Eleven Days in August

by Matthew Cobb

  64 Mesnil-Amar (2009), p. 112. See chapter 7, note 59 regarding dating in Mesnil-Amar’s diary.

  65 Chaigneau (1981), pp. 182–5.

  66 Baker (1972), p. 621.

  67 Lankford (1991), p. 161.

  68 AN 72AJ/62/I/4, pp. 1–8 and AN 72AJ/62/I/4, pp. 9–12. Some sections of these two accounts (the second of which is undated and unsigned) are near-identical.

  69 Campaux (1945), p. 30.

  70 Campaux (1945), p. 124. On 24 August, Paul Tuffrau described a rumour he had heard about ‘Japanese’ men on a road near boulevard Saint-Germain who ‘ran like monkeys along the guttering and shot at passers-by’ (Tuffrau, 2002, p. 99).

  71 Dupuy (1945), pp. 21–2. Dupuy was a policeman in the 6th arrondissement; he reports that the policeman who arrested the résistant, Monsieur Nicolas, was in turn arrested for disrespect to a member of the Resistance, and was released twenty-four hours later after protests from his comrades (Dupuy, 1945, p. 22).

  72 Benoît-Guyod (1962), pp. 289–90.

  73 Campaux (1945), p. 110.

  74 G.-Jean Reybaz, the author of the diary that is the source for this anecdote, described the women as looking like ‘pétroleuses’ (Campaux, 1945, p. 71). These were the revolutionary women of the 1871 Paris Commune who captured the bourgeois imagination by their (undeserved) reputation for setting fire to buildings, allegedly while in a state of déshabillée.

  75 Campaux (1945), p. 71.

  76 de Saint-Pierre (1945), pp. 58–9.

  77 All details in this paragraph taken from Vilain (1945), pp. 10–12.

  78 In his order to FFI troops that afternoon, Rol pointed out that: ‘The white flag is flown by troops that wish to surrender.’ (Rol-Tanguy & Bourderon, 1994, p. 218).

  79 All the material in this paragraph is from Cazaux (1975), pp. 162–3. Cazaux states that the two dead people he found were on the corner of the rue de Verneuil and the rue de Bellechase (p. 164); however, the two streets do not have a junction.

  80 Simone Jaffray died of her wounds shortly afterwards; there is a plaque to her memory at 18 rue Jacquemot.

  81 See the photographs taken by Camille Rapp, reproduced in Fournier & Eymard (2009), p. 24.

  82 Echenberg (1985), p. 373. The only source for Dukson’s life is Dunan (1945). Many African POWs were held in labour camps in north-eastern France, and used various subterfuges to escape. An estimated 5000 Africans were living in Paris during the occupation (Echenberg, 2005; Scheck, 2010).

  83 A photograph apparently showing this can be seen in Anonymous (1944), p. 32.

  84 The vehicle was a Panzerkampfwagen R35, a small tank destroyer armed with a 4.7 cm cannon, based on the French R35 light tank (Fournier & Eymard, 2009, p. 24–5). Fournier & Eymard, 2009, p. 25 shows a blurred photograph of the tank surrounded by about a dozen people; the photograph of the seizure of the tank, much clearer and presumably taken afterwards, can be seen in Plate 20 – Dukson is in the middle of this image, on top of the tank. Another photograph on the same page shows the same vehicle being driven along the streets accompanied by a large crowd; Dukson is leading the tank, walking backwards with his back to the camera. Rocheteau dates this event to 25 August; however, this is clearly wrong, as Dukson is not wearing a sling, so the photographs must have been taken before the afternoon of August 22, when he was shot (see chapter 11). Fournier & Eymard state that the event took place on 21 August, but provide no evidence. On 20 August Jean-Claude Touche was an eye-witness to the seizure of what he described as a ‘camion’ (lorry), which in all other respects was identical to the events seen in the photographs; I have therefore included it in this chapter (Touche, 1946, pp. 92–5). He makes no reference to a black man.

  85 Touche (1946), pp. 92–5.

  86 Auroy (2009), p. 324. The editors of Berthe Auroy’s diaries note ‘there is no certainty that these incidents were true’ (p. 324). This seems excessively cautious on their part – it is quite conceivable that the black man was Georges Dukson or another black résistant. There is no suggestion of racism in Madame Auroy’s account; indeed she suggests that black people were particularly likely to be denounced by collaborators during the occupation. According to Dubois (1944), on 22 August ‘scalps’ were put on the railings outside the Mairie of the 17th arrondissement (p. 72).

