The North of France under the Occupation, 1940-1944
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The Resistance in the Nord—Pas-de-Calais

The Resistance in the Nord–Pas-de-Calais did not correspond to the general image of the Resistance in the rest of France.

There were no maquis, due to the massive presence of the occupying troops; on the other hand, there were many active intelligence networks, which were very useful to the Allies.

American aviators hidden in a farm in the Pas-de-Calais, after their plane had come down (1944).

German notice announcing the death sentence for two inhabitants of a commune in the Pas-de-Calais who had hidden British aviators (1942).

The Resistance started in the summer of 1940, inspired by the models developed in Lille and the surrounding area during the 1914-1918 Occupation.

Networks were formed to hide British soldiers who wanted to avoid captivity in Germany.

Gradually, more structured organisations were established, with the aim of accommodating and escorting to Spain Allied aviators brought down over Belgium or the North of France; some were Franco-Belgian, in particular the most active network, "Pat O’Leary".

Other networks were involved in military intelligence; their action proved particularly important in finding out about the work on the "Atlantic Wall" starting in 1942 and in identifying the sites linked to the new German weapons (V1 and V2), starting in 1943.

Exemple of the underground La Voix du Nord (1942).

Underground newspapers, of which several hundred copies were printed, appeared in the autumn of 1940, like L’Homme libre, created by the former Socialist minister, Jean Lebas. But it was La Voix du Nord, started up in 1941, which had the biggest circulation.

In 1942-1943, the British secret services established a very effective operational network in the Nord—Pas-de-Calais, "Sylvestre-Farmer", led by an exceptional man, Michael Trotobas. However, he was killed in Lille in November 1943, after organising a series of spectacular sabotage actions.

The Communist party, dissolved in 1939, was rapidly rebuilt in secrecy. During the first few months of the Occupation, it confined itself to staying strictly neutral towards the occupying forces.

However, things changed in the spring of 1941: it was the Communist militants who organised and led the big strike by the miners in the Nord and the Pas-de-Calais (27th May to 6th June), which combined social demands with patriotic sentiment.

The strike was harshly repressed: 250 miners were transported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Handbill written during the miners’ strike in the Nord–Pas-de-Calais (May-June 1941).

From the summer of 1941, a merciless combat in the mining area pitted the action groups of the Communist party and the German and French police who collaborated fully.

More than half of the attacks and acts of sabotage carried out in France by the Resistance, in 1941 and 1942, took place in the Nord and the Pas-de-Calais.

Between 1940 and 1944, 1,143 men were shot (in Lille and around, in the citadel of Arras), and over 5,000 people (men and women) were transported to concentration camps.

In November 1943, the foundation of the Departmental Liberation Committees (CDL) was aimed at bring together the action of the various Resistance units. The latter, however, were considerably weakened, at the end of 1943-beginning of 1944, by the waves of arrests by the German police.

Leaflet dropped by British planes over occupied France.