Eleven Days in August Read online

  ELEVEN DAYS

  IN AUGUST

  Also by Matthew Cobb

  THE RESISTANCE: THE FRENCH FIGHT AGAINST THE NAZIS

  First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2013

  A CBS COMPANY

  Copyright © 2013 by Matthew Cobb

  The author and publishers have made all reasonable efforts to contact copyright-holders for permission, and apologise for any omissions or errors in the form of credits given. Corrections may be made to future printings.

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

  No reproduction without permission.

  All rights reserved.

  The right of Matthew Cobb to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

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  Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney

  Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  Hardback ISBN: 978-0-85720-317-5

  Ebook ISBN: 978-0-85720-319-9

  Typeset by M Rules

  Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

  For Lauren and Evie, a tale of your city

  Contents

  Maps

  Dramatis Personae

  Glossary

  Introduction

  Prelude. April 1944: Bombers

  1 June–July: Hope

  2 Early August: Breakout

  3 Mid-August: Build-up

  4 Tuesday 15 August: Turning-point

  5 Wednesday 16 August: Crimes

  6 Thursday 17 August: Twilight

  7 Friday 18 August: Waiting

  8 Saturday 19 August: Insurrection

  9 Sunday 20 August: Cease-fire

  10 Monday 21 August: Conflict

  11 Tuesday 22 August: Barricades

  12 Wednesday 23 August: Destruction

  13 Thursday 24 August, Day: Battle

  14 Thursday 24 August, Evening: Arrival

  15 Friday 25 August, Day: Endgame

  16 Friday 25 August, Evening: Triumph

  17 Saturday 26 August: Celebration

  18 27 August–31 December: Restoration

  Epilogue: Mythification

  Bibliography

  Acknowledgements

  Notes

  List of Illustrations

  Index

  Dramatis personae

  2e DB Free French 2nd Armoured Division

  Colonel Pierre Billotte

  Colonel Alain de Boissieu

  Colonel Paul de Langlade

  Captain Raymond Dronne

  General Philippe Leclerc

  Lieutenant Suzanne Torrès, Rochambeau Ambulance Brigade

  Allies

  Colonel Claude Arnould (‘Ollivier’), JADE-AMICOL MI6 circuit

  General Omar Bradley, US Army

  Colonel George Bruce, OSS

  Captain Adrien Chaigneau, Jedburgh Team AUBREY

  General Leonard Gerow, US Army

  Sergeant Ivor Hooker, Jedburgh Team AUBREY

  Captain Guy Marchant, Jedburgh Team AUBREY

  General George S. Patton, US Army

  Collaborators

  René Bouffet, Prefect of the Seine

  Robert Brasillach, writer

  Amédée Bussière, Prefect of Police

  Marcel Déat, fascist politician

  Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, writer

  Philippe Henriot, journalist

  Max Knipping, northern leader of the Milice

  Pierre Laval, Prime Minister

  Lucien Rébatet, journalist

  Pierre Taittinger, President of the Paris Council

  Free French

  Georges Boris, London head of propaganda

  General Jacques Delmas (‘Chaban’), National Military Delegate

  Francis-Louis Closon, BCRA

  Marcel Flouret, Prefect of the Seine

  General Koenig, Commander of the Free French Army

  Charles Luizet, Prefect of Police

  Alexandre Parodi, General Delegate

  Edgard Pisani, Luizet’s aide

  Roland Pré (‘Oronte’), Regional Military Delegate

  Germans

  Otto Abetz, German ambassador to France

  Lieutenant Dankwart Graf von Arnim, aide to von Choltitz

  Emil ‘Bobby’ Bender, German intelligence, British agent

  Lieutenant-General Wilhelm von Boineburg, military commander of Paris

  General Dietrich von Choltitz, military commander of Greater Paris

  Private Walter Dreizner, military electrician, photographer

  Colonel Jay, Ordnance officer to von Choltitz

  Field Marshal von Kluge, German commander in the West

  Field Marshal Model, German commander in the West

  SS General Carl Oberg, SS chief in Paris

  Lieutenant Erich ‘Riki’ Posch-Pastor, German officer, British agent

  General Hans Speidel, Chief of Staff of Army Group B

  Quartermaster Robert Wallraf

  Neutrals

  René Naville, Swiss legate

  Rolf Nordling, brother of Raoul

  Raoul Nordling, Swedish Consul General

  Others

  Ernest Hemingway, writer

  Philippe Herriot, ex-President of the National Assembly

  P. G. Wodehouse, writer

  Parisians

  Berthe Auroy, retired schoolteacher

  Georges Benoît-Guyod, retired officer

  Andrzej Bobkowski, Polish exile

  Marc Boegner, Protestant priest

  Daniel Boisdon, lawyer

  Micheline Bood, teenage schoolgirl

  Yves Cazaux, civil servant

  Simone de Beauvoir, writer

  Edmond Dubois, Swiss journalist

  Jean Galtier-Boissière, journalist

  Benoîte Groult, single woman, sister of Flora

  Flora Groult, schoolgirl

  Albert Grunberg, hairdresser

  Jean Guéhenno, schoolteacher