  87 AN 72AJ/61/I/14, p. 3.

  88 See Benoît-Guyod (1962), p. 292 for instructions with regard to the Left Bank.

  89 ANACR (2005), p. 283.

  90 Crémieux (1971), pp. 90–1. It is unclear where Rol got this information; furthermore, he claims that only five Germans were killed in the same period, which seems a rather low figure. This latter figure coincides with that given by Dufresne (Massiet, 1945, p. 147, n. 1). Dufresne does not give a source, either, and his other figures are different from those provided by Rol.

  91 AN 72AJ/62/III/4, pp. 11–12. High-ranking Vichy civil servant Henri Culmann had a similar experience in the late afternoon. He had been having a drink with friends on their balcony on the rue Soufflot, which leads from the Jardin du Luxembourg up to the Pantheon. After the loudspeaker cars had gone by, all was quiet and he began to make his way home, only to bump into a German tank, squatting on the boulevard Saint-Michel:

  . . . the machine gun on the tank lowered itself in our direction and, from about 15 metres away, let loose a hail of fire . . . Everyone ran, screaming and falling. I tripped over someone and, in a comical moment, just managed to avoid a dog turd on the pavement as I fell. Myself and one other person got up. Five bodies lay on the ground, trying to raise themselves, bleeding. I looked down at my trousers – no trace of blood or turd. We dragged the wounded people out of the line of fire of the tank and into a hotel foyer on the rue Le Goff . . . I tied my tie round the thigh of a young girl who was bleeding like a stuck pig and ran to a telephone to call for help. (Culmann, 1985, pp. 297–8.)

  92 Bood (1974), p. 321.

  93 Bood (1974), p. 320.

  94 Bood (1974), p. 321.

  95 There are four main versions of this incident, all of which have been used here; three by participants (Nordling, 2002, pp. 129–32; von Choltitz, 1969, pp. 233–6; and Parodi in Crémieux, 1971, pp. 83–60) and the most detailed version, provided by Dansette (1946), pp. 226–33. A critical analysis can be found in Bourget (1984), pp. 330–2, while a typically lush account is given by Collins & Lapierre (1965), pp. 147–50.

  96 The detail here is based on Dansette (1946), pp. 226–9. This is a deliberately compressed version: in fact, the three men had initially been taken to the Hôtel Meurice, but von Choltitz was absent; they were then taken away to a Gestapo building on the edge of Paris, before being returned to the German headquarters after von Choltitz became aware that they had been arrested.

  97 Nordling (2002), p. 129, implies that Posch-Pastor was already in the room, and does not mention Bender. In his account, von Choltitz says: ‘Nordling arrived soon afterwards, accompanied by two men I did not know – I assumed they were interpreters.’ (Von Choltitz, 1969, p. 234.) Dansette (1946), p. 229 states that Bender and Posch-Pastor arrived with Nordling. Parodi repeatedly had the impression that his words were not being precisely translated by Posch-Pastor (Crémieux, 1971, p. 85); according to Nordling, Posch-Pastor ‘did all he could to moderate Parodi’s responses so as not to irritate the General’ (Nordling, 2002, p. 130).

  98 Nordling (2002), p, 131. According to Dansette, a Gestapo officer said as the men were leaving: ‘That’s the most important arrest of my career. It’s a dirty trick to let them go!’ (Dansette, 1946, p. 233).

  99 Nordling (2002), p. 131.

  100 Crémieux (1971), p. 86; Dansette (1946), p. 233. The men were followed by two Gestapo agents, but came to no harm. Nordling returned most of the papers to Parodi, keeping a few for form’s sake. Earlier in the day, de Gaulle’s Minister of the Interior, veteran résistant Emmanuel d’Astier, had sent a message to Parodi showing the confidence that the Free French had in their delegate: ‘You alone have the authority to decide all th
e arrangements for the seizure of power in Paris and to set up any provisional administrative structures.’ (AN 72AJ/231/I/13, p. 2.) It is not known if Parodi received this message.

  101 Jay (n.d.), p. 70.

  102 Martens & Nagel (2006), p. 522.

  103 Galtier-Boissière (1944), pp. 262–3.

  104 Herbert Eckelmann recalled that ‘Speer’ came to visit Paris on 20 August (Pryce-Jones, 1981, p. 298). It has understandably been assumed that this was Albert Speer, Hitler’s Industry Minister (e.g. Renoult & West, 2009, p. 10). However, there is no mention of any such visit in Speer’s memoirs (Speer, 1970), suggesting either that Eckelmann was mistaken, or that he was referring to a different Speer.

  105 B-034, p. 368; Blumenson (1961), p. 598.

  CHAPTER 10

  1 Bood (1974), p. 323.

  2 Fontaine (2005), pp. 130–2. Footage of the awful scene at Romainville is included at 12:00 in La Libération de Paris (1944).

