Historical Study: WW2 Resistance (Western Occupied Front)

The next aspect of WWII I'd like to dive into is the civilian resistance that occurred across Europe. This topic has always intrigued me, especially recently as I've zipped thru the historical fiction, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. The book pertains to the French Resistance, and I'll later have a proper book review on it. I think I first became interested in WWII resistance after watching the film, The Pianist. Aside from it's grueling account of the Holocaust, it gives an insightful perspective on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Polish Resistance. I also really enjoyed the movie, Defiance which gives an account on a band of Belarussian partisans. These are two of my all-time favorite movies. 

I'm not sure why, but I often find this notion of resistance to be very adventurous and even romantic. I find some of the best stories pertain to revolutions or uprisings where the people must rise against their oppressive government. It reminds me of the rebel alliance in Star Wars fighting against the mighty evil galactic empire, or the "fishes" in Children of Men. I suppose the appeal to these types of story is the underdog "David vs Goliath" quality, which everyone loves. That was certainly the case for these civilian rebels who sought to fight against their Nazi oppressors. The odds were stacked against them, and they certainly did not have the weapons or resources to properly engage this force head-on. Instead they had to conduct a covert operation of sabotage and guerilla warfare. 

Of course I know this notion of surviving and fighting might seem adventurous but is certainly not the case when it becomes reality. Many of these fighters endured terrible hardships and faced brutal torture and death for their role in the resistance. Today however we can celebrate them as true heroes who chose not to turn the other cheek to Nazi/Axis oppression. These resistance groups played a crucial role in sabotaging the Nazi regime from within while collaborating with the Allied armies. They also took on deadly risk by helping Jews and refugees escape. 

I'm going to cover every nation in Europe during WWII and will do this in 3 separate posts/categories. 

1. Urban resistance on the western front (such as France, Denmark, Belgium)
2. Partisan resistance on the rural eastern front (Greece, Poland, Soviets, Yugoslavs, Baltic states)
3. Internal resistance of Axis governments (Italy, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany)

This first post will cover the western front resistance of Europe. Germany did not intend to fully annex western Europe the way it did with the east, so instead they created puppet governments. Of course, it was still a totalitarian occupancy where all laws and customs were aligned to the Nazi code. Most citizens fell-in-line with their new government, just to survive (understandably-so). However there were also many degrees of resistance that occurred (from passive defiance to sheer violent resistance). Most of the resistance on the west was an underground operation of urban sabotage, intelligence, propaganda, escape routes, and Allied communications. While the partisan fighting occurred in the rural regions. 

Resistance Against Occupancy

French Resistance (Free France/The Maquis)

• 
  Date Occupied: June 1940 (French surrender after six weeks of fighting. Germany split France into two zones; north was Nazi occupied zone and south was the puppet government known as Vichy France- headed by Phillippe Petain).
• Active Rebels: 400,000-500,000
• Death Toll: 20,000-30,000
  
• Key Organizations/Movements
• French Forces of the Interior (FFI)- Gaullist forces
• Conseil National de la Resistance (CNR)- political council
• Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP)- Communist Guerilla network
• Maquis Partisans- Rural guerilla fighters located in southern France
• Combat (National Liberation Movement): Headed up by Henri Frenay
• Liberation-Sud: Founded in Lyon by Jean-Pierre Levy via Liberation newspaper. 
• Liberation-Nord: Trade union based out of northern France
• Civil and Military Organization (CMO): Military style resistance
• Ceux de la Liberation (CDLL): Led by Maurice Ripoche
• Ceux de la Resistance (CDLR): Led by Jacques Leompte-Boinet
• Intelligence networks
• Reseau Alliance- Established by Marie-Madeleine Meric (codename: Hedgehog) to provide crucial information and troop movements to Allied command
• CARTE- Military intel for pockets of resistance organizations
• Reseau Mithridate- Franco-British network (coordinated by MI6)
• 
  Reseau Confreier Notre Dame (CND)- Franco-British network (coordinated by Free French Forces)
• Escape Routes: 
  
