Next, we examine the French Resistance and French Paratroopers involved in the campaign.

The Occupation and Resistance

After the fall of France in June 1940, southern France became the home of the officially neutral Vichy regime, with no occupation by German troops. This all changed in November 1942 after the allies invade Vichy North Africa. Hitler ordered the execution of Case ANTON, and German forces quickly overran Vichy France, while the Italian 4^th Army occupied the Provence. Most of the French fleet at Toulon was scuttled, denying it use to the Germans, but also losing it for the Free French. The Italian occupied zone went as far west as Toulon along the coast, and to the Rhone River further inland. This included the future site of the DRAGOON invasion. There was little French resistance activity against the Italian occupation forces, which were not as oppressive as the Germans would later be. When Italy surrendered to the allies in September 1943, German troops moved into the Italian zone. The Italian Army units in France surrendered to the Germans, and most were dis-armed and sent home to Italy. However, some Italian soldiers volunteered to remain and serve in the German army. For example, in August 1944 there were 126 Italian soldiers serving in the 244^th Grenadier Division. In addition to these men, the Italians left behind various heavy weapons that were incorporated into the Sudwall defenses of the Mediterranean coast.

The French resistance began operating in northern France in 1940, but initially was a very small clandestine movement. The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 suddenly brought the French Communist Party or Parti Communiste Français (PCF) into the fight and invigorated the resistance with dedicated leaders and trained irregular fighters. The German occupation of southern France in 1943 coincided with the declining fortunes of the Third Reich. Once it seemed possible and then became likely that Germany was going to lose the war, recruiting for the resistance received a major boost. By early 1944, there were two main rival French resistance groups operating in southern France: the left-wing Communist Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), or more simply the “partisans” which had been formed by amalgamating the Bataillons de la Jeunesse, Organisation Spéciale and Main-d’œuvre immigrée (foreign anti-fascist volunteers); and the right-wing Gaulist Armée Secrète (AS), formed from the combination of the Franc-Tireurs, Combat and Libération-Sud groups.

In February 1944, all of the Resistance movements agreed to accept the authority of the Free French government based in Algiers and the Resistance was formally christened as the FFI (Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur or French Forces of the Interior). In practice, the FTP retained its de facto independence. After the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, SHAEF named  General Koenig as the commander against the Germans. General Eisenhower confirmed Koenig’s command of the FFI on 23 June 1944.

A call for a general French uprising was issued in conjunction with the Allied landing at Normandy. This uprising led to many premature resistance attacks and attrition of FFI forces. Nevertheless, once the Germans were distracted by the Allied armies in Normandy, the FFI was able to establish control of a large area of Isere, Savioe and Haute-Savoie, centered on the Vercors Massif mountains, near Grenoble. This FFI group, known as the Maquis de Vercors, established a Free French mini-state, the Republic of Vercors, within occupied France. Most of these fighters were with the AS. Over 4,000 maquis were organized into re-established units of the French army including the 11^th Cuirassier Regiment and three battalions of Alpine Chasseurs, supplied with arms by allied airdrops. The Germans could not ignore this threat to their lines of communication (and line of retreat) and so massed over 10,000 troops to isolate and destroy the maquis. The attack on 21 July featured fallschirmjagers making glider landings, gebirgsjagers (elite mountain troops) and panzergrenadiers blitzing into the resistance area. After sixteen days of hard fighting, the maquis escaped the German trap, but only after suffering heavy losses and losing their base. In this, the largest anti-partisan operation in France, over 200 Germans were casualties and over 600 maquis and hundreds of French civilians were slain.

The Vercors area was located in Area R1, and the area to the immediate south was Area R2, corresponding roughly to the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region. The Department of Var was in the south-center of Area R2, and included the DRAGOON invasion site. On the eve of the invasion, the Germans had a firm grip on the coast and population centers of Var, but only tenuous control of lines of communication. The FFI had free reign in the sparsely populated mountains and maintained clandestine cells in nearly all the cities and towns. The FFI was had not been able to organize forces larger than platoon and company size in Var.

These units operated in the mountainous north and east of the department, and avoided contact with German forces as much as possible. Along the Riviera coast, the FFI existed mostly as clandestine cells in the many towns and villages. Larger networks were established in the port cities of Marseilles, Toulon, Cannes and Nice. The FFI in R2 was composed of a larger proportion of communist FTP units than the AS maquis of R1.