  3 Chaigneau (1981), pp. 188–94. Only their father would return, a broken man.

  4 Auroy (2008), p. 325.

  5 Courtin (1994), p. 34.

  6 Cazaux (1975), p. 167.

  7 Chevrillon (1995), p. 163. The eye-witness was Claire Chevrillon, who was told to go to the Préfecture and code Parodi’s messages. But she forgot to take her code books, so she was ordered to go to what is now place du Président Mithouard and await instructions. In the subsequent turmoil it seems she was forgotten, as she waited there for a couple of days before finally joining in the fighting. The scene inside the Préfecture, pretty much as Chevrillon described it, including the steaming cooking pots, can be seen at around 8:30 in La Libération de Paris (1944).

  8 Parodi’s agreed routes were later announced by Colonel Lizé (Massiet, 1945, pp. 144–5); see also AN 72AJ/62/I/23, pp. 26–7. One route stayed on the north bank of the Seine, from la Défense, via the ‘grands boulévards’ to République and thence to Nation and Vincennes. The other began on the south bank, from the porte d’Italie, crossing the Seine at the pont National, and then went to Vincennes.

  9 Rol gave slightly different versions of this: Bourderon (2004), pp. 410–11; Crémieux (1971), pp. 89–90 and Rol-Tanguy & Bourderon (1994), pp. 243–4. The exact words Rol recalls using were ‘C’est joué’. Parodi never gave his version of these events.

  10 Rol-Tanguy & Bourderon (1994), p. 243. The full text of Lize’s message is not given; it is not even mentioned in Massiet (1945), pp. 144–6, which is an otherwise complete set of Lize’s communications on 21 August.

  11 AN 72AJ/61/III/1, pp. 274–5.

  12 Massiet (1945), pp. 144–6. For the next five hours, Lizé issued a series of instructions along these lines, ordering his troops not to attack German forces unless they were hostile or were holding prisoners. Parodi’s title was not in fact ‘Delegated Commissar of the Provisional Government’; he was the General Delegate.

  13 The nonsensical story about the Senlis parachutists was heard two days later by Yves Cazaux (Cazaux, 1975, p. 176).

  14 All information in this paragraph from BAM VV, 21.8. Veau and Pasteur Vallery-Radot do not seem to have considered that giving Ollivier a Red Cross armband was in any way inappropriate. The next evening, Professor Veau noted with surprise that the BBC said nothing about Senlis (BAM VV, 22.8).

  15 Barat (1945), p. 67.

  16 Roy (1944), p. 25.

  17 Brahms’ story is told in Dunan (1945), pp. 171–93. There is a photograph of Brahms in the Préfecture courtyard, next to a captured ‘PAK 40’ 75 mm gun (see note 22 below), in Gratias (1945), no page number, caption: ‘La maison de l’ordre . . .’.

  18 Barat (1945), p. 69.

  19 Boegner (1992), p. 287. Monod had allowed Claire Chevrillon to hide the codes for Parodi’s messages in the organ pipes of his church on rue Roquépine (Chevrillon, 1995, p. 126).

  20 Barat (1945), p. 71.

  21 Campaux (1945), p. 111.

  22 Barat (1945), p. 72. See Plate 21. Identified as a PAK 40 75 mm gun in Fournier & Eymard (2009), p. 29. There are photographs of the captured gun in Gratias (1945) (no page number, caption: ‘Le canon de la Préfecture de Police’) and in Barozzi (1980), p. 90. A drawing of the gun being towed off by the police to the Préfecture is in Maudru (1944), opposite p. 62. The gun can be seen being manoeuvred at the Préfecture at 10:48 in La Libération de Paris (1944).

  23 Campaux (1945), p. 103.

  24 Campaux (1945), p. 103.

  25 Campaux (1945), p. 112. De Boisgelin’s diary stops at this point. A photograph of the busy courtyard of the Hôtel-Dieu can be found in Rocheteau (2004), p. 26.

  26 Hazard (1998), p. 391.

  27 Later on, Anne Marie was wounded in the hand, and after the liberation was fêted as ‘Anita the Amazon’ (see the photograph by René Zuber, taken on 21 August, in Anonymous, 2004, p. 27). Anna was a member of the Equipes nationales, a volunteer group set up by Vichy that provided first-aid during bombing raids. Footage of this incident can be seen at 16:00 in La Libération de Paris (1944).

  28 Martens & Nagel (2006), p. 522.

  29 Walraff wrote: ‘Many stories like this were circulating. Of course, they strengthened our determination to defend ourselves against the Resistance and to stop fighting only when regular, disciplined troops attacked our strongholds.’ Bourget (1984), pp. 338–9.

