French resistance in Alsace 1942-1944

Suzy, following the good points made by Jim...looks to be a good website discovered.

As you know, your father's shelter, La Roch les Fees in mountainous terrain, lies about 3 miles north east of St Die des Vosges within the Vosages Department No 88 and hIs home was about 12 miles to the east of St Die close to Ville.

Colmar lies in Haut Rhine in Haut Rhin (Higher Rhine River area,) ie lies to the south of Selestat

Prior to September 1944 there would be French Resistance forces such as Maquis and FTP units harassing the German occupation forces in the Vosages and Alsace. However, in September 1944, Andre Malraux formed the Alsace Lorraine Independent Brigade. This irregular unit was eventually incorporated into the FFI as part of the French regular forces and operated with US forces to push the Germans over the Rhine.

Given that your father evaded the Wehrmacht as you state. the Germans were still being pushed out of Alsace Lorraine, I would say his service, from 1945, although a resident of the Vosages would have been with the Alsace Lorraine Independent Brigade. Further information on this group might be found in the ALIB French archives or the archives of the two Alsace departments Bas Rhin (Capital Strasbourg) and Haut Rhin.(Captital Colmar)

For the Vosges resistance there might be some information in the Epinal archives. (There were intensive operations around Moussey,north of St Die in the autumn of 1944 by the British SAS. Many villagers were deported from Moussey in the aftermath to German concentration camps.

Incidentally. On the heights above Obernai, east of Natzwiller, there is an impressive memorial to over 200.000 Alsatians who were pressed into German service during war.

Andre Malraux was a supporter of CDG, an author by profession. He had led an interesting life. He served as a minister in De Gaull's first post war government.

 

I've been working on the "possible archives for Suzy to look/search" too Harry.

Since my previous post I've located the current (working and accessible!) website page.
My thinking, geographically, is that Suzy will need to check the FFI archive folders for: Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin, Moselle, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Haute-Saone, and Vosges (and all "Secteur" lists within) as Suzy's father may have signed on/been recruited/volunteered with any local group within that vicinity.

A heck of a search but as Suzy will be looking for her father's name on a list it could be on any one within the geographic area - maybe.

Here's the current working FFI area list link, and thankfully the associated documents are currently accessible.

Consultation d'un inventaire

Hopefully Suzy will check in on the forum before to long and start searching.

Kind regards, always,

Jim.

 

Suzy and HarryR.

Given Harry's information "your father's shelter, La Roch les Fees in mountainous terrain, lies about 3 miles north east of St Die des Vosges" in his post #21 (aove) I'm currently working through this one (note: 97 pages to read through - I may be some time!):



Kind regards, searching, always,

Jim.