Mission sur Origny Sainte Benoite 20 mai 1940

Georges Blind, a member of the &quot;Ferrand&quot; French Resistance group, smiles in the face of a firing squad, Fourth Ditch, Chateau de Belfort, October, 1944.   A famous image - but a somewhat deceptive one.  This was in fact a &quot;mock execution&quot;, designed to make Blind &quot;talk&quot; when other interrogation techniques failed.  This one fared no better.  Blind, showing all the toughness of a former firefighter, never talked.  He was subsequently transported to Dachau concentration camp where, apparently, he died of unknown causes (plenty of possible causes in Dachau ...).

There are a number of unusual aspects to this photo.  Most photos of executions of small groups or individuals in the West were taken clandestinely by individual German soldiers or French civilians.  Taking photos of actual executions was forbidden, apparently, for the paradoxical reason that, if circulated, they could inflame civilian objection to German occupation.  Yet this photo seems to have been taken by someone sitting on a neighboring bastion, who would have been close to the scene and in clear view.  As far as I can determine, the photo was intended for circulation in order to intimidate the civilian population, contrary to the usual policy.  Not surprising, given the smile on Blind's face, that this did not happen.  The photo was first published in a magazine called &quot;Young Alsatian&quot;, following the liberation of Alsace, presumably for very different effect.

BTW - the Chateau de Belfort is a huge 17th century fortress designed by the great fortification engineer, Vauban, for Louis XiV.  It must have seemed a strange posting for the German soldiers occupying it.  It does seem to have been a location for &quot;individual&quot; executions of resistants, Communists and other prominent individuals taken as hostages - although not on the scale of Fort Mont-Valerian near Paris, where over 1,000 men were shot by the Germans in the course of the war, and buried in various cemeteries around Paris.  Men only, mind you.  In one of those crazy stupidities that arise in war, the Germans chose to respect French law that forbade the execution of women by shooting.  The women were sent to Germany, and guillotined.  Vive la France !  JR.

The camera can lie ...

In his book "Panzer Leader", Heinz Guderian records the following incident during a tank battle south of Juniville in 1940:

 "While the tank battle was in progress, I attempted, in vain, to destroy a Char B with a captured 47 mm anti-tank gun; all the shells I fired at it simply bounced harmlessly off its thick armor. Our 37 mm and 20 mm guns were equally ineffective against this adversary. As a result, we inevitably suffered sadly heavy casualties".

 The best known havoc wrought by a Char B1 occured at the village of Stonne on May 16th, 1940.

 Char B1 "Eure", commanded by Pierre Armand Gaston Billotte, breached the German defences and attacked the enemy head on. It destroyed 13 German tanks!

 Two PzKpfw IV tanks, Eleven PzKpfw III tanks and two enemy guns fell victim to Billotte's Char. He recieved an amazing 140 hits from enemy tanks and guns! None were able to penetrate the tank's heavy armour.
It leave's one to wonder what would have happened had the French had the tactical nous to deploy their superior tanks en masse rather than piecemeal.

 Billotte, a French hero, was imprisoned by the Germans following France's defeat. After a year, he escaped to England where he was appointed Head of the Free French Military Mission to Moscow. After a year, he returned to England and served as De Gaulle's Chief of Staff. Following DDay he joined the French 2nd Armored Division, and then served as commander of the French 10th Division from mid-1944 until the War's end.

 Photo: Billotte, his crew and his famous Char B1
FB/‎Gabi Enahoro‎ aan Official World War 2 historians & buffs







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