Jacques Robert-Rewez
Jacques Robert-Rewez (born Jacques Robert on April 2, 1914 in Paris ; died on February 8, 1998 in Neuilly-sur-Seine ) was a French resistance fighter during the German occupation of France in World War II . Code name Roberts were Jacques Rewez and Denis.
His father was an aircraft engineer, and after graduating from high school, he began studying law. From 1935 he did his military service with the 507th Panzer Regiment and was promoted to Sous-lieutenant in October 1936. In 1937 he worked in the printing industry.
In August 1939 Robert was drafted into the military and used in the 8th Tank Battalion. At Rethel he caused the destruction of several dozen German armored vehicles in May 1940. From the hands of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny he received the Croix de guerre and the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur .
Robert refused to accept the armistice with the German Reich in August 1940 . He joined the "Vichy" spy network and carried out several actions in this context. In December 1941 he joined the Confrérie Notre-Dame (CND) and in April 1942 went to London . There he became a member of the Free French Armed Forces Charles de Gaulle . With the rank of Capitaine, he returned to France two months later by parachute jump . In the meantime, the CND had been hit hard by the arrests of members. Robert was wanted by the Gestapo , but was able to escape to the unoccupied zone in Lyon . There he founded the “Phratrie” network, which, in addition to collecting and forwarding messages, also committed acts of sabotage and helped shot down British pilots return to England. It soon spread all over France; In early 1944, up to 330 messages were sent to London every day.
In April 1943 Robert was arrested by the authorities of the Vichy government in Nice , but released thanks to secret complicity with the police and the intervention of Achille Peretti . Wanted by the German and French police, he had to flee again to England. In London he immediately became a member of the intelligence service Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action (BCRA) founded by André Dewavrin in exile in Britain . As a battalion commander , he trained agents who were supposed to parachute parachutes from the night of June 5th to 6th, 1944 (start of Operation Overlord ) as part of Operation Jedburgh behind the front lines.
On the night of June 26th to 27th 1944, Robert landed under the cover name "Molécule" as head of the Bergamote Mission near Bourganeuf in the Creuse department . There was, under the command of Albert Fossey-François ', the most important part of the Resistance fighters of the département grouped together in the Forces françaises de l'intérieur (FFI) . The Bergamote Mission, which also included an American and two British officers, found shelter in the village of Le Puy, part of the parish of Vidaillat . Robert stayed in the area for two months and kept in close contact with the leadership of the Resistance in the department. In the second half of July, the Bergamotes were confronted with the Jesser Brigade , a German force to fight and destroy the Maquisards , and carried out numerous guerrilla and sabotage actions. On August 25, 1944, Robert was able to enter the liberated capital of the department, Guéret ; then he headed the Sainfoin Mission, which brought resistance fighters to the Jura department . In September 1944 he was assigned to the Direction générale des études et recherches (DGER) intelligence service and subsequently deployed several times in Germany.
From May to October 1945 Robert was a military advisor to the French embassy in Norway . He also carried out several assignments for the British intelligence service special unit Special Operations Executive (SOE). In his private life again, he worked from 1946 to 1979 in higher positions in industry and trade.
Robert was honored as Compagnon de la Liberation and appointed Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur and in 1975 Colonel honoraire. He received the Croix de la Liberation , the Médaille de la Résistance , the Croix de guerre , the British Distinguished Service Order and Order of the British Empire and the American Medal of Freedom .
Web links
- Jacques Robert-Rewez at 67400.free.fr
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biographie de Jeannette Gaucher née Guyot (02/26/1919 - 04/10/2016) at plan-sussex-1944.net, accessed on February 9, 2020
- ↑ Jeannette Guyot at marayresistance.e-monsite.com, accessed on 10 February 2020
- ↑ Jacques Robert-Rewez at 67400.free.fr, accessed on February 21, 2020
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Robert-Rewez, Jacques |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Robert, Jacques |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French resistance fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 2, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 8, 1998 |
| Place of death | Neuilly-sur-Seine |