• Children's Aid Society (OSE): Jewish child-rescue efforts in occupied France that saved approximately 1600 children. The famous mime, Marcel Marceau helped with this network as portrayed in the film, Resistance.
• The Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC)- Established by journalist Varian Fry to help prominent artists escape occupied France, such as Max Ernst. Helped over 1500 people.(Depicted in the Netflix show Transatlantic).
• Clandestine "Underground" Press
• Combat- Henri Frenay's "Gaullist" newspaper
• Liberation- Emmanuel d'Astier's socialist network
• Franc-Tireur- Jean-Pierre Levy's democratic socialist network
• Defense de la France- student led pamphlets
• Pantragurel- Communist resistance and satire
• Key Leaders:
• Charles de Gaulle: Called on French citizens to resist. Established the Free France Movement 
• Jean Moulin: Established the CNR by unifying all resistance pockets
• Lucie Aubrac: Coordinated prison breaks and sabotage operations
• Henri Frenay: Founder of the Combat newspaper movement
•  Pierre Georges: Early communist fighter who coordinated assassinations on German officers
  
• Simone Segouin: Famous female fighter who took part in sabotage and urban uprisings
• Marie-Madeleine Fourcade: Founder of the Alliance intelligence network
• Raymond Aubrac: Established Liberation Sud movement to coordinate sabotage operations
• Key Events:
• 
  May 1941: Coal Miners strike of Nord-Pas-de-Calais. 100,000 protestors. The largest non-violent strike during the Nazi's occupancy of Europe. 
• Summer of 1941: First coordinated armed attacks (including assassination of German officer Alfons Moser and sabotage of railways, communication lines, bridges, and military posts). 
• Spring of 1942: Mass deportations of Jews from France (75,000)
• November 1942: The Nazis bring an end to the French Vichy zone via Operation Anton
• May 1943: The CNR is formed to unite the Communists, Gaullists, and Socialists pockets
• June 1943: Jean Moulin is captured, tortured, and executed by the Gestapo
• June 1944: Massacre of Oradour-sur-Glane where 642 civilians were executed by Nazis
• June-July 1944: Battle of Vercors: 600 Maquis resistance fighters killed by Nazis in the Vercors Plateau of southeastern France
• August 1944: Parisian resistance is coordinated by Gaulle's FFI causing the Germans to surrender the city within a few days. 
• Date Liberated: October 1944 (The resistance continued supporting the Allied armies until all Nazi pockets were completely removed from France by late-1944. Charles De Gaulle became head of state and oversaw the reconstruction of France). 

Norwegian Resistance

• Date Occupied: June 1940 (After a 2 month invasion campaign by the Nazis the Norwegian government surrendered. The office of the Reich Commissariat of Norway was established- led by Josef Terboven; and a puppet government was put in place by 1942- led by the fascist Norwegian statesman Vidkun Quisling)  
• Active Rebels: 40,000
• Death Toll: 1,433
  
• 
  Key Movements/Organizations:
• Milorg: Armed resistance referred to as the Secret Army. Specialized in sabotage and guerilla warfare. 
• Sivorg: The Civil resistance also known as the Home Front Leadership. Specialized on non-violence resistance thru protest, propaganda, and civil disobedience.
• Clandestine Press:
• London News; Although it was prohibited in Norway under Nazi occupancy, various streams of pirate radio were able to broadcast secretly throughout Norway.
• Frihet (Freedom): A popular underground anti-Nazi publication
• Norway's Messenger: Shared vital resistance information with the people
• The Home Front (Hjemmfronten): The main underground publication of the Home Front "Sivorg" Movement.
• Intelligence Networks
• Company Linge (NOR.I.C.1): Partnered with British SOE to conduct intelligence, sabotage, and coastal insertion routes via fishing boat vessels.
• XU: Norway's primary intelligence network that provided intel for local resistance as well as the allies. It specialized in tracking major German battleships and assets. 
• Escape Routes: 
• The Shetland Bus: A secret maritime route operated along the west coast of Norway, via coastal insertions of fishing boats. Transported weapons, supplies, and even refugees from Norway into Britain. 
• Swedish Border Route: Overland routes via mountainous regions to smuggle prisoners and refugees into the neighbor neutral country of Sweden. Approximately 50,000 fled via these routes into Sweden.  
• Key Leaders:
• 
  King Haakon VII: Although he went into exile after the invasion, he was very outspoken for resisting Nazi's control and puppet government. The people used him as their rallying cry thru non-violent and violent resistance. 
• Johan Nygaardsvold: The prime minister in exile was also very outspoken and against German occupancy. He worked closely with the British allies to support the resistance from within.
• Captain Martin Linge: Commander of the (NOR.I.C.1) Norwegian elite force trained by British operatives. He is later killed in an early operation. 
• Gunnar Stonstbey "Kjakan": One of the most famous resistance fighters. A member of Captain Linge's operation, he led the Oslo Gang of sabotage operations against the Germans
  
