Background
Henri Frenay Sandoval, more commonly known as Henri Frenay,[1] was born in Lyon, France, on 11 November 1905, into a Catholic family with a military tradition.
Henri Frenay Sandoval, more commonly known as Henri Frenay,[1] was born in Lyon, France, on 11 November 1905, into a Catholic family with a military tradition.
He studied the Germanic languages at the University of Strasbourg.
As a captain he was captured in the Vosges during the Battle of France but escaped from a Pow column in Alsace on 27 June 1940. Making his way to Marseilles, he remained until 16 Dec and was assigned to army staff duty in Vichy. Late in Feb 1941 he went underground and established clandestine newspapers, Les Petites Ailes, and then Verites. Around these papers was formed a resistance group. Within less than a year this merged with the producers of Liberies (including Francois de Menthon) to become Combat. The new group spoke for the most important movement in tbe unoccupied zone, and the former army captain and St Cyrien innovated most of the techniques used within the French resistance (Larousse). After accepting Jean Moulin’s authority and praising his performance as de Gaulle's representative in France, Frenay (code name “Charvet”) criticized Moulin in his memoirs for trying to seize too much authority. He also saw in the national council of the resistance (CNR), Moulin’s crowing achievement, a return to fractured French politics of the Third Republic. In sum, Charvet was willing to accept de Gaulle’s military authority but unwilling to sacrifice political independence. (Larousse.)
All this became academic in June 1943 when the Germans (notably Baerbie and Bleicher) virtually destroyed the top military and political leadership of the resistance. Victims included General Delestraint. and Moulin. Frenay left for Algiers on 19 June 43 to seek better support from the FCNL. Talked into remaining. Frenay was minister of prisoners, deportees, and refugees for two years from Nov 43. He returned to France with de Gaulle, retaining his cabinet position in Paris. The English translation of Frenay’s book, first published in 1973, is The Night Will End: Memoirs of a Revolutionary.
(Book by Frenay, Henri)
1976