GUIRAL FAMILY, A FAMILY OF RESISTANTS
Photo of Paul GUIRAL, alias "Gavarni", then "Daumier" then "Jérome" (taken from the book by Louis OLIVET and André ARIBAUD: "Before memory does not die")
Paul GUIRAL, his wife Henriette, his daughter Suzanne and his nephew Georges all joined the Resistance, as volunteers; a patriotic and courageous family like there were few.
During the Resistance, my father, Georges CAUSSANEL and Paul GUIRAL had, (despite the difficult and sometimes excessive nature of the latter) forged very strong and solid friendships.
This friendship was reciprocal and was also very strong with Suzanne and Henriette GUIRAL.
Georges CAUSSANEL was a childhood friend of Georges GUIRAL. (The Caussanel and Guiral families had dated for several generations.)
(Extract from the diary of Georges CAUSSANEL dit Mickey showing the great friendship which bound them during the resistance, bonds which were loosened later, but which were revived in the mind and the heart of Paul Guiral on the death of my father.
Paul GUIRAL
- Paul GUIRAL born in Montauban on August 29, 1883 and died on 01/10/1961, was a former magistrate who practiced in the colonies (in particular in Madagascar) and endowed with a great culture.
Georges CAUSSANEL known as "Mickey" brought him to the Resistance by making him meet Raymond CABRIT called "Cassan" who introduced him to DUPLAN known as colonel "Nil".
He joined the Secret Army as soon as it was organized in Tarn-et-Garonne in 1942
He temporarily joined the "Combat" movement during the summer of 1942 then joined the "Franc Tireur" movement which he represented as president of the Resistance Coordination Committee (C.C.R) of Tarn-et-Garonne. He also adhered to the movement "Liberal and Federate".
With his car, he traveled the department to find parachuting and landing sites and with LAPLACE known as "Larive" looked for "hideouts" for the maquis.
He participated, with "Mickey" in the creation, organization and financing of the maquis.
He transmitted to departmental officials from June 1940 to August 1942 the directives and orders of the Interallied General Staff and until the Liberation (August 19, 1944), those of the COMAC (Military Commission of the National Council of the Resistance)
he was until May 1944, departmental head of the M.U.R., head of the S.R of the M.U.R. then president of the C.D.L.
His house in the Bastiole (currently rue Henriette GUIRAL was the meeting place for the main Resistance fighters of Tarn-et-Garonne and a cache of weapons and documents; it is also here that the MUR of the Tarn-et-Garonne, of which he chaired the Directorate in November 1943.
In January 1944, following a meeting in Toulouse with the Commissioner of the Republic Jean CASSOU known as "Fournier", he was asked to accept the functions of regional head of the MURs, an offer he refused, preferring to devote himself entirely to the Resistance from his native department and continue to perfect the organization he had initiated. In his place was named DEGON said "Bouconne" who was previously Regional Secretary General of M.U.R and known under the pseudo of "Gauthier"
Paul GUIRAL was asked to accept to become Prefect of the Liberation on D-day, which he accepted.
The 4th company of the AS, commanded by captain RIVIERE known as "Gustave" was assigned to its protection and its installation as Prefect, but, after the arrest of his wife and daughter, he had to go into hiding , being actively wanted by the Gestapo.
During his time in hiding, he was respectively hidden in their house in Verlhaguet by Georges, "Mickey" my father, and Emile CAUSSANEL, my grandfather, then in Léribosc where were the remains of the Ornano maquis.
He lived in the Ornano maquis and on June 17, 1944 gathered the Clandestine Liberation Committee of Tarn-et-Garonne with its Military Commission where the liberation of Montauban was organized and Colonel LANGERON appointed as departmental head of the F.F.I.
When the Ornano bush was dispersed, it was hidden by cousins from Bioule (82), the BOURDES family, at a place called "la Tanguine". During all this time, "Mickey" made the connections between "Daumier" and the heads of region of Toulouse.
Then, my grandfather Emile CAUSSANEL and his brother, Gaston GUIRAL went to look for him, by bike, and hid him in the family home (in Cammas) until the Liberation.
This trip was very dangerous because Paul GUIRAL was actively sought and his head was put at a price by the Gestapo and the Militia.
During this period, he continued to actively deal with the Resistance of the department, and succeeded, with Colonel BAURES, what was thought impossible, a merger between the Secret Army and the Regular Army (ORA). *, which was an important asset on D-Day.
* (the O.R.A, Army Resistance Organization, under the orders of General Giraud)
Taking advantage of the moment of momentary disarray caused by the arrest of his wife and daughter and arguing that he could no longer move freely as he was wanted by the Gestapo, DEGON said "Bouconne" during a meeting in Toulouse, pointed out "Lambert" as assistant to "Daumier", to make his task easier; "Mickey" brought "Lambert" back with him, and did a few missions for him, then, having fallen ill, was sent home.