• Max Manus: Key member of the Oslo Gang who coordinated various acts of sabotage and the sinking of German navy ships (Portayed in the 2008 film Max Manus: Man of War). 
• Joachim Ronneberg: Leader of Operation Gunnerside, a successful mission to destroy the Nazi nuclear plant at Vermonk. 
• Arvid Storsveen: Established the XU, which began as a body of students and later grew into the primary homegrown source of intelligence. 
• Key Events:
• April 10, 1940: King Haakon famously refuses German demands to establish a puppet government and goes into exile. This act becomes a symbolic act of defiance for the resistance.
• Fall 1940: The Milorg underground movement begins to form, with various protests and acts of civil disobedience (such as walking around with a paper clip).
• March 1941: Operation Claymore. The Linge Company and British intelligence work together to destroy factories along the Lofoten Islands.
• 
  December 1941: Operation Archery. Another raid by the (NOR.IC1) at Maloy. Their commander is killed during the operation, and the movement is renamed after him as Company Linge. 
  
• Feb 1942: The Fascist statesman, Vidkun Quisling is appointed as the Nazi's puppet minister of Norway. He is very unpopular among the public and even considered a traitor.  
• March 1943: The Teacher's Resistance. Over 1000 teachers are arrested for refusing to teach Nazi propaganda in the schools
• Feb 1943: Operation Gunnerside. The Linge Company successfully destroys the Heavy Water Production facility in the mountains of Telemark. This is a crucial act of sabotage as it significantly cripples the Nazis' nuclear program.
• Feb 1944: The resistance sinks the SF Hydro ship on Lake Tinnsjo which was carrying the remaining hydrogen of the Nazis' nuclear project.
• Late 1944-1945: Continuous acts of sabotage against German railways and factories coordinated by the Milorg and the Oslo Gang.
• Date Liberated: May 8, 1945. Germany surrenders and the Norwegian monarchy and government return from exile. Johan Nygaardsvold resigns and is replaced by Einar Gerhardsen who oversees the reconstruction. Vidkun Quisling was later tried and executed for various forms of treason and crime he committed while serving as the puppet minister from 1942-1945. 

Danish Resistance

• Date Occupied: April 9, 1940 (6 hours until surrender. Danish government was allowed to stay in place with a policy of cooperation. This lasted until 1943 when the cooperation came to an end due to heightened resistance)
  
