d. How effective were resistance movements in Europe and the Asia–Pacific?
In all countries occupied by the Nazis, there were civilians who joined resistance groups. Also called partisans, they gathered intelligence for the Allies, used sabotage and murder against the occupiers, helped rescue shot-down Allied pilots or took Jews (in the case of Europe) into safety. Their work was vital for the Allies, but extremely dangerous.
This page looks at the work of resistance movements in France and Malaya.
A group of French Resistance fighters (maquisards) pose for a picture with weapons in the courtyard of a farm in France, during the summer of 1944.
Watch the following video on resistance movements in France and answer the questions below:
- What kinds of people joined resistance movements in France?
- What methods were used by resistance movements? Note down activities that are mentioned in the video.
- What specific groups are named?
- What dangers did the resistance fighters face?
- What outside help did they get?
- What role did they play at the end of the war?
When France surrendered to Germany on 22 June 1940, many French joined the Resistance. These were people who resented the occupation of the Germans or the collaboration of the French Vichy government. Many French were also inspired to resist after Charles de Gaulle made an address to the French people 18 June 1940 encouraging people to resist: "whatever happens, the flame of French Resistance must not and will not be extinguished."
Watch the first five minutes of this video which discusses the importance of Charles de Gaulle's speech.
What was the impact of this speech?
The video above focuses on the founding of the Free French Movement which was based in London. However many other resistance groups sprang up in France including paramilitary organizations, often comprised of demobilized military men. Called the maquis, these organizations consisted of guerrilla-style resisters who lived in the mountains and caves throughout the country.
The many resistance groups did not always work together. However, in May 1943, Charles de Gaulle convinced several groups to merge into the Conseil National de la Resistance (CNR). In later stages of the war, fighters worked together as the Force Françaises de l'Intérieur (FFI) under the Allied command.
The relationship between Britain and the French Resistance movement was vital. Britain, via the SOE, supplied the French with equipment and trained agents. The French Resistance, in turn, supplied vital intelligence reports.
However, ordinary citizens were also key to the work of the resistance.
Activity: Source work (AO3)
What according to this source was the role of ordinary citizens in the Resistance? Create a list of the different activities carried out to support the Resistance.
The maquis were supported by regular citizens. Bringing the fighters food, hiding them in barns and outbuildings, passing messages or information — these were also forms of resistance. Events like the November 1942 German occupation of the southern zone and the 1943 establishment of the Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO), which required French men to work for the German war effort, helped turn public opinion and increased involvement in the movement.
Resistance consisted of activities like creating propaganda, newspapers and leaflets, as well as helping downed Allied airmen escape the country or creating false documents. There were citizens who worked to save persecuted minorities, including getting Jewish children safely out of France to neutral Switzerland. Resistance workers were, for example, barbers by day and part of the liberation movement by night, or women who worked in the post office and intercepted mail.
https://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-ii/french-resistance.htm
Research the role of key individuals in the French Resistance movement. There are some websites below to help you.
- What can you learn of the activities of these individuals?
- Produce a wall display to show these individuals and their bravery.
‘Cowardly criminals in the pay of England and Moscow have killed, by shooting in the back, the Field Commander of Nantes on the morning of 20 October 1941. In expiation for this crime I have already ordered that fifty hostages be shot … fifty more hostages will be shot if the guilty parties are not arrested by midnight 23 October 1941. I offer an award totalling15 million francs to those citizens who contribute to the discovery of the guilty parties.’
A poster put up on the walls of the French city of Nantes in 1941
The Germans responded swiftly to the actions of the resistance movement:
- German agents infiltrated resistance groups
- Suspected resistance group members were arrested and tortured - many were killed or sent to concentration camps
- Civilians were killed as punishment for resistance activities;
- The entire village of Oradour-sur-Glane along with its inhabitants was destroyed when the SS suspected the village of helping the resistance
As many as 25,000 French men and women, members of the resistance and those suspected of aiding their cause, were sent to German concentration camps. Another 25,000 were executed in France by Gestapo agents, including the population of the village mentioned above.
As explained above, in 1944, many of the largest French underground groups united to form the Conseil National de la resistance. The organization stockpiled weapons and worked with Allied intelligence operatives to prepare for the Allied invasion of France.
What do you think this photo is showing?
Using this page from the Imperial War Museum make notes on the role of resistance groups following the D Day Landings.
In pairs, use all of the information above to discuss ways in which the French resistance played a key role in helping with the final Allied victory.
- Chinese Malayans were already hostile to Japan because of the war that Japan had launched against China in 1937
- December 18, 1941 shortly before the fall of Singapore, the British and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) - formerly enemies - agreed to cooperate in Malaya against the Japanese. (This meant that the British had to free MCP members from jail)
- The British trained some MCP members in guerilla warfare; these MCP members formed the basis of the MPAJA
- Once Malaya had been invaded and occupied by the Japanese, many non Communist Chinese joined the MPAJA; this was due to the already existing hostility between the two groups and also because of the treatment of the Chinese by the Japanese in Malaya including the Sook Ching massacres. The collapse of the Malayan economy following the Western blockades against Japan also meant that many ethnic Chinese, faced by hunger as well as poor treatment, were ready to join in the resistance.
- Initially the MPAJA lived in the jungle and were fed by local villagers; however the brutal reprisals by the Japanese against such actions - which could include burning down whole villages - meant that the MPAJA retreated to the foothills of the central mountains where they established bases.
- The MPAJA also took revenge against members of the local population who collaborated with the Japanese - often these were Malays who the Japanese employed as policemen.
- Although initially the MPAJA struggled to make an impact against the Japanese and suffered huge losses, from mid 1943, they became more organised and larger in numbers; from 1944 the British were also able to help them by dropping supplies.
Watch this video which is about a resistance group in Singapore called Dalforce - but there are several areas of overlap with the MPAJA - see if you can spot these.
The MPAJA claim that its guerillas undertook 340 individual operations against the Japanese of which 230 were considered 'major' - involving a whole regiment. They claim to have killed 5,500 Japanese troops while loosing 1,000 themselves. However the Japanese claim that their losses were 600 (killed and wounded) and 2000 local police and that the MPAJA lost 2,900.
(note that these statistics come from Singapore historian Cheah Boon King in his book Red Star over Malaysia)
In pairs, discuss the similarities between the resistance movements in France and the MPAJA in Malaya and Dalforce in Singapore.
What are the differences? (consider aims, membership, tactics, treatment by the enemy).