"Lambert" had rather come to supplant "Daumier" as departmental head, than to help him. This maneuver having failed after the questioning of the veracity of Lambert's statements ", at the end of July 1944, DEGON (known as" Gautier "then" Bouconne ") (under the influence of DUPLAN known as" Nil ") informed Paul GUIRAL (known as "Daumier" or "Gérome"), by an offensive letter, that he was no longer Prefect and that even, he was no longer anything in the Resistance.
For shameful reasons of personal ambitions and political shenanigans, the former comrades in the struggle began to tear each other apart.
This has never been the case with Paul GUIRAL whose only ambition was dedication, patriotism, the most dangerous action to help the liberation of France.
The positions of command, of directors, of prefect, etc ... which fell to him were linked only to these qualities, to his great culture and to the efficiency of his action (despite his authoritarian and sharp character which sometimes pointed at his interlocutors ... that's to say! ...) and if sometimes he wanted to impose himself, it was always with the aim of a better efficiency of the local Resistance (he had moreover refused the post of Regional chief of the MUR to devote himself entirely to his department.)
In 1944, the Resistance reconnected with the old demons of ambition and political parties, alas, even between former students of the 1st hour, and friends, what General de GAULLE would later call “the doglit”!
A delegation from the C.D.L requested an interview with Jean CASSOU in Toulouse to clarify the situation and also do justice to Paul GUIRAL.
When they got there, they learned that a German roundup had taken place in Resistance circles, that there had been executions in the Bouconne forest and that Jean CASSOU * and the heads of the Region had gone underground.
This interview therefore did not take place and the release came very quickly. Paul GUIRAL had nevertheless continued to lead the Resistance of the department until the Liberation and assumed his functions despite the difficult conditions of clandestinity.
* (Jean CASSOU was part of the Musée de l'Homme network in Paris in 1940; he had been appointed Commissioner of the Republic for the Toulouse region in June 1944 and was seriously injured during the liberation of Toulouse)
See opposite the report, classified "confidential", that the hierarchy asked the agent 2456 on this story, without the knowledge of "Daumier" and all the protagonists
Paul GUIRA resumed in December 1944 the functions of President of the C.D.L. from Tarn-et-Garonne
He will be made an officer of the Resistance (Lieutenant-Colonel) with the following very nice quote:
"Since the armistice, Mr. GUIRAL has devoted without reserve all his forces, his faculties, his resources and even his family to the service of the Resistance. He was, in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, the soul and the leader of the fight against the enemy and against the Vichy regime, occupying the most exposed positions, ensuring the most dangerous missions and constantly gathering courage around him. Nothing could defeat him, nor exhaust his abnegation, not even the pain and anguish caused by the arrest and deportation of his wife and daughter. He is one of the noblest models of the Resistance who, since 1940, have given everything to the Fatherland " .
(source: Book by Louis Olivet and André Aribaud - "Memory: Heurts et Malheurs -Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur" published in 2008 by the Departmental Committee for the Resistance and Deportation Prize of Tarn-et-Garonne).
and decorated with the Resistance Medal with rosette and the Free France Medal (source: Fondation de la France Libre: list of Free French)
On release, Paul GUIRAL will assume the functions of Government Commissioner to the Special Tribunal constituted by the Prefect then appointed President of the Court Martial and President of the Military Tribunal of Tarn et Garonne (by which 15 death sentences of Militiamen were pronounced) . He assumed these functions with firmness, nobility and impartiality, which gave these jurisdictions undisputed authority in the eyes of public opinion.
It should be noted that in this country, however very bruised, many militiamen, collaborators, Nazis and even SS and torturers, were pardoned or had only minor sentences, we do not know by what collusion. Many former resistance fighters found this abject and shameful.
Text and photos © Serge Caussanel
(personal archives - departmental archives - national archives)
Arkheia review
(see extract from a personal letter written to his fiancée by Georges CAUSSANEL dit Mickey, February 24, 1945).
Photo of Paul GUIRAL and his brother Gaston (father of Georges Guiral)
photo credit: Mr Georges GUIRAL
Henriette GUIRAL
Henriette GUIRAL wife of Pierre Paul GUIRAL and mother of Suzanne, who died for France at the Ravensbrück concentration camp
This photo was autographed for my father, Georges, known as "Mickey" by Suzanne GUIRAL on her return from the Ravensbrück concentration camp
Henriette GUIRAL was born COROT on March 23, 1889 in Ménetou-Couture (18); she was the great niece of the painter Jean Baptiste COROT.