• Active Rebels: 30,000
• 
  Death Toll: 850
• Key Movements/Organizations:
• Danish Freedom Council (DFR)- The Defacto underground government established in 1943 that coordinated the majority of resistance activity. Was also in ties with the British Special Operations Executive.
• Holger Danske- Based out of Copenhagen it was a violent resistant and sabotage group that specialized in assassinations
• Borgerlige Partisaner (BOPA)- Communist resistance pocket that specialized in bombing sabotage of German factories and supplies.
• The Churchill Club - One of the earliest resistance pockets formed in 1941 by a group of students. Although it was mostly non-violent it laid the seeds to further movements to come. Throughout their tenure they carried out 25 acts of sabotage. 
• Clandestine Press:
• Land and People- Most widely underground newspaper distributed by communists
• Th Free Danes- Popular underground publication
• Intelligence Networks:
• The Princes (Military Intelligence)- Former Danish military operatives established ties with the British (based out of Stockholm) shortly after the occupancy.   
• Escape Routes/Safe Houses: 
• The Flutlinie- Escape route that transported Jews and other undesirables from Copenhagen into Sweden (evacuated nearly 7000 Jews from Denmark). 
• The Elsinore Sewing Club- Another local escape route by a group of 5 Danish sailors who transported Jews across the North Sea by fishing vessels and speedboats. 
• Bispebjerg Hospital- Hid many Jewish refugees before transporting them from the coast into Sweden. 
• Key Leaders:
  
• 
  Frode Jackobsen- Leading figure and coordinator of the DFR.
• Bent Faurschou-Hviid "The Flame"- Key leaders of the Holger Danske. One of the most famous resistance fighters, known for his sabotage and liquidation operations
• Jorgen Haagen Schmith "The Lemon"- Was partner with The Flame and the Holger Danske. Conducted various sabotage operations including the bombing of the Forum Copenhagen. Their partnership is portrayed in the 2008 film, The Flame and Citron.
• Mogens Fog- Leading communist figure of the DFR movement as well as underground press
• Key Events:
• 1940: Underground publications begin circulating such as the "Free Dane"
• 1941: Resistance groups begin forming such as the BOPA and the Holger Danske
• April 9, 1941: Henrik Kauffmann signed a deal with the United States to allow them to use Greenland as a military base. This was an act of defiance against the puppet Danish government. The story is portrayed in the 2020 film, The Good Traitor. 
• 19421-943: Increased sabotage and widespread civil unrest begins to frustrate the Nazis. Even the Danish government begins to turn on Germany. 
• Summer of 1943: The August Crisis. Germany declares martial law on Denmark, removing their peaceful cooperation agreement. Germany takes direct control of the government which increases the violent resistance throughout Denmark.
• August 1943: The Holger Danske increases their acts of sabotage which includes nearly 400 Danish-Nazis as well as the bombing of the Copenhagen Forum (an exhibition hall that the Germans were using as barracks).
• 
  September 1943: German diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz secretly warns the Danish officials of an upcoming Jewish deportation which helps coordinate the rescue of nearly 7000 into Sweden.
  
• September-October 1944: Gestapo response. After continued acts of sabotage and assassinations the Gestapo conducted a harsh series of arrests on resistance members, specifically targeting the Holger Danske. 65 of their members were eventually captured and executed which included their leaders, The Flame and the Lemon. 
• May 1945: British forces arrive in Copenhagen and force the surrender of Germany
• Date Liberated: May 5, 1945. (Prime minister Vilhelm Buhl restored the official government while adding new authority to the resistance Freedom Council. Thankfully the country was not devasted that much by the war compared to most other nations in Europe). 

Dutch Resistance (Het Verzet)

• Date Occupied: May 14, 1940 (5 days of resistance before surrendering. Establishment of the Reich Commissariat of Dutch Territories- headed by Arthur Seyss-Inquart)
• Active Rebels: 25,000-45,000
• 
  Death Toll: 5000-7000
  
• Key Movements/Groups:
• National Organization for Helping People Hide (LO): Focused on hiding Jews and political fugitives thru safe houses, forged identity papers, and escape routes. (Saved 300,000 Jews including Anne Frank). 
• CS6- Counter Espionage Section 6: Founded by Gideon and Jan Karel Boissevain. Coordinated various high ranking assassinations and sabotage operations. 
• Order Service (OD): Military intelligence for the Allies
• Knokpolegen (KP): Armed sabotage on German officers, railways, factories, bridges, and supply lines
•  National Steun Fonds (NSF): Coordinated by banker Walraven van Hall to route government funds to resistance operations such as the LO and KP. (Portrayed in the 2018 film Resistance Banker)
• Clandestine "Underground" Press
• Het Parool- Underground newspaper coordinated by students in Amsterdam.  
• Trouw- Protestant Christian network of resistance support
• Vrij Nederland- Liberal and anti-Nazi propaganda newspapers
• Key Leaders:
• 
  Walraven van Hall: Banker and financier of the Dutch resistaance
• Brothers Gideon and Jan Karel Boissevain: Founders of the CS-6 intelligence network
• Hannie Schaft: Resistance fighter "known as the girl with red hair" for her role in various assassinations and sabotage missions 
  
