Career
Despite later being acquitted in two separate trials, those suspicions have never gone away. When, in 1943, Gestapo officers under the orders of Klaus Barbie stormed the house in Caluire where the French Resistance leadership was secretly meeting, only Hardy was allegedly not put in handcuffs. As the seven other men were led away, Hardy successfully made a break for lieutenant
The incident seemed suspicious to Raymond Aubrac, who, based on the ease with which the Nazis had let him go, always remained convinced that Hardy had alerted the Gestapo of their meeting.
"From all the Germans with their submachine guns, there were only a couple of scattered shots," Aubrac later stated. After the war, he was tried twice for collaboration for a number of reasons but was found not guilty, despite committing perjury at the first trial.
Shortly before his death, he was accused again by Barbie himself.but died before any new charges could be brought. Hardy was born in Mortrée, Orne.
He was a novelist, having written the book Bitter Victory (French title Amère victoire) which was adapted for the cinema in a Franco-United States co-production starring Richard Burton.
lieutenant is one of director Nicholas Ray"s finest films.
