Welcome to the website of Serge Caussanel - ward of the nation

Attention please
This site was intended to be translated into English and Spanish.
Unfortunately, I don't speak any of these languages perfectly.
Reluctantly, I had to resort to machine translation, with all its approximations and falseness
I apologize to the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking readers.

Translation options at the bottom of the pages



RESISTANCE IN THE TARN-ET-GARONNE - Before

The purpose of this site is to highlight the action, commitment and struggle led by a Gaullist resistance fighter, my father, and his friends of the GUIRAL family, courageous, patriotic and disinterested, in the department of TARN- ET-GARONNE.

These Resistance fighters, including my father, Georges CAUSSANEL,working in the Intelligence Services of Free France as well as Paul, Henriette and Suzanne GUIRAL , made a major contribution to the Resistance in this department.

Through some of their actions many lives have been preserved among the maquisards, and the resisters.

They were among the first to resist as early as 1940, and there were very few of them.

For unglamorous political reasons or for reasons of personal enmity (as one author said about Paul GUIRAL),they have been cited very little, sometimes in a negative and partisan way, or even totally forgotten in the various local works written about this period of occupation.

However, all the actors of the Resistance of this department whose testimonies were collected for these works knew them, some having even been classmates of my father Georges CAUSSANEL.

This site therefore recounts some of their actions and restores the truth about their commitment.

The decorations and ranks obtained in a military capacity (they were initially only civilians) as well as quotations recounting some of their acts of arms are the witnesses.

Official and irrefutable documents attest to what is described here.


To a lesser extent, but having also risked their freedom and their lives, other members of these two families helped, and worked for the resistance:

my grandfather, Emile CAUSSANEL, worked as a liaison and intelligence officer for the F.F.I. Staff and
Georges GUIRAL, nephew of