  Odette Lainville, housewife

  Jacqueline Mesnil-Amar, housewife

  Pierre Patin, railway engineer

  Pablo Picasso, artist

  Claude Roy, journalist

  Jean-Paul Sartre, writer

  Jean-Claude Touche, student

  Paul Tuffrau, university lecturer

  Victor Veau, retired surgeon

  Camille Vilain, poet

  Résistants

  André Amar, Organisation Juive de Combat

  Major Armand (‘Spiritualist’), SOE

  Georges Bidault, President of the Conseil National de la Résistance

  Claire Chevrillon, Parodi’s coder

  Captain Roger Cocteau (‘Gallois’), FFI

  René Courtin, Secretary-General for the Economy

  General Dassault, Front National

  Georges Dukson, FFI

  Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, ALLIANCE

  Colonel Pierre Georges (‘Fabien’), FTP

  Léo Hamon, Ceux de la Résistance representative on CPL

  Maurice Kriegel (‘Valrimont’), member of COMAC

  Marie-Helène Lefaucheux, OCM representative on CPL

  Pierre Lefaucheux, OCM head of Paris FFI until July 1944

  Colonel Tessier de Marguerittes (‘Lizé’), FFI

  Commander Raymond Massiet (‘Dufresnes’), FFI regional chief of staff

  Doctor Monod, FFI

  Bernard Pierquin, Resistance medical servic
e

  Jean Sainteny (‘Dragon’), ALLIANCE

  Colonel Henri Tanguy (‘Rol’), regional FFI commander

  Madeline Riffaud, FFI

  Roger Stéphane, FFI

  Charles Tillon, FTP

  Pierre Villon, communist, member of COMAC

  Count Jean de Vogüé (‘Vaillant’), member of COMAC

  Glossary

  AMGOT

  Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories

  2e DB

  Deuxième Division Blindée (Free French 2nd Armoured Division), Free French Army / Third US Army

  BCRA

  Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action – Free French Intelligence Service

  Ceux de la Résistance

  Resistance group, based mainly in Paris region

  CGT

  Conféderation Générale du Travail – General Labour Confederation

  CNR

  Conseil National de la Résistance – the Resistance leadership

  COMAC

  Comité d’Action Militaire – the Resistance military leadership

  CPL

  Comité Parisien de la Libération – leadership of the Parisian Resistance

  FFI

  Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur – armed wing of the Resistance

  Free French

  Generic term for supporters of de Gaulle and of the Provisional Government

  FTP

  Franc-Tireurs et Partisans – Communist Party armed group

  Libération-Nord

  Resistance group based in the north of France

  OCM

  Organisation Civile et Militaire – right-wing Resistance group

  OSS

  Office of Strategic Services – US intelligence organisation

  mairie

  Town hall

  Milice

  French fascist paramilitary organisation that specialised in fighting the Resistance

  PCF

  Parti Communiste Français – French Communist Party

  SHAEF

  Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force

  SOE

  Special Operations Executive – secret British military organisation

  Introduction

  On 14 June 1940, when the German Army marched into Paris without a shot being fired, over a dozen people took their lives in despair.1 Less than ten days later, the French government surrendered. The battle of France, which had begun in earnest six weeks earlier, had been brief, but bloody: over 300,000 French soldiers had been killed or wounded in the fighting, and nearly 2 million had been taken prisoner.

  Under the terms of the armistice, France was divided up, with the industrial north, including Paris, placed under direct German administration and occupation. For the next four years the Germans stamped the city with their Nazi presence. Official buildings were draped with massive swastika flags; French road signs were replaced with instructions in German gothic script; café terraces and public transport were packed with the grey-green uniforms of German troops. While some urbane Nazis hobnobbed with unprincipled French artists and intellectuals, swilling champagne in the nightclubs and discussing philosophy over cups of tea, tens of thousands of German administrators and soldiers based in the capital oversaw the systematic pillaging of France’s wealth, and the oppression and exploitation of the entire population. Rationing and shortages affected every aspect of life in the city, as the massive German military machine sucked resources like some vast parasite slowly destroying its host. The Germans spun a web of spies across the face of the capital; its centre was the Paris Gestapo headquarters on the rue des Saussaies, where French men and women were beaten, tortured and killed. The Gestapo were aided by the French police, who rounded up thousands of Parisian Jews and then deported them to Germany. After 1942, those Jews that remained in the city were forced to wear the yellow Star of David.

  In the south of France, which was not initially occupied by the Germans, the octogenarian Marshal Pétain led a nominally sovereign government, based in the spa town of Vichy. Pétain, who was in his dotage, coined the infamous term that marked this period in history: collaboration. As well as Pétain and the other collaborators, there were also committed fascists and anti-Semites who revelled in the triumph of the Nazis and wanted to see collaboration taken to an even higher level. These people, who included journalists, writers and politicians, tended to be based in Paris rather than Vichy. During the occupation the capital became a hothouse world in which the fascists plotted to take power from Pétain and his prime minister, Laval, and where their vile views were reinforced by the proximity of their jackbooted idols. From November 1942 the Germans occupied the southern zone of France, too, and all semblance of independence for Vichy disappeared. Although Pétain and his collaborationist government remained as an increasingly futile façade, real power in France always lay in the hands of the Germans, who were based in Paris.2

  Paris is not only the capital and the traditional seat of the French government, it has its own local administration and municipal police forces: In 1944, Paris was also the seat of the regional administration – the Seine département, which covered both the city and its suburbs. At the time there were ninety French départements, each of roughly equivalent size. In each département there was a representative of central government, called the Prefect; he had authority23 over all the civil servants in the region, and also acted as an interface between the government and the local councils. Paris was divided into twenty local areas or arrondissements, each with their own town hall or mairie and, before the war, an elected local council. The capital also contained two police forces – the municipal police, under the control of the Paris council, and the national police operating in the city, who were controlled by the Prefect of Police (not to be confused with the Prefect). Policing in the rural areas surrounding the city was the responsibility of French gendarmes, who were part of the Army.

  Paris combined a glorious architectural heritage in the centre and the west of the city with sordid working-class slums in the north and the east. Densely populated, with a substantial Jewish and immigrant population (many of whom had fled Russian pogroms, the Nazi invasion of Poland or the rise of fascism in Italy and Spain), Paris was still an industrial centre, with factories and workshops all over the north, east and parts of the south of the city. It was surrounded by a sea of industrial suburbs, full of engineering factories, many linked with the railways, and the vast Renault and Citroën car plants that sprawled across the south-western edge of the city. As well as the workers in the Paris factories and small workshops, there were tens of thousands of clerks working in the capital, employed by private companies or the government, earning just enough to buy what food they could find in the markets that existed in every neighbourhood. The markets got food from the immense abbatoirs at La Villette on the north-eastern edge of the city, or from the bustling wholesale market at Les Halles, right in the very centre of the capital. As the war continued, food supplies became increasingly restricted, and the black market flourished.

  *

  Even before France fell, General Charles de Gaulle was in London, broadcasting on the BBC and calling for French resistance to the occupation. De Gaulle had in mind continued military struggle by sections of the French Army, but this proved a vain hope, and only a few thousand troops joined de Gaulle’s ‘Free French’ in London.3 However, another form of ‘resistance’ soon appeared – underground Resistance groups were created, with Paris as one of the first and most important centres of their activity. These groups had a wide variety of political views and also differed over the kind of action they felt ought to be taken against the Germans; despite being lumped under the title ‘the Resistance’, in reality they never formed a cohesive whole. Nevertheless, in Paris, as elsewhere in France, for many people the Resistance shaped the course of the occupation, providing a voice of opposition by publishing underground newspapers, working with Allied secret agents, and even for a period sh
ooting soldiers and throwing bombs in a vain attempt to terrorise the immense German military machine.4

  After the tragic destruction in summer 1943 of a Paris-based group of Allied agents belonging to the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the Allies focused their attention outside of the capital, and by 1944 underground work against the Germans in Paris was very much left to the Free French and to the Resistance.5 Throughout the occupation, Paris was the scene of a series of disputes within the Resistance over what should be done to fight the Germans, with what means and under whose command. These arguments were amplified by the very real danger involved in carrying out underground activity, which created awful tensions and magnified minor differences. There was also an important difference between the activists in the Resistance and the Paris representatives of the Free French, who were widely seen as simply wanting to wait for the Allied armies to arrive. This difference not only related to means, it was also about ends. Most of the Paris Resistance organisations were not on the same political wavelength as the Free French. Indeed, many Resistance fighters in the capital and its region were close to the communists. Although all the groups came to accept de Gaulle as the Resistance figurehead, few of them were in favour of him taking power after the liberation of the country. The Resistance felt it should play an important role, but this was not at all how de Gaulle saw matters – by 1943 he was in charge of a provisional government in Algiers, and he intended to take control of France once the country had been liberated.

  Ultimately, the fate of France would be decided in Downing Street and the White House: the US and British Allies controlled all the levers of economic and military power. Although de Gaulle had undoubted popular support in France, the whole of the French ruling elite supported Pétain’s collaborationist government – not one leading industrialist, banker or military leader came over to the Free French. De Gaulle’s movement was entirely financed by handouts or loans from the Allies, while the Free French armed forces were completely integrated with the Allies and depended entirely on Allied tactical and logistical support when they carried out their operations. As a result, the fiercely independent de Gaulle had to count on the goodwill of Roosevelt, Churchill and, to a lesser extent, Stalin, while the three leaders saw France as merely part of the map of Europe, the future of which would be decided by the Allies, not by the French themselves. Throughout the war, de Gaulle’s relationship with the Allies remained stormy, and in the run-up to D-Day in June 1944 the Americans and the British prepared to take charge of France themselves, through an Allied Military Government of Occupied Territories (AMGOT). There were therefore three contending forces struggling for the future of France – the Allies, the Free French and the Resistance – and each had a different vision of what a post-war France should look like. The outcome of this three-way conflict was not determined in advance, and it was not certain that it would be peaceful. Paris came to symbolise that struggle, and the battle for Paris that took place in August 1944 played a decisive part in determining the future of the country.