There isn’t much detailed information on FFI units and commanders, as many unnamed FFI maquis simply rallied to join allied special forces and paratroopers and fought alongside the 1^st ABTF as auxiliaries. There were a few notable resistance leaders. Colonel Jacques Sapin Lecuyer was the commander of FFI Area R2. Sapin met the commander of the 1^st ABTF, General Frederick, on D+1, 16 August to coordinate FFI support to the task force. A Capitaine Fontes commanded FFI District-North Var, and brought 100-200 fighters to liberate Draguignan on D-Day. Initially successful, his FFI were hard-pressed by German counter-attacks until the 551^st Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB) arrived on D+1. Finally, when half of the 509^th Parachute Battalion Combat Team was mis-dropped in St Tropez on the coast on D-Day, the C Company Commander, Captain Jesse Walls, took charge. His colleague, Captain Ralph ‘Bing’ Miller, B Company Commander, had landed in the sea. Overburdened with weapons and gear, Miller and his entire stick of 16 men drowned in the Mediterranean. Marc Rainault, commander of the St Tropez FFI, was awakened by the sound of planes and soon joined Walls, with a few of his resistance fighters. Rainault became a guide for the US paratroops, and fought alongside Walls as they assaulted the German garrison of the citadel. In this combat, Rainault was shot and wounded in the neck. After a quick bandage was applied, he continued fighting until the last Germans surrendered. Rainault would be one of the few FFI to be awarded the US Silver Star for his gallant actions.

French Army Paratroopers

In the initial planning, the 1^er Regiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (1^er RCP) was to be part of the 1^st ABTF. However, De Gaulle insisted that the 1^st ABTF should be dropped deep into France, to reinforce the Vercors maquis and block the retreat of the German Nineteenth Army. The Americans insisted on a jump in immediate support of the amphibious landings. Neither side would budge, so De Gaulle removed his paratroops from the Task Force. The British 2^nd Parachute Brigade was added to fill the void. At the time of the decision, the Americans were likely right—the 9^th Panzer Division was still in the planned invasion area and could likely have been reinforced by the 11^th Panzer Division, forming a mechanized force large enough to threaten the success of the invasion without the airborne in blocking positions. As it turned out by mid-August though, the French were probably right. 9^th Panzer had moved to Normandy, and 11^th Panzer was too far away to intervene. The bold French plan, though risky, had a much higher chance of success in August than was foreseen.

Although no major French airborne unit joined the 1^st Airborne Task Force, around 30 volunteers jumped with the Americans and British paratroopers. Most of these volunteers spoke some English, and many were natives of the area in Var Department. The French paratroopers were drawn from the 1^er RCP and the Bataillon de Choc (Shock Battalion). They were organized into small teams of 2-3 men each, allowing them to support all the major allied formations. The French paratroopers acted as guides, interpreters and liaison with FFI and French civil authorities. Their value was much greater than their small numbers would imply. A few of their stories will make this clear.

A team from the 1^er RCP under Capitaine Boffy jumped with General Frederick and the 1^st ABTF Headquarters. Boffy played a key role in quickly establishing a Free French government in La Motte, the first town liberated by the paratroopers. He also coordinated with Capitaine Fontes of the Nord Var FFI, and convinced General Frederick to dispatch the 551^st PIB to join the battle in Draguignan, saving the hard-pressed French guerrillas. Another 1^er RCP paratrooper, Sergeant Joseph Schevenels, was assigned to support B Company, 551^st PIB, under Captain James “Jungle Jim” Evans. As Evans maneuvered against the German Feldkomandantur (Field Command) 800 Headquarters of General Bieringer, the tri-lingual Schevenels convinced the German troops to surrender by directing mortar fire onto the roof of their command post. Bieringer became the first German general officer ever captured by Allied paratroopers.         

Jaques Debray, a French Paratrooper of the Bataillon de Choc who had grown up in the area was assigned to 1/517. The 1/517 had scattered far to the northwest from Drop Zone A, and were unsure of their location. Lieutenant Ralph Allison gathered a group of 40 Americans, and was joined by Debray. This group was in turn joined by about 75 artillerymen with two 75-mm pack howitzers of C Battery, 460^th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, under Captain Louis Vogel, the battery commander. Debray led the group towards their D-Day objective, which took them through Trans-en-Provence. About 300 meters out from the town, they came under heavy machinegun fire from a German halftrack. The group maneuvered a howitzer into position to fire point blank and destroy the halftrack, but not before artillerymen Lieutenant Harry Moore and Philip Kennamer were killed. Allison, Debray and three GIs advance ahead of the group to scout ahead. Debray, while leading the way, was killed in a face to face shootout with two Germans, killing them both. Allison’s patrol engaged in a sharp firefight with a dozen Germans, killing two more and forcing the remainder to withdraw. Allison and Vogel lead the group on to St Rosaline.

Adjutant Lombard of the Bataillon de Choc was assigned to Lieutenant-Colonel V. W. Barlow’s 6^th Royal Welch Parachute Battalion. Lombard assigned his team members to support each of the companies in the battalion. He then coordinated with the local FFI, to provide Barlow with valuable intelligence on approaching German forces and set-up road blocks out beyond the British perimeter.

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Previous Articles:

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization – Part 1: Infantry Units from Squad to Battalion Level

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization – Part 2: Regiments and Brigades

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization of Units – Part 3: The 1st Airborne Task Force (ABTF)

Drop Zone: Southern France Organization of Units – Part 4: German Army, Corps, Division, and Kampfgruppe