Agir

The Réseau Agir (Act) was run between 1940 and 1944.

This resistance movement was created in 1940 by Michel Hollard (awarded the Croix de Guerre during WW1). Having decided to do nothing which would help the Nazis, he used his engineering training to become an agent of the Maison Gazogène Autobloc, a company making gas engines for motor vehicles. This provided him with an income, and a perfect cover for clandestine activities.

'Agir' was completely self-contained, using no dead letter boxes, radios or supply drops - this greatly reduced the risk of capture. Hollard would meet each agent to collect information, so if one was caught, no other agents were at risk. Most agents (over 100 by 1944) were volunteers who had access to information in their normal occupations - such as station masters to track military convoys, bar keepers to listen in to conversations, hoteliers the location of senior soldiers, naval dock workers to record repairs to German navy ships and their departure date (so a reception committee could be mounted!). There were also a few full-time agents whose expenses Hollard paid - registered as "Gazogène" salesmen, they were able to obtain travel permits. Hollard personally travelled around France to collect their information and then delivered it to the British Military Attaché in Berne, crossing the Swiss/French border 98 times.

To ensure that the coast was clear when he intended to cross a border, Hollard would arrange with local inhabitants to check whether soldiers were nearby, and leave an agreed signal (such as a barn door open) if it was safe.

An agent discovered some unusual construction sites in the Pas de Calais area, so Hollard investigated, and on a hunch, took a compass bearing on the mysterious long concrete strip. It pointed to London. "Agir" agents discovered over 100 sites, each pointing to the same location. Later, a young draughtsman Hollard managed to place in the drawing office on the site at Bois Carré was able to steal enough information for the two to create a complete set of drawings for the site. The result was the exposure of the V1 flying bomb launch system. A scale model was made from these drawings for planning RAF bombing raids - this could be far more accurate, and many of the sites were completely destroyed in bombing raids. It has been estimated that the V1 program was delayed by 6 months, and reduced to between 1/6 and 1/10 the level it would otherwise have reached. It is for this reason that Hollard has been called 'the man who saved London'.

President Eisenhower wrote in his book 'Crusade on Europe':"It seems likely that if the Germans had succeeded in perfecting and using these weapons six months earlier than they did our invasion of Europe would have proved exceedingly difficult, perhaps impossible.... 'Overlord' (the D-Day landing) might have been written off."

While holding a meeting in a Paris café, Michel Hollard and 4 members of his réseau (Joseph Legendre, Henri Dujarier, Jules Mailly and Robert Rubenach) were arrested on 5 February, 1944 as a result of betrayal. Hollard was interrogated by the Gestapo, but did not reveal any information, and was sent to Neuengamme concentration camp. He survived, and died aged 95, on 16 July, 1993. Legendre and Rubenach were later released, as no incriminating evidence was found, and Legendre was able to take over leadership of the réseau. Mailly was executed four months later in Mauthausen.

Hollard was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1945 and the citation read: 'Hollard, at great personal risk, reconnoitered a number of heavily guarded V1 sites and reported on them with such clarity that models were constructed which enabled effective bombing to be carried out.'

Bibliography

*cite book | author=Martelli, George | title=The man who saved London | publisher=Odhams Press | year=1960

*cite book | author=Eisenhower, Dwight D | title=Crusade in Europe | publisher=Doubleday & Co | year=1949

External links

*www.michel-hollard.com

Categories: History • French Resistance