Moon is Down: The Jedburghs and Support to the French Resistance

摘要

The Allied World War Two leaders faced a difficult dilemma: with Germany dominating continental Europe and few Allied options, could the occupied populations contribute to the defeat of Germany. To facilitate the effort, the British founded the Special Operations Executive to organize, train, and equip resistance groups. In occupied France, the problem increased due to many political groups trying to influence what kind of resistance should dominate. Joined by the American Office of Strategic Services, the British formed a Special Forces Headquarters and trained a force to organize, arm, train, and equip the French resistance. Ideally the force, known as Jedburghs, would parachute behind enemy lines with sufficient time to accomplish building the resistance into a viable combat force before the Allies invaded France. Unfortunately, political disagreements between American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on one side and the Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle on the other, delayed the Jedburgh deployments. Also the Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower held back the Jedburghs due to the fear that men behind enemy lines could compromise invasion plans. Once deployed, the four teams detailed below faced the challenge of organizing, arming, and training a viable force while evading the German army. They built upon Special Operations Executive spy circuits and benefited from many of its men and resources devoted to supplying the resistance. Trained for a military mission, the Jedburghs' greatest success lay in their ability to galvanize the local French resistance politically into an effective fighting force.