  30 Renoult & West (2009), p. 31.

  31 von Choltitz (1969), p. 238.

  32 NA GRGG 183, p. 6. This estimation was largely correct; according to the German military historian K. J. Müller, the 1st Army ‘was made up of two or three poorly combative divisions, very weak as far as vehicles and armour were concerned’ (Lévisse-Touzé, 1994a, p. 180). In the original transcript of von Choltitz’s conversation, each of the military titles is given in inverted commas.

  33 A-956, p. 10.

  34 Renoult & West (2009), p. 53; Massiet (1945), p. 159.

  35 The Team AUBREY ‘Report Upon Return from the Field’ describes these two people as ‘cousins’ (OSS War Diary 3:774). I have interpreted this to mean liaison agents.

  36 The messages are summarised in OSS War Diary 3:770–7; Hooker’s account of the period he was separated from the rest of the team is given in OSS War Diary 3:779–82.

  37 All information from OSS War Diary 3:771–4.

  38 AN 72AJ/42/IV/3, p. 22; Denis (1963), p. 109.

  39 Denis (1963), p. 110. For Hamon’s later description of his attitude at this meeting, see Crémieux (1971), p. 93.

  40 For the plans of the bunker, see Archives de la RATP. A version of the plan is given in Bourderon (2004), pp. 420-1. The generators were diesel-powered, with additional bicycle power if necessary; Rol was grateful that they never had to use the bikes (Bouderon, 2004, pp. 419–20). When Rol was first taken down the concrete steps leading to the bunker, he was touched to see that the air-conditioning system had been built by the engineering factory where he had worked before the war (Bourderon, 2004, p. 419). Although the rooms still exist, it is not possible to visit them; they are apparently empty, full only of ghosts. The short stretch of the place Denfert-Rocherau that contains the entrance to the bunker is now named avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy. A photograph of Rol-Tanguy in the bunker can be found in Kriegel-Valrimont (1964), opposite p. 224 and de Thézy & Gunther (1994), p. 30. A newsreel including footage of the facility, shown in November 1944 but containing scenes apparently filmed during the insurrection, can be seen at www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/seconde-guerre-mondiale/video/AFE86002885/l-armee-nouvelle-les-ffi-pc-ducolonel-rol.fr.html [accessed July 2012].

  41 Kriegel-Valrimont (1964), pp. 202–205. See also Rol’s account in Bourderon (2004), p. 411. After the war, Rol-Tanguy was always extremely generous in his description of Chaban’s behaviour during the insurrection. This incident was no exception. Rol-Tanguy said: ‘During this meeting, Chaban seemed somewhat embarrassed, avoiding answering questions, no doubt caught between the need to obey his orders and his awareness of the reality of the situation, in particular beca
use he was so attached to the importance of the unity of the Resistance.’ (Bourderon, 2004, p. 411.) Chaban never gave his version of this meeting.

  42 In a series of messages to London on 21 August, Chaban explained what had been happening in the capital and underlined the dangerous position the Free French found themselves in, as the population and the Resistance seemed to have gained the upper hand, with the support of an important section of the population:

  The Bank of France and the major department stores are on strike and have the same demands and the same strike-leaders as in 1936 . . . We could not stop the movement, so the leadership of the Resistance called for an insurrection . . . the German general in command of Paris proposed a cease-fire, allowing the FFI to remain in the occupied buildings and recognising the FFI as regular soldiers. QUARTUS [Parodi] and myself were able to obtain a vote in favour of this . . . It remains vital that the Allies arrive quickly as there are severe risks that the agreement will be broken. The agreement represents a major victory for the Resistance as it avoids the destruction of the city and any massacre of the population. (ML-Arc.)

  43 de Gaulle (1956), pp. 702–703.

  44 Castetbon (2004) contains photographs of these victims and the plaques commemorating their lives, along with moving interviews with their surviving relatives. Lahuec’s wife, 26-year-old Lucienne, was in the countryside with her three small sons, and did not learn of his death until September.

  45 There are over sixty plaques in the area, many of which are shown here: www.liberation-de-paris.gilles-primout.fr/emagenta.htm [accessed July 2012].

  46 Anonymous (2004), p. 70. This version of the photograph has been heavily retouched, and it is difficult to know whether some details (for example the revolver that a German soldier standing near the dead bodies appears to be holding in his hand) are original.

  47 All details from Ouzoulias (1972), pp. 447–8. Bouchetou and his two comrades, Yvan Penetier-Eldarof and Guy Brulé, had just participated in the liberation of the Communist Party headquarters on the rue Pelletier (it had been occupied by the Milice). Their mission was to find more weapons in order to be able to defend the building from the Germans.