She was a P2 agent, 3rd class project manager, in the Gallia-Kasanga intelligence network (approved rank of Sub-Lieutenant).
She was arrested on May 4, 1944 by the Gestapo and deported to Sarrebrück then to Ravensbrück.
She died on May 6, 1945 in Rumpshagen (Germany), a few days after the liberation of the Ravensbrück camp, mined by typhus.
His body was repatriated to France a few months after the Liberation. She rests next to Paul GUIRAL in the "Pouty" cemetery in Montauban.
Died for France on May 6, 1945, she was decorated with the Legion of Honor in a military capacity, Croix de Guerre with palm, Medal of the Resistance (decree of 20/11/1946, published in the Official Journal of 5/12 / 1946) posthumously.
In order to honor her memory and her sacrifice, the mayor of Montauban inaugurated in 1946 the plaque "Impasse Henriette GUIRAL" with the mention "Heroine of the Resistance"; in the district of "Labastiole". This road was renamed "rue Henriette GUIRAL" in 1995.
Text and photos © Serge Caussanel
Personal letter extract
Extrait d'une lettre que "Mickey" écrivait à sa fiancée le 16 octobre 1945.
Suzanne GUIRAL
Suzanne GUIRAL, daughter of Paul and Henriette, known as "Suzy" (born May 20, 1918 in Montauban and died August 16, 1999 in Pau), who was P2 agent, liaison and intelligence officer and worked with her father, whom she was also secretary, within the network "Gallia RPA then Kasanga" in the Resistance.
She often worked in tandem with my father Georges Caussanel and their missions were often of the same nature of risk and danger.
In April 1944, it provided the B.C.R.A in London with the plan and operation of the new German bazooka that the Das Reich division was experimenting with in great secrecy in the department. During this mission, where she was transporting these precious documents, she almost got caught at Toulouse station (see the "CODE 23" section).
During the summer of 1944, going up "by chance" in a train of heavily armed militiamen at Toulouse station, she made them believe in her adherence to their ideas and succeeded in obtaining information on the operation in progress which consisted in attacking. and destroy two maquis in Lot-et-Garonne. She returned in haste to warn her leader and by this action avoided the certain death of part of these guerrillas who numbered around 150.
Arrested, beaten and ill-treated, with her mother Henriette, by the head of the Gestapo of Montauban, Stotz, she was deported to the terrible concentration camp of Ravensbrück with her mother, who, of fragile health, best helped her husband and his daughter in their clandestine action.
She was decorated with the Medal of the Resistance in September 1945 (Official Journal of 08/14/1945), Medal of Free France (source: Foundation of Free France: list of Free French), Legion of Honor in a military capacity (Chevalier) (JO of July 28, 1957), Croix de guerre with palm with this beautiful quote:
"Daughter of the purest of resistance fighters; actively collaborated in the fight led clandestinely by her father against the occupiers. By her cold blood, managed to save secret documents of great importance. In her cruel detention, showed proof of 'great courage and unparalleled dignity. "
She will be promoted Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1961 (JO of January 24, 1961), as a former second lieutenant of the French fighting forces, then Commander of the Legion of Honor in 1992 (JO of April 26, 1992) as a former second lieutenant of the French fighting forces, deported, resistant.
(She wrote a book on her own account relating her stay in the German prison of Ravensbrück-. This book written very shortly after her release is a poignant and terrible testimony which should enlighten the new generations see the Bibliography section.)
Georges GUIRAL
- Mr Georges GUIRAL, nephew of Paul GUIRAL worked for his uncle as a liaison and intelligence agent; he was part of the A.S of Tarn-et-Garonne and took part in the fighting for the liberation of Montauban (in particular in the fighting of the Rond).
He received a distinction from the Franco-British association: the Vermeil Medal, for services rendered in a military capacity.
He is also the holder of the commemorative medal of the war 39/45 with bar "liberation".
(Founded in 1933 and placed under the honorary presidency of Her Majesty Queen Mother Elisabeth of England and of Mr. Albert Lebrun then of Mr. René Coty, Presidents of the French Republic, registered with the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, member of the Federation Nationale André Maginot, the Franco-British National Association (non-profit association of general interest) aims to promote, maintain and strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two nations, bonds forged by the agreement cordial and on the battlefields of 1914-1918, 1939-1945, in the underground and in the resistance.)
Georges GUIRAL remained the only survivor of the GUIRAL family to have known the period of the occupation, to have rubbed shoulders with all the people present on this site and to have participated in the Resistance against the Nazis.
He is the father of Messrs Alain and Serge Guiral.