• Peter Tazelaar: Resistance fighter, spy, and courier. Some of his missions were used in various James Bond movies such as Goldfinger. 
• Key Events:
• Summer of 1940: Formation of early resistance cells and underground press. 
• Summer of 1940: Early beginning of Walraven van Hall's covert banking operation to fund the resistance
• Winter of 1940-1941: Establishment of Confrerie Notre-Dame and Mithridate intelligence networks with France and Britain
• 1942: Establishment of KP sabotage teams and the LO Jewish hiding group.
• July 1942: Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the Secret Annex building in Amsterdam, coordinated by the LO group. 
• Oct 1943: German general Seyffardt is assassinated by CS-6 agents
• July 1944: Resistance fighters work with Allied army to sabotage Nazi pockets during Operation Market Garden. 
• Aug 1944: Anne Frank and her family are discovered by Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz.
• Oct 1944-April 1945: Hunger Winter. Severe famine in Netherlands due to German's blockade of food supplies. 
• February 1945: Walraven van Hall is discovered and executed by the Nazis. 
• April 1945: Execution of Hannie Schaft
• May 1945: Liberation of the Netherlands
• May 7, 1945: German soldiers fire machine guns into Dam Square, Amsterdam as a final act of defiance, killing 30 civilians that were celebrating the liberation. 
• Date Liberated: May 1945 (Germany officially withdraws from Amsterdam and surrenders the nation, much thanks to the Canadian Allied forces. Willem Dress became prime minister in 1948 to oversee it's reconstruction).  

Belgian Resistance

• 
  Date Occupied: May 28, 1940 (Belgian army surrenders after 18 days of fighting against the Nazis. The Germans established a military administration in Belgium and Northern France led by Alexander von Falkenhausen. Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot fled the country to continue governing Belgium whilst in exile).
• Active Rebels: 150,000-200,000
• Death Toll: 15,000-19,000
  
• Key Movements/Organizations:
• Secret Army (AS)- Composed of former officers and soldiers who engaged in guerilla warfare and sabotage against the Nazis
• Independence Front (FI)- A popular front of communist, socialist, liberals, and Catholics that made up a partisan army. Conducted various sabotage operations against the Nazis. As well humanitarian aid and non-violent resistance. 
• Group G- A group of university students from Brussels who focused on economic as well as infrastructure sabotage. They coordinated attacks on rail lines and electrical lines throughout the occupied nation.  
• Clandestine Underground Press
• La Libre Belgique- The same title was used during WWI and was the most popular circulated underground newspaper in Belgium during WWII. 
• Le Faux Soir- Was a satire publication that ridiculed the Nazis with various reports of fake news to boost public morale. 
• La Drapeau Rogue- The Red Flag was a communist propaganda circulation
• Intelligence Networks
• White Brigade- Focused on the Antwerp region, gathering intelligence for resistance and allied forces.
• National Royalist Movement- Rightwing organization that gathered intelligence while published underground newspapers.
• Escape Routes:
• 
  Pat O'Leary Line- Escape line established by Albert Guerisse for allied soldiers and airmen into neutral Spain (helped more then 600-800 soldiers) 
• Comet Line- Established by Andree de Jongh (Dedee) for allied soldiers thru the Pyrenees mountains into neutral Spain. (Saved between 750-800 airmen). This female hero (as well as Simone Segouin and others) was no doubt a major influence to Kristin Hannah's book The Nightingale. 
  
