I interviewed a real partisan today, and will briefly describe some of the more interesting things he said. Some things I checked with other sources, for other things I am relying only on what he said.
Being a partisan has something much more serious and dark about it then being a normal soldier. These men were not 'just obeying orders' as soldiers; they were just obeying their own consciousness. They could expect no mercy from the Germans; and were often involved in the terrible task of having to liquidate French colaborators.
-He was obliged to go to a "chantier de jeunesse", a sort of Vichy government paramilitary training that replaced military service in France during the war. This is what made him decide to join the partisans. He deserted and managed to join a partisan camp in the forest.
-The camp he joined was an FTPF camp, in other words a communist tendency group. He said that at the time he had no idea it had anything to do with communists, and only heard about this after the war.
-He complained about the fact that the FTPF were the most active partisans, but the least helped by the allies. As many FTPF's told me, they were sometimes reduced to stealing things from Gaulist resistance groups.
-He mentioned two spaniards that were with them, veterans of the war in Spain, and "real professionals, not like us clowns". He described how they lay in a ditch at night, and lobed grenades into German trucks that drove by, before disapearing into the woods.
-He mentioned several cases where they kidnaped collaborators, then drove them far away from their hometowns, where they would shoot them and bury them in the forrest so that the bodies would never be found; thus attempting to avoid reprisals on civilians. He mentioned one case, of course, where they apparently shot the wrong man.
-He stated that the Germans were just fighing the war, and he didnt have too many hard feelings agaisnt them, but that he hated collaborators who were selling off their own country men.
-One night he was participating in receiving equipment by parachute, when the Germans arrived. He fired into their car, and thought he had killed them. He then made the mistake of shinning a flashlight towards them. Of course, he was shot immediately. According to him he received three bullets in the back, one in the shoulder, and two in the forearm. He showed me his back where at least two entrances and exits were still visible (see photo). Luckily, as can be seen, the back wounds were tangantial and didnt penetrate deep, and the arm wounds also were not severe, so he managed to pull through. I am not sure how acurate his bullet count is, as counting can become tricky very fast, with all the various entrances and exits.
-A few weeks later the Americans arrived, and him and about 8 others were sent to greet them and guide them. They stopped the car, and he stayed behind in the car because he had still not recovered from his wounds. The others went to greet the Americans. From far away he noticed with shock that the 'Americans' were in fact Germans; and had quickly encircled his 7 or 8 friends. "The Germans had been in Russia, they knew how to fight, not like us!" The Germans lined the men up at the side of the road to shoot them. As they were on a road next to a forrest, one partisan shouted "Save yourselves!". The Germans opened fire as the men tried to escape. 3 were killed, and the others managed to disapear into the woods, several of them wounded.
-After this, the real Americans arrived quickly, and he was not involved in any further military activities because of his wounds.
Like it or not, this is a portrait of a very real partisan, and please keep the politics (anti communist, etc) out of this thread.
Jean-Loup
Being a partisan has something much more serious and dark about it then being a normal soldier. These men were not 'just obeying orders' as soldiers; they were just obeying their own consciousness. They could expect no mercy from the Germans; and were often involved in the terrible task of having to liquidate French colaborators.
-He was obliged to go to a "chantier de jeunesse", a sort of Vichy government paramilitary training that replaced military service in France during the war. This is what made him decide to join the partisans. He deserted and managed to join a partisan camp in the forest.
-The camp he joined was an FTPF camp, in other words a communist tendency group. He said that at the time he had no idea it had anything to do with communists, and only heard about this after the war.
-He complained about the fact that the FTPF were the most active partisans, but the least helped by the allies. As many FTPF's told me, they were sometimes reduced to stealing things from Gaulist resistance groups.
-He mentioned two spaniards that were with them, veterans of the war in Spain, and "real professionals, not like us clowns". He described how they lay in a ditch at night, and lobed grenades into German trucks that drove by, before disapearing into the woods.
-He mentioned several cases where they kidnaped collaborators, then drove them far away from their hometowns, where they would shoot them and bury them in the forrest so that the bodies would never be found; thus attempting to avoid reprisals on civilians. He mentioned one case, of course, where they apparently shot the wrong man.
-He stated that the Germans were just fighing the war, and he didnt have too many hard feelings agaisnt them, but that he hated collaborators who were selling off their own country men.
-One night he was participating in receiving equipment by parachute, when the Germans arrived. He fired into their car, and thought he had killed them. He then made the mistake of shinning a flashlight towards them. Of course, he was shot immediately. According to him he received three bullets in the back, one in the shoulder, and two in the forearm. He showed me his back where at least two entrances and exits were still visible (see photo). Luckily, as can be seen, the back wounds were tangantial and didnt penetrate deep, and the arm wounds also were not severe, so he managed to pull through. I am not sure how acurate his bullet count is, as counting can become tricky very fast, with all the various entrances and exits.
-A few weeks later the Americans arrived, and him and about 8 others were sent to greet them and guide them. They stopped the car, and he stayed behind in the car because he had still not recovered from his wounds. The others went to greet the Americans. From far away he noticed with shock that the 'Americans' were in fact Germans; and had quickly encircled his 7 or 8 friends. "The Germans had been in Russia, they knew how to fight, not like us!" The Germans lined the men up at the side of the road to shoot them. As they were on a road next to a forrest, one partisan shouted "Save yourselves!". The Germans opened fire as the men tried to escape. 3 were killed, and the others managed to disapear into the woods, several of them wounded.
-After this, the real Americans arrived quickly, and he was not involved in any further military activities because of his wounds.
Like it or not, this is a portrait of a very real partisan, and please keep the politics (anti communist, etc) out of this thread.
Jean-Loup
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