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CHAPTER =) The French Resistance she filed hor story for the rocord in 1968, sbe still wished to maintain a groat deal of anonymity. Now, ‘tsronty-five years ater the writing, and forty-seven you afer hur iucideat, it ig impossible to piapoint exact dates or even last names, in 1943, when she was first active In the Franch Kosistance, she was but eighteon yoars old. In ail Hkeli- hood, Madeleine was a Commonist, but to what extent ‘cana gir of eighteen be philosophically and religiously committed fo commmnism? As events proved, she was very committed to libsratad France. “Her coda name was Renos. Sho was with the area ance loader when ho was shot dead by the ‘Cormana Michel (his tod nel ma tbo miata of belting Tike a scared fox from tho foot of a bridge they wore about to blow up. Ho ran straight across the bridge, giving the guards a cloar field vf fire, Raves escaped unharmed through a thick, tangled hedge. The ‘explosives they had intended to uso came from a mine ‘MODERN WEAPONS CACHING in nother: France, where they were cached by anothor iioup whom Reneé did not know. She was the only remaining member of her little central Paris band who knew the locations of the various weapons caches, ax ‘well asthe identity oftheir parallel cells. ‘At her aye and station in life she did not (even pas- sively) seek oul a position of leadership, but she knew that with most of the men still in prisoner of war camps, it was up to women Tike her to carry on the work af the Resistance. Hor life was made no less diffi- cult by an almost immediate directive relayed by mas: sage to every Resistanco mamber in the Paris regional group: “You are ordered to kill eno German.” [Ruuw6 picked two stout table knives from amongst the flatware in hor apartment. (Porlups une could da the job, but she wanted to he certain) She hoped the dark, tattered clothes she wore made her look much ‘alder and less conspicuous. Slowly, stooped and shu- fing, she pickeel hee way down the stroct. Two blocks away, Reneé slipped inio a short, seldom-used blind alley af! of one of Paris’ lessor streets. The few win dows wate either boarded or so grimed over with ditt thar Lite ight could pass through ‘Acting quickly now, Reneé squatted down, using her full skist to obscure the view back to the sires Pulling thu kaives from her pocket, sho began cutting the greasy dirt aud grime “rom around the twenty-sec- ond file, counting from a small smudge on the dirty brown stucco wall. After a moment oF two, she was able to raise the tile with the knife blade. Beneath it, under an inch of two of clay, was a small, rectangular tin box. ‘The box contained one fully loaded 8mm Modsle <@Ordonnage 1892 revolver. It was one of two weapons tha group possessed. This particular pistol had been in, storage for many months aow. Reneé noticed tht the wooden grips had started to crumble as a result of the ‘The French Revista stroet moisture sotling in a spot where handling had ‘wiped the Cosmoline away. She did not know who tiginally cached tha weapons, but she supposed thoy ‘were hidden prior tothe occupation. ‘Unbeknovnst to Rene®, the revolver was, hocause of 1s litad powor and smal! arumunition capacity, con- sidered substandard by French authorities. It hed found 4ts way into Resistance hands only because other poten- ‘tial users hed no use fort. ‘Afier spending the night practicing a dey-ficaron- ting with the waapon, Roned elimbad oa her bicycle au pedal 0 Pont do Selferine, «bridge ovo the Seine, for bor appointment with the Goztapo | GFronchspostishormen had reported that Gast najor customarily stralled the Seine every Sunday moming, usually stopping at Pont de Solferino to watch ‘hom catet fh.) Predictably, the majot was leaning on the rock walls smoking while be surveyed the anglers. He straightened a bit when he heard her shoes clacking on the cobble stones bebind. As he turzod, she fred point-blank into his faca, The tough old Prussian stond like a slons stat. ue rather than falling. She fied egain into his chat. [Now ho was down, Tharo ware no sounds of alarm. The ‘two, as fr as oha eould tol, wore slone, Even the Bish ‘rman paid litle bead. Roneé fought the instinct to ron immediately; the Resistance desperaioly needed additions? arms. Tt didnt tako long to strip the major’s Luger fom its bol- star and place it in hoc handbag with the revolver. ‘On a desperate run now. she jumped on her bicycle and pedaled off furiously down the quay. The only sound was of am automobile coming up the strest behind har. nichly and efficiently the car sidaswiped the bike, crampling it and sending the girl skidding aloag tho sineet. Kneeling on the pavement, sho tied to retriova a ‘MODERN WEAPONS CAGHING ‘06 of the spilled weapons and fire