• Service D- (Dame Blanche): Organized by British MI6. Operated across Belgium, Luxembourg, and northern France. Also served as an intelligence and sabotage network. 
• Key Leaders:
• Charles Claser: Leader of the Secret Army military resistance group. 
• Jules Pire: Took over the secret army resistance after Claser was arrested in 1943. He oversaw the eventual liberation of Belgium in 1944.
• Andree de Jongh: Founder of the Comet Line to help allied soldiers escape thru the French Pyrenees mountains into Spain
• Dr. Albert Marteaux: Established the Independence Front as a communist resistance pocket to resist Nazi influence. 
• Marcel Louette (Codename: Fidelio): Founded the White Brigade intelligence network which coordinated intel to resistance and allied forces, while publishing underground papers. 
• Key Events:
• 
  March 1941: The Independence Front is founded as the first major resistance movement
• May 1941: Strike of 100,000 in Liege. A peaceful protest against German occupancy, organized by union workers.
  
• 1942: Deportation of Jews in Belgium (25,000)
• April 1943: Attack on the 20th Convoy. Resistance fighters assaulted a  Nazi Holocaust train, freeing 233 Jewish prisoners. 
• January 1944: The Great Interruption. A widespread sabotage campaign against German railways and infrastructure networks throughout Belgium. 
• Summer of 1944: Resistance pockets continue sabotage and intelligence gathering while Allied armies land in France. 
• September-November 1944: Battle of Scheldt. Resistance aids the Canadian Navy to capture the port of Antwerp and establish a shipping lane from the North Sea. 
• September 1944: Brussels is liberated by British forces.
• December-January 1945: The Battle of the Bulge. The Germans make one final push against the Allied armies at Bastogne, Belgium. The Resistance played a key role in providing intel and disrupting Nazi supply lines in the Ardennes forest during this decisive battle.  
• February 1945: The German forces were completely expelled from Belgium, following their defeat at the Battle of the Bulge
• Date Liberated: (February 5th 1945). Hubert Pierlot returned from exile in September 1944 to continue his work as prime minister. He however retired shortly after, and the nation was rebuilt financially by Camille Gutt. 

Luxemburg Resistance

• Date Occupied: May 10, 1940 (Government and grand duchess fled into exile after several hours of the invasion. The nation was fully annexed into Germany with a civil administration headed by Gustav Simon)
• Active Rebels: 3,000-5,000
• Death Toll: 700-1,000
  
• Key Movements/Organizations:
• 
  Letzebuerger Patriote Liga (LPL)- Nationalist, catholic organization
• Letzebuerger Volleks-Legion- Left-leaning, liberal organization
• Luxemburger Freiheistbewegung (Freedom Movement)
• Unio'n- Unification of all movements (1944)
• Clandestine Press:
• Our Homeland
• De Freie Lotzeburger
• Key Leaders:
• Victor Bodson: Helped organize escape routes for Jews, refugees
• Emile Speller: Army commander who led the defense of Luxembourg and later joined resistance military pockets
• Albert Wingert: Head of the LPL movement. Organized the 1942 general strike.
• Nic Klecker: Founder of the Volleks Legion which coordinated various acts of resistance
• Key Events:
• June 1940: First underground pamplets begin to circulate
• 1941: Major resistance networks begin to form as well as escape routes
• Aug 30, 1942: Nationwide general strike in Witz. Passive resistance against strict conscription policies. Nazis responded brutally to the strike by killing 21 civilians.  
• 1943: Resistance groups unite to conduct various acts of sabotage and resistance
• Sept 1944: Liberation of Luxembourg City by the US Army
• Dec 1944-Jan 1945: Battle of the Bulge. Germans briefly reoccupy the territory, but are once again driven out by the allied forces
• Spring 1945: Final liberation of Luxembourg
• Date Liberated: Feb 1945 (Grand Duchess Charlotte and Prime Minister Pierre Dupong returns to restore the Luxembourg government and begin the reconstruction process)