French “collabos” behind Allied lines: When Germany organized clandestine parachute drops in France (1944–1945)
Brun, Olivier
French “collabos” behind Allied lines: When Germany organized clandestine parachute drops in France (1944–1945) - 2022.
9
At a time when France had not yet been fully liberated, the Direction de la Surveillance du territoire (DST) (Directorate of Territorial Surveillance), the counter-espionage service formally created in November 1944, was faced with an urgent mission. Along with the entire state apparatus, the DST had to fight against clandestine airdrops on France orchestrated by the Germans, a new phenomenon that was gaining momentum at the end of 1944, despite being backed by a German system on the verge of collapse. Drawing on the analysis of recently declassified archives, this study sheds light on how the DST sprang into action, fully mobilized to track down these men—around a hundred in total, mostly French “collabos”—who were deliberately parachuted, without any real training, behind the Allied lines to carry out intelligence and sabotage missions that were doomed to failure.
French “collabos” behind Allied lines: When Germany organized clandestine parachute drops in France (1944–1945) - 2022.
9
At a time when France had not yet been fully liberated, the Direction de la Surveillance du territoire (DST) (Directorate of Territorial Surveillance), the counter-espionage service formally created in November 1944, was faced with an urgent mission. Along with the entire state apparatus, the DST had to fight against clandestine airdrops on France orchestrated by the Germans, a new phenomenon that was gaining momentum at the end of 1944, despite being backed by a German system on the verge of collapse. Drawing on the analysis of recently declassified archives, this study sheds light on how the DST sprang into action, fully mobilized to track down these men—around a hundred in total, mostly French “collabos”—who were deliberately parachuted, without any real training, behind the Allied lines to carry out intelligence and sabotage missions that were doomed to failure.
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