it into bor assailant, Bofore she could shoot, a French pellca officer twisted her arms bobind her hack and secured them with handcuffs, Reneé hed suffered the intense bad nek of running into aa officer out for a quiet drive with Dia eastrass, Automobile traffic in aeeupied Paris was extremely light, and Reneé was somewhat relieved lo arrive at the police prafacture ia three minutes, (The nervous mis- ‘ase bad bold hee at gunpoint, a sitoation Ronod rightly pancoived to be very dangerous.) ‘Shy was tumed over to a squad of Gestapotrained French collaborators. (After the war, most of these peor pple wore tried and exacuted for their activities, but at the time they played the role of expart interrogators for the Garmans.) However, duo to the spirit and strongth of tha Resistance and the rumored imminent landing of the Alliss, they chose net fo mistroat her physically. By one elaborate subterfuge after another they tried to ‘tick, cafole, or threaten tha nema of her saction chief ‘out of ber. Little did her French tormenters know that this young girl was, in fact, the section leadar. “Twas outraged by German atrocities in France,” she repeated over and over, “so I decided to kill a Gorman, { saw thy officer and 1 killed him.” Later, she shortened or account to a simple, “don’t know aay- ‘After her captora tied of this game, they tumed her over to the Germans, Sho was marchad into a bare room. and ordered to strip naked, The shame of standing ‘naked for ths first time bofors men was worse than that of taking a human life. Slowly and methodically, tha men pulled her bair ent, burned her feet, and auh- merged het head in a tub of ice water, Through it all, the blod and fostered, but she never said mara than doa’t kaow anything.” ‘Their last desperate atiompt involved bringing in a "The Preach Resistance recently captured sixteen-year-old boy whom Reneé 2. Tuy Tad 30 thera was no danger she would meeting was one of those coimci- ences that happen in times of war. As promised, her professional Gastago interrogators broke every bone in tha boy's hands, feet, arms, and logs while she was forced to watch. Yot Reneé held to her story until final- Jy and mercifully the lad wax dispatched with a shot in ‘the head. That afternoon tho Gestapo gave up and sent her to Fresines Prison under sentaneo of dasth. Reneé was liberated when the Allies landed and the Gormans retreated with more urgent matters on their minds. In spite of brutal cepressions of this sort, the Resistanca continued to grow. Although initially slow agalting ovt of the blocks, the Hree Hremch and the Allies did eventually open the weapons supply pipeline, get ‘ing considerable tonnage of supplies through to the Resistance, During all of 1943, the Royal Air Parca (RAP) dropped 2 miserably small number of two-hnadred- pound alumiaum eylindors to the Resistance in France-9, to bo exact. In 1942, when they finally understood the progrars, they dropped 201 containers. From January 1943 until Hbecation, heaven's geles were ‘openod us literally thousands of containers full of explosive manne rained dowa from the many Stirlings, Wellingtons, Halifaxes, and Dakotas sent over occupied France. Even ihe U.S. Army Air Force helped with this supply wtission, afier initially claiming that the risks ‘were not worth the potential gain, By lata 1943, the Resistance wes collectively assas- sinating an average of ona German sldier per dny in Paris alone. They were derailing trains on a regular basis, destroying fasiorie, and disrupting power supplies. As a reault of their stfors, telephone service waa 7D MODERN WEAPONS CACHING cache tubes fille with weapons are Toaded into airplanes to be ‘repped to Recsianen fighters eho will iter store the arms oF frou them Int amediate sevice (Phote courtesy efmperil War Stascun, Laon, England) virlually nonexistent, German field units wore forced to tus radios, which could be monitored im the U.K, ‘Various load configurations wore used, but the standard Iwo-hundred-pourd cache cylinder usually con tained the following 15 Bran guns, 78 extia magazines, and 1,000 rounds per gia 36 Enfield sfles with 150 rounds per gun 27 Sten guas, 100 extm magarines, 300 rounds pet gun, and 16 loadors 5 Enfield pistols with 50 oxtra rounds par gun 440 standard hand granades ‘Toward the nd af the war, the Parisians often met en nas is, and plan. A number of the weapons they display ‘ere capture frm the enemy. (Photo courtesy of asperal War Museum, London, England) 12 heavy:hand gronades 16 pounds of plastique with vaps and luzes 156 field dressings 5.600 rounds of Smm ammo 3.188 roureds oF 303 ammo. Reports from the pick-np agents in the field claimed that no matter how they tried, they were uover able te repack everything into the tubes. Te British packers ublized