After the inglorious fall of France in 1940, in what the French term ‘Le Débâcle’, small numbers of brave and patriotic men and women began acts of resistance against the new rulers of their homeland. Gradually, fledgling groups of all political persuasion, personal belief and background emerged from the spitting embers of occupation to make a stand. 

The story, indeed the history, of the French Résistance is one of complexity, compromise and conflict. Famously, Winston Churchill once said ‘Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’. Maybe the same could be said of the French Résistance.

The history of Normandy in WW2 is understandably overshadowed by events in 1944, D-Day and The Battle of Normandy, with the story of the Résistance remaining largely untold. This work brings to the fore the magnificent role the Résistance played against a frightening backdrop of collaboration and enemy security services.

Through the early days of occupation to the build up of D-Day, the gripping story unfolds of how the Résistance in Normandy evolved from small disparate groups to highly organised and coherent networks capable of carrying out vital intelligence and sabotage operations. Allied support was given by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS/MI6) with clandestine agents and supplies being parachuted in and communications established with London.

It all began in August 1940 when two men codenamed SAINT-JACQUES and CORVISART crept ashore under the cover of darkness onto the beach of Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer in Normandy. Deployed as spies of General de Gaulle from London they were the first Résistants in Normandy – by the end of 1943 there were thousands

At the beginning of 1944 as the allied generals honed their plans for OPERATION OVERLORD SOE agents were parachuted into Normandy to organise, supply and galvanise the Résistance networks. This secret network of agents established safe houses, communication hideouts and supply dumps. Their orders were to keep a low profile whilst preparing for D-Day when the Résistance would be activated to carry out vital intelligence and sabotage operations behind enemy lines.

PLAN VERT – sabotaging the railway system.
PLAN TORTUE – sabotaging the road network.
PLAN VIOLET – destroying communication lines.
PLAN BLEU – destroying power lines.
PLAN ROUGE – attacking enemy ammunition dumps.
PLAN NOIR – attacking enemy fuel depots.
PLAN JAUNE – attacking the command posts of the occupying forces.

Once the landings began SAS teams arrived by parachute to join the effort behind lines and hinder the enemy further.

Breathtaking accounts of these operations are detailed for the very first time in one volume.

This comprehensive work weeds out the truth from the chaff and drags into context the complicated history of the Résistance in Normandy with clarity and precision. Vivid accounts tell tales of courage, fear and individual sacrifice. How everyday civilians from every walk of life faced up to the enemy from behind the shadows, sharing acute danger and terrifying risk with frightening consequences if captured – all for the pride and honour of fighting against a common enemy for what they individually or collectively thought was right.

PUBLICATION DATE: AUTUMN 2027