Photos of the Resistance - May 1944

[Alain Laterre]

Last year I spent an incredible day with the family of a french resistant in the south-west of France.
I had the honour of being shown some amazing photos taken in that region of resistance camps in May 1944,
photos of which I have been very kindly allowed to take copies of.
Here are some links to my blog for anyone who would like to see a selection of the photos.
Alain.

http://resistancefrancaise.blogspot.com/2011/03/photos-of-brigade-rac-1944.html

http://resistancefrancaise.blogspot.com/2011/08/le-parc-auto-de-la-brigade-rac.html

http://resistancefrancaise.blogspot.com/2011/04/photos-of-la-brigade-rac-1944.html

 

[Steven180]

Exceptional thread, pictures and blog. Thank you for sharing them Alain, and welcome to the Lounge.

The pictures are truly rare and show some of the many difficulties the fighters had to contend with while trying to fight the enemy in their own way. Some of these pictures may have come from a couple of the few very large rural camps in central and southern France where hundreds lived cut off in the woods for some time, or maybe they are specific to a training area. Could you provide any more insight as to the background and locales here?

Thanks for a very unique and fascinating subject thread. There are several here in FL that have a keen interest in resistance history and studies.
M.

 

[Blackjack]

Those are fantastic....thank you!

 

[Alain Laterre]

Thank you for the welcome. The photos are of La Brigade RAC / A.S. Dordogne-Nord and were taken in may 1944
at one of the clandestine 'camps' near to Thiviers in the Dordogne, south-west France.
At this time France was still most certainly occupied, no towns or areas had been liberated so as you say it's fantastic
to get this insight of life in the woods. The photos are part of two huge photo albums and this summer I accompanied the archivist
of the Bataillon Violette (part of La Brigade RAC) in a visit to the wife and son of one of its members to see if she could
recognise and put any names to the faces. It was quite an emotional afternoon and my french wasn't quite up to understanding
everything but all the same an amazing experience.
Alain.

 

[Steven180]

Alain,

Again, thanks much for sharing a historical find. Those unpublished pictures with those who fought are still telling the story so many years later.

I'm not sure how much communication or connection you have with this family and its past, but please consider encouraging them to contact, and submit personal histories to the European Resistance Archive (site below). I understand this foundation is attempting to centralize and accumulate those personal and unique stories before they are lost to time. Their studies include visual and audio interviews, any possible contributions to their collection, and additional references that resisters might give them to contact other people for inclusion.

http://www.resistance-archive.org/

In a small way you may contribute a great deal to history. If you decide to recommend this, I would be very interested to hear how it works out, and what any further contact with your friends provides.

Again many thanks.
M.

 

[Alain Laterre]

That's a fantastic link there and one I did not know of. I shall forward it on to my friends in France and lets see what happens.
The father-in-law of my friend published three books in the 70's and 80's about his resistance group and one of the books was
recently re-published keeping the memories alive. In France I feel there are more people than ever now interested in the history
of that time, I'm a member of a forum on the French Resistance in France where those taking part are aged from 13 to 80!
Thanks again for the welcome and that excellent link.
Alain.