every square inch of space. Olen Use recipivuts smaile the mistake of immediately opaning the tubes to hark for damage, forcing them to carry’ parts of the cache by hand because taey would not all ft back in the tbe Se Ce seplason et mcalade aa e tubes fur delivery to tht Uronch Renin Lnpecial War Msarnm, Landon, England) ram parked ina cache (Phot etrleny oF Most drops were made hy air. Somo supplies were sent in by sea, but hecause German activitios wore ospe- cially intense within twenty-five milas of the coast, these cctions were limited. it'sh commandas placed soveral caches of munitions in shallow. offshore loca- tious, marking then with buoys of the type commonly tusod for lobster pots. One cache was found by fisher- ‘mon who tured it in to the Gormans for a onerous cash reward. Another was found by members of the Resistance, who immediately made good use of it. A third cache of supolios, not recovered until a year after its deposition, was mined. Apparently, the only agent who know of its existence and lecation was inadver- "Ths Presa Ronistauue a tently parachuted oato the roof of Gestapo headquar- tors, Ha survived bul was not released in time to get to the wapons before the curiusive sallwalor did. Limited cazhing technology of that ara required thal people give fully as much thougat to where a cache was placed as to how it might be comstrncted Rosistanco cache builders ranged from cavalise Le cautious with regard to thoir activitis. In all casas, it was essential that the weapoas be distribated and stored quickly, The Resistaace estimated that, as a {general culo, LO parceat of thelr celiveries was lost to the enemy, 10 pescant was just plain lost, 20 percent ‘was used immediately, and 60 percont was stored for future need. When the Allies landed at Normandy, those caches were bulging with enough arms aad munitions to sot up an intemally yeworaled Froa Fronch army, In this case, long-term caching was a ‘major strategy that the Pronch executed purposefully ‘and suscesafully. ‘Now and again, reports filter out of modern France uf accidental Fudiags o2 au azcieut Resistance arms cache uncovered in an old collar excavation or a road cul, ln gensral, however, most munitions landed and cached were ullimalely recovered and used. Resistance olficars almost universally believed that farmers and rural paople would do the best job of hid- ing woapons. Therafore, as a rule, they usually allempt- ed ta place caches on farms, im harns, and in har rucal soltings. Most Frorch eftizons sepported the Resistance in concept if net ou: in the fiold. it was unlikely that German authorities would be notified of suspicious movements ‘Al imos, the cachous took Incredible risks. Weapons wore slosed in wooden military crates inside barns, ‘milking pavlors, and horse stalls ike so many bales of hhay. Many had litle aoa than alight straw covering or a cloth tarp to keop them from the eyes of caswal indar such cicumstances, Resistance lead- ‘ars argued that the weapons wore boing issued as quickly as possible and that the opan storage was only very. temporary. Once the endl usars got hold of them, it Docame their duty to he sure Yaeir weapon was not dis soverod. Nevertheless, Kooping guns, ammo, and explosives out in almost plain view displayed an incredible amount of bravado, expecially given the severe penal- ties one could axpoct for being caaght with war materiel, Officially, it was a matter of policy for the Resistance that one naver rarriod a weapon or explosive unless engaging in an actual preplanned operation. Those who violated the rule and wore caught by the Gestapo quickly fouad themselves in death camps in eastern Cormany and Poland. Rulas regarding proper teaching wero, in that manner, strictly enforced, Froblems became ospocially severe in cities, where the numbar of Resistance members able to use firvarms ‘dwindled rapidly as a result of deat’ and irsternmont. Practice end training with live ammunition for replace- ment members was impossible, since the Germans were waging a fairly successful war of attrition. ‘Captured agents often revealed the ‘ocation of their caches when subjected to torture. On October 14, 1941, a farmer named DuBove was raidad by the Gostapo near the village of Lestice (Fifteen miles from Bordeaux) because a mombor gavo in to torture. A newly arzived agent from England namod Charles Hayes wes among those at the farm when it was hit by the Gastazo in the ‘wou hunuts of the morning. Fighting went on for more than tare hours as the agent, the farmer, and the farmer's sor ran from building to building in an attempt {0 hold off their atarkers. The stone house and ham afforded fairly good pro- tection, but eventually averyone, including several fameln resistors. worn tno wounded to go on, The men