I learn today (04/01/2019), with sadness, the death of Georges GUIRAL (at the age of 92) with whom I had formed a friendship, and send via this site my sincere condolences to his family and his children.
I thank Alain Guiral his son for warning me.
Georges GUIRAL was buried on April 3, 2019 in the Pouty cemetery in Montauban; the honors were returned to him by a delegation of the Veterans of Meauzac and his friend Emile Caselli, flag bearer, in tribute to his action in the resistance.
I would like to emphasize that he was between 13 and 16 years old when his uncle Paul GUIRAL entrusted him with liaison, observation and intelligence missions, under the nose and beard of the terrible Gestapo who was not joking; he participated in the fights of the Rond for the liberation of Montauban at the age of 17.
My father, Georges CAUSSANEL, was 16 when he joined the Resistance and intelligence and 18 when he joined Free France.
We must recognize courage, unwavering determination, patriotism (this word being so decried nowadays and likened to so-called "fascism", to "populism" - a contemptuous word - for some, doctrinaire of the single thought , and also in the so-called elites, the same ones who did not know the real fascism of Nazi Germany, the Gestapo and the SD, the SS of the Das Reich division, the militia and the Kapos of the camps of 'extermination).
The sacrifice of these young people, who were not numerous and whom no one forced to engage in such dangerous and sometimes deadly activities, qualified as "terrorists" by the occupier and his militia minions must be a model for us.
They have almost all disappeared, and we, their descendants, must tirelessly bear witness to their action which allowed this country to be free, free of its destiny, without occupation or foreign interference.
And in a troubled and unstable time, where we would like to dilute our nation in a large world market, without roots and where all our ancestors would have sacrificed themselves for nothing, to build this beautiful country as it still was a little while ago , the flame of their memory, of their commitment, of their patriotism, of their abnegation must shine even brighter.
After the war, General de GAULLE wanted a Europe of Nations, where countries have a common destiny while retaining their entire sovereignty. We are currently very far from it.
Georges GUIRAL, we will not forget you.
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The CAUSSANEL family and the GUIRAL family have given a lot to France and the French.
Their action remained in the shade, their courage and their dedication until the sacrifice must be known and recognized.
It is completely abnormal that, these indispensable and courageous actors, having given so much, having repeatedly put their own lives in peril, in the shadows and often alone, are not brought to light in all that concerns the Resistance in the Tarn-et-Garonne-; history should not be partisan but accountable for the facts, like those who write it!
I make sure that the truth about their commitment is restored and that the place which is theirs, is returned to them. This site is the witness.
Georges CAUSSANEL and his family, Paul GUIRAL and his family, can only be examples for the new generations; like other resistance fighters of the 1st hour, who were not so numerous ..
They showed what patriotism is, courage, self-sacrifice, sacrifice and Resistance to oppression, brutality and barbarism. They were lights in those dark and terrible times.
Thanks to them and to all those who fought against Nazism, WE HAVE THE INTEGRAL ADVANTAGE OF LIVING IN PEACE. Let's be aware__
Let us not forget that most of our grandparents, great grandparents, lived in a country at war (1870, 1914, 1939) and occupied with all the fears, deprivations, arrests, torture, deportations, massacres , executions, bombardments, linked to these wars.
Text and photos © Serge Caussanel, Personal archives,
except Sources: Messrs Georges and Alain Guiral, book by Louis Olivet and André Aribaud: "Before memory does not die", review Arkheia N ° 2/3
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REPORT FROM AGENT 2456 ALIAS MICKEY
The original being in some places difficult to read, a certified copy is offered to you.
Certified copy of the report
correction: read line 14: November 1943 and not 1945
Certified copy - continued
Certified copy continuation and end
Texte ©Serge Caussanel
APPOINTMENT OF PAUL GUIRAL AS PRESIDENCY OF THE CDL: REPORT OF THE AGENT DR 2456
This report requested by the hierarchy from "Mickey", agent DR 2456, relates the appointment of Paul Guiral as president of the Liberation Committee of Tarn-et-Garonne
Paul GUIRAL was decorated with the Liberation of the Medal of the Resistance with Rosette (Decree of July 3, 1946 published in the Official Journal on July 11, 1946) and of the Medal of Free France.
The French Resistance Medal was awarded to approximately 44,000 living people (including 4,800 with rosettes), and to 20,000 others posthumously, belonging to both the Free French and the Internal Resistance.
Source: Wikipedia
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Interview of Suzanne GUIRAL (1994) by Jacques LATU curator of the Museum of the Resistance of Montauban
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Certificates concerning Mr Georges GUIRAL
Liberation of Montauban from August 17 to 19, 1944
Testimonials published by the Dépêche du Midi