Normandy's gendarmes, divided among the five companies (Seine-Inférieure, Eure, Calvados, Manche, Orne) of the Normandy Gendarmerie Legion in Rouen, the only armed French military, were torn between the directives of a moribund French state and the incessant demands of the Germans. In addition to their traditional duties, these gendarmes were forced to implement the Vichy government's policy of collaboration, which was characterized by missions as thankless as they were unpopular, such as static guards, tracking down Jews and draft dodgers, and guarding internment camps.
Resist and prepare
The radicalization of collaboration gradually pushed some gendarmes onto the path of dissidence. They proved invaluable allies. Nestled in the heart of the territories, they were strategically placed to gather and pass on crucial information to London. Their knowledge of the terrain, local infrastructures and enemy troop movements made them first-rate informers, like Warrant Officer Jean-Baptiste Groult of the Bayeux brigade who, like Squadron Leader Guillaudot in Morbihan, transmitted plans of fortifications and the position of German troops in the Bayeux and Villers-Bocage sectors. In addition, their status as gendarmes gave them a degree of mobility and legal cover for their clandestine actions.
Warned of the imminent Normandy landings by the BBC, from June 1, 1944, the Norman Resistance gendarmes played an active role in implementing the Tortue plan, which involved sabotaging rail and road infrastructures to delay German reinforcements towards the Normandy beaches. They also helped spread false information to disorient German forces. Gendarme Annic of the Vimoutiers brigade in the Orne region, for example, tore down German road signs, felled trees to block roads and pointed the occupying forces in the wrong direction. Having built up veritable arsenals thanks to parachute drops, resistance networks sometimes entrusted gendarmes with the task of hiding them within brigades before redistributing them, as in the case of gendarme Lampérière of the Breteville-sur-Laize brigade (Calvados) who, on June 5, 1944, transported no less than a ton of weapons and explosives.
How many resisted? Historians are unable to give a precise answer to this question, since the forms of resistance were so varied and differed from period to period, ranging from passive resistance to genuine commitment to a network. Dissent was not an obvious choice for the gendarmes, since it meant questioning their duty of obedience and putting themselves and their families at major risk. In fact, most of them, like the rest of the population, prefer to take a wait-and-see attitude. From this point of view, the D-Day landings turned the situation around and provided the signal the gendarmes had been waiting for to get involved in the fight.
D-Day
The military operations on D-Day and the role played by the gendarmes on this occasion have been accurately recorded in numerous gendarmerie reports, such as that of Captain Bouloc, acting commander of the La Manche company.
On June 6, 1944, the Normandy gendarmes found themselves cut off from the world, without telephone or even postal links. With no one to turn to but themselves, they concentrated their energies on helping the victims of intensive Allied bombing. Stephen A. Bourque estimates the number of civilian victims of these bombardments at 12,476 for the Calvados, La Manche and Orne departments alone. The gendarmerie was not spared either in human or material terms: the Avranches brigade, heavily damaged, suffered four deaths and three serious injuries. Everywhere, soldiers were clearing rubble, supplying the population and evacuating the wounded.
The Normandy gendarmes also spontaneously joined forces with Allied troops. In Sainte-Mère-Eglise, where the first American paratroopers landed, the brigade's six gendarmes, under the command of Adjutant Huault, took charge of the survivors and guided them on their way. One of these gendarmes, Eugène Quoniam, left a moving account of this historic day.
The day after
Much to the chagrin of the Vichy gendarmerie leadership, who hoped that the gendarmes would maintain their neutrality in what Laval called "a foreign war", the days following D-Day saw an ever-increasing involvement of the Normandy gendarmes on the side of the Allies. Their extensive knowledge of the terrain and their military training made them invaluable auxiliaries in facilitating troop progress. Some gendarmes even found themselves directly integrated into the Allied forces, like the commander of the Port-en-Bessin brigade and one of his subordinates, Gendarme Gouget. Placed at the head of two companies of the 47th Royal Marine Commando to carry out reconnaissance operations in their area, these two NCOs helped to clear out pockets of German resistance. Lieutenant Giudicelli, deputy commander of the Cherbourg maritime gendarmerie company, led a company of American infantry to liberate the city of Cherbourg. He was mortally wounded on June 25, 1944, at the forefront of the operation.
Although they took part in the fighting, the gendarmes did not forget their main mission: protecting people and property. As the Allied forces progressed and liberated the communes of Normandy, the gendarmes helped to re-establish law and order. They guided civilians thrown onto the roads by the bombardments, prevented looting and took part in the arrest of the defeated. A new gendarmerie directorate, created in London on July 25, 1944, landed in Cherbourg on August 2. The gendarmerie brigades in the liberated territories immediately placed themselves under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Girard, the new director of the gendarmerie. Normandy's gendarmes were once again at the service of the Republic.
After the war, the gendarmerie's contribution to the liberation of France was officially recognized. Many gendarmes received awards for their heroic actions and commitment to freedom. Through their intelligence, resistance and law enforcement activities, gendarmes played a significant role in the success of Operation Overlord. Still underestimated, their commitment deserves to be studied more precisely and comprehensively by historians, in order to enrich our knowledge of the gendarmerie's role in the Liberation and maintain the indispensable duty of remembrance.
Luc Demarconnay, PhD in History, Sorbonne University
This article has been translated and republished from The Conversation under the Creative Commons license. Read the original article in French.
