance needed was coordination, weapons, and training. To provide all groups that were resisting the Germans, the British formed the office of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE started training agents who were either flown or parachuted into the occupied territories. Through the 1941-1942 period, the résistance cells were provided short wave radios, weapons, and SOE covert agents, which provided training. Beginning in 1942, the Allies were engaged in bombing the Germans in the occupied territories. The bombing runs resulted in Allied planes being shot down. This, in turn, resulted in Allied fliers parachuting behind enemy lines. The French résistance would find some of the downed fliers before the Germans. The résistance formed a series of safe houses to move the downed fliers through France and into Spain. From Spain, the fliers were taken to the British consulates. From the consulates, the fliers were transported back to England via sea transport. The résistance was credited with saving hundreds of fliers through this underground network.