Pierre Vennat
Unpublished text
The few Canadian soldiers present on the soil of France at the end of the "Phony war" left it in mid-June 1940, when the French army decided to capitulate.
It was not until August 1942 for an assault was attempted in Dieppe during which over 4000 of us landed again on French soil. After the failure of the raid, only 6 June 1944 a Canadian division set foot on French soil.
But some French-Canadian soldiers began to fight in France well before D-Day sent there several months before the day of the invasion to serve as instructors and advisors to the military resistance, they were almost all descended by parachute at night in various parts of France.
The price paid gives an idea of the dangers faced by these men. Indeed, some 60 to 70 Canadians who have voluntarily accepted this mission, only 18 have survived. Most, if not all, have been decorated by France grateful for the Croix de Guerre with palm and the Resistance Medal.
In the coming weeks we will publish a picture of some of them under the title Soldiers from the shadows. latter capping the chapter which I have spent in 1998 in the third volume of my Unsung heroes, published by Editions du Meridien. These texts, abstracts and enriched some new data that will form the core of these chronicles.
How do you become a secret agent?
"By being a little crazy, because it is a very safe way to commit suicide" replied Lucien Dumais, one of the best known of them, a reporter The Press of in 1991.
As Gabriel Chartrand him as a hero of the shadows and colored unionist brother Michel Chartrand, "in the army when it wants to send you somewhere, it is better to say yes because, eventually, if you say no, they can you send in a worse place. "
Major Paul-E. Labelle
I had the privilege, there are twenty years to travel to Normandy together Major Paul-Emile Labelle, one of the survivors of these survivors share paratroopers behind the lines.
young lieutenant of the Regiment de Maisonneuve, Labelle had joined the regiment in England in September 1942 but shortly after he was transferred to the Royal 22 e Regiment. In 1943, he participated with the regiment in every major battle of the Italian campaign.
Then, in April 1944, he was sent to North Africa where it is prepared for a mission while extremely dangerous, promoted Captain meanwhile, was parachuted in Vaucluse. Only Canadian in this sector, Labelle was appointed deputy commander of the departmental staff of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) in the region and representing U.S. and British governments with the French Resistance.
Chief of Mission, he conducted three French officers, instructors strategies and methods of preparation of weapons and combat teams organized into small groups to harass the enemy relentlessly, and a thousand ways and that, throughout the region Vaucluse. Military Adviser, Labelle should address itself claims of weapons and ammunition in Algiers who shipped them by air, often four or five devices at once.
After the liberation of France, Labelle was promoted to Major, August 20, 1944, and ordered the French army, with the following quote: "Senior Officer exceptional value. Parachuted into occupied territory by the enemy as a member of an allied mission has passed by his bravery, coolness and energy, a considerable ascendancy over men. Distinguished himself in battle of 8 to 31 August 1944, where, fighting in the ranks of the Maquis du Ventoux, he contributed mightily to break a strong German attack in the region of Sault Javon. Since August 20, acted in a particularly difficult liaison with allied forces, which continually admired for his calm and his courage. "
In addition to its French decorations, Major Labelle received the Military Cross (Military Cross) from the British authorities and Canada.
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