Discovery Channel - Europes Secret Armies Resisting Hitler (2004) Part 1 The French Resistance

The armies of the countries of mainland Europe were powerless to stop Hitler's war machine as it crushed all in its path during the early months of World War 2. The terrifying tactic of 'Blitzkrieg' saw city after city fall beneath the Nazi jackboot. The people of previously free counties began to look for a way to fight back. There were ways to defeat an army other than on the battlefield. Europe's Secret Armies is a thrilling exploration of the stories behind the resistance and partisan groups that formed to fight a hated oppressor. These were civilian armies; made up of ordinary men and women left with no other option but to go underground to strike back. The series hears from those who were not content to bend the knee or were not prepared to be part of Adof Hitler's ever-growing Third Reich. Freedom fighters risked torture, imprisonment and death throughout Europe France's Maquis, the mountaineers of Crete, heroes and heroines from the Low Countries, Norway, Poland rose up, not least inside the tyrant's own land, Germany. Includes archival footage, re-creations, and interviews with actual resistance fighters.

Part 1 The French Resistance

Resistance to the German occupation of France began in 1940, but at first it was disorganised and spontaneous. We hear how the Resistance organised itself into a far more cogent force that carried out acts of sabotage, aided the escape of Allied prisoners of war and provided vital intelligence information for the Allied military. By the time the feared occupation of France by German troops had become reality, French resistance had already sprouted its first tenuous roots. Clandestine groups intent on disrupting and harrying the occupying force played no small role in bringing the Third Reich to an end. Sabotage, propaganda and espionage were just a few of the methods adopted by the brave men and women of the French Resistance. Supplied by the British, although initially riven by internal political dissension between the Communists and other factions, the French Resistance managed to create havoc behind the lines in the run up to the D-Day invasion in 1944. Features eyewitness accounts and interviews with survivors, as well as rare archive footage and a profile of resistance leader Jean Moulin.

Snippet from Wikipedia: Resistance during World War II

During World War II, resistance movements operated in German-occupied Europe by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, resistance movements were sometimes also referred to as The Underground.

The resistance movements in World War II can be broken down into two primary politically polarized camps:

• the internationalist and usually Communist Party-led anti-fascist resistance that existed in nearly every country in the world; and
• the various nationalist groups in German- or Soviet-occupied countries, such as the Republic of Poland, that opposed both Nazi Germany and the Communists.

While historians and governments of some European countries have attempted to portray resistance to Nazi occupation as widespread among their populations, only a small minority of people participated in organized resistance, estimated at one to three percent of the population of countries in western Europe. In eastern Europe where Nazi rule was more oppressive, a larger percentage of people were in organized resistance movements, for example, an estimated 10-15 percent of the Polish population. Passive resistance by non-cooperation with the occupiers was much more common.

Summary of resistance movements by territory

Among the most notable resistance movements were:

Europe

• the Albanian resistance
• the Belgian Resistance
• the Czech resistance
• the Danish Resistance
• the Dutch Resistance (especially the "LO" (national hiding organisation))
• the French Resistance
• the Greek Resistance
• the Italian Resistenza (led mainly by the Italian CLN)
• the Jewish Resistance in various German-occupied territories
• the Norwegian Resistance
• the Polish Resistance (including the Polish Home Army, that started the Warsaw Uprising on August 1, 1944, Leśni, and the greater Polish Underground State);
• Soviet partisans^[a]
• Yugoslav Partisans

And the politically persecuted opposition in Germany itself (there were 16 main resistance groups and at least 27 failed attempts to assassinate Hitler with many more planned).

Far East

• the Chinese resistance
• the Korean Resistance in the Japan Occupied Korea and the Chinese Zone

Many countries had resistance movements dedicated to fighting or undermining the Axis invaders, and Nazi Germany itself also had an anti-Nazi movement. Although Britain was not occupied during the war, the British made complex preparations for a British resistance movement. The main organisation was created by the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, aka MI6) and is now known as Section VII. In addition there was a short-term secret commando force called the Auxiliary Units. Various organizations were also formed to establish foreign resistance cells or support existing resistance movements, like the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services (the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency).

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