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Daniel Cordier: The green hat is still green

Mission order for the aspiring agent Daniel Cordier, 24 June 1942. © SHD

For a free Frenchman, joining the ranks of the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Operations meant giving priority to clandestine activities in France. The mission orders testify to the diversity of forms these activities took. The special services archives conserved by the Defence Historical Service still have their surprises, even for Daniel Cordier, who acquired a well-deserved reputation as a discoverer of the archives in the 1980s.

From the BCRA archives to the White Paper

Daniel Cordier. © Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération

Even before the liberation of France, the need was felt to explain and justify the action of the BCRA. In late 1944, this task was entrusted to Daniel Cordier, who discharged it under sometimes farcical conditions. Assisted by Vitia and Stéphane Hessel, he soon realised the importance of his work: writing the Livre Blanc du Bureau central de renseignements et d'action.

The repression of the Resistance

French Resistance members shot by the Germans, undated © SHD

The repression of the Resistance was particularly efficient. Its success can be measured in the numbers of arrests, deportations and executions. The archives of the Defence Historical Service (SHD) help us to understand its logic and identify the players involved. They shed new light on the subject, paying particular attention to the organisations and men responsible for the mission of repression. The Abwehr and SIPO-SD files seized at the end of the war describe techniques for penetrating resistance organisations, teaching us a great deal about double agents and the role they played. The German archives conserved by the SHD also record the decisions of the German military tribunals throughout the national territory, adding to our knowledge of the occupier's legal system.

Entreprise Marius Berliet et Fils

CBA, camion 3,5 tonnes Berliet,1913. Source : conservatoire du Montellier

The SiPo

Mai 1944, des maisons en feu lors d'une opération militaro-policière allemande contre la Résistance. Copyright Archives allemandes

The Wehrmacht, an instrument of repression of the Resistance in France

Chasseur parachutiste allemand au combat en Normandie, juin 1944. Copyright Archives allemandes

The institutions of Combatant France

General de Gaulle and other members of the French National Committee (CNF) in London. Photograph taken during the nationwide five minutes’ silence ordered by de Gaulle in honour of French soldiers executed by firing squad, in October 1941. Around General

The institutional challenges for Free France

Inaugural session of the Provisional Consultative Assembly (3 November 1943). Copyright Musée de la Résistance nationale (Champigny-sur-Marne)

The Italians in France, 1914-18

General Albricci’s Italian units cross the village of Lhuître, in the Aube, on their way to the front, 23 April 1918.

Operation Léopard

The 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment on parade in Lubumbashi

Under the defence, cooperation and assistance agreements signed with foreign countries, France has a commitment to intervene outside its borders. In 1978, it had a 20 000-strong intervention force comprised of the 11th Parachute Division, the 9th Marine Infantry Division and naval and air forces. The professional regiments of the 11th Parachute Division were alternately put on standby, codenamed ”Guépard”, so that they could be deployed without warning as required.

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