The Price of Freedom: Financing French Resistance in World War II

322 Pages·2022·6.411 MB·English

by  David Foulk

The Price of Freedom
Financing French Resistance
in World War II
David Foulk
The Price of Freedom
David Foulk
The Price of Freedom
Financing French Resistance in World War II
David Foulk
Oriel College
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK
ISBN 978-3-031-09065-3 ISBN 978-3-031-09066-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09066-0
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For my family.
Acknowledgements
This book would not have been possible without the love and support
of Mathilde and my son Jude. My thanks to my mother and stepfather
for their unfailing help, notably with the proofreading and social network
analysis. My aunt, without whom I would not have been able to complete
this work, also deserves hearty recognition.
My sincere thanks to my supervisor, Robert Gildea, for his atten-
tive reading and support throughout the project. In France, Christophe
Bouneau, Christophe Lastécouères, Philippe Chassaigne, Laurent Coste
and Philippe Meyzie of Université Bordeaux Montaigne have provided
invaluable support over the years. The late Daniel Cordier provided much
detail on the experience of everyday life in occupied France, and I am very
fortunate to have been able to discuss this with him in person.
I wish to thank Steven Kippax, Philippe Oulmont, François Pacque-
ment and Natacha Postel-Vinay for having generously given their
time and assistance in various stages of the research for this book.
For my friends who work on military and economic history—Robin
Adams, Panarat Anamwathana, Mathieu Bideaux, Norma Cohen, Terence
Cudbird, Vaida Nikšaite˙ and Kenneth Mouré—my thanks for all of your
support.
In spite of the political and epidemiological difficulties experienced
during the research and writing of this text—Brexit, IGI 1300 and the
administrative closure of archives—here is the finished work.
vii
About This Book
The financing of French resistance is one of the least studied aspects
pertaining to France’s complex role in the Second World War.
By understanding how, and by whom, French resistance forces were
funded, both within and without France’s metropolitan borders, a funda-
mental reappraisal of the existing historiography of French resistance
becomes possible.
The book takes a transnational approach. By using digital humani-
ties techniques, including social network analysis (S.N.A.) and geographic
information systems (G.I.S.), alongside forensic accountancy of the Free
French and Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.) accounts, the thesis
seeks to ‘follow the money’ across the planet, from donor to end-
recipient. Those receiving the funds included Maquis forces and British-
and French-run networks in France.
This work argues that, without concerted efforts by the British and
U.S. governments and the Free French, this financing would not have
been possible and, due to a lack of funds, nascent resistance activity would
have been monetarily hampered, if not extinguished entirely. However,
the development of these funding lines was convoluted and rendered diffi-
cult due to the transportation of agents and funds behind enemy lines.
They were heavily impacted by political machinations and operational
security protocols but, through the efforts of financial administrators,
including intermediaries from the Bank of England, resistance activity
in France was successfully supported by external funding from 1941.
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x ABOUTTHISBOOK
It has been established that many who participated in fundraising were
not French nationals and money was transferred across the planet which
eventually arrived in France through clandestine landings and airdrops.
Having made use of a range of primary and secondary sources from
France, Britain, the United States and Australia, this work builds upon
the very limited existing historiography. Its primary sources include a
2017 interview with the late Daniel Cordier, the wartime secretary of
Jean Moulin.
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Coordinating Chaos 21
Monnet’s Meetings 23
Pierre Denis: The Rebels’ Chancellor 31
The Peripatetic Plevens 38
3 Administrative Alliances 43
Une Histoire D’argent 44
General Funds—De Gaulle’s Private Accounts 48
Opening the Caisse 60
4 A Few Dollars More? 69
Disorganisation 71
Disfunction 75
Disintegration 79
5 Viva La Resistencia! Francs from the Foreign-Based
French, 1940–1942 87
The Donations and the Balances 89
Mexico 94
Argentina 102
Uruguay 108
Chile 110
xi
xii CONTENTS
6 Colonial Contributions to French Freedom 119
The Levantine Crossroad 122
Gaullist Gold and African Airports 130
Production in the South Pacific 141
Subscriptions to Help the French Resistance 150
7 Of Pay and Parachutes: Mission Rex and the Financial
Activity of Jean Moulin’s Network 157
Régis and the Financial Support of General de Gaulle 159
The Secretariat 161
Pay & Penury 166
Pecuniary Politics 173
Life After REX 180
8 Converting the Caisse: Competition and Collaboration 189
Liquidity for the Libération 196
Continued Convergence 201
“Voler de ses propres ailes” 205
D-Day, Pay Day? 213
9 Planes, Loans and Bank Robbery 223
Black-Market Borrowing 234
Wartime Withdrawals 239
The Liberation of the Banque De France 245
Conclusion 257
Chronology 263
Appendix 269
References 271
Index 311