Resistance during World War II: Encyclopedia II - Resistance during World War II - Famous resistance operations

Resistance during World War II - Famous resistance operations

An intricate series of resistance operations were launched in France prior to, and during, Operation Overlord.

On June 5 1944, the BBC broadcasted a group of unusual sentences, which the Germans knew were code words—possibly for the invasion of Normandy. The BBC would regularly transmit hundreds of personal messages, of which only a few were really significant. A few days before D-Day, the commanding officers of the Resistance heard the first line of Verlaine's poem , Chanson d'Automne, "Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne" (Long sobs of autumn violins) which meant that the "day" was imminent. When the second line "Blessent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone" (wound my heart with a montonous langour) was heard, the Resistance knew that the invasion would take place within the next 48 hours. They then knew it was time to go about their respective pre-assigned missions. All over France resistance groups had been coordinated, and various groups throughout the country increased their sabotage. Communications were cut, trains derailed, roads, water towers and ammunition depots destroyed and German garrisons were attacked. Some relayed info about German defensive positions on the beaches of Normandy to American and British commanders by radio, just prior to 6 June. Victory did not come easily; in June and July, in the Vercors plateau a newly reinforced maquis group fought 15,000 Waffen SS soldiers under General Karl Pflaum and was defeated with 600 casualties. On June 10 Major Otto Dickmann's troops wiped out the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in retaliation. The resistance also assisted later Allied invasions in south of France in Operations Dragoon and Anvil.

Other famous resistance operations were the Norwegian sabotages of the German nuclear program (see Norwegian heavy water sabotage).

Operation Anthropoid was another famous resistance move during the WWII. It was the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1941, the Nazi “Protector of Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia” and the chief of Nazi´s final solution, by the Czech resistance in Prague. Over fifteen thousand Czechs were killed in reprisals, with the most infamous incidents being the complete destruction of the towns of Lidice and Ležáky.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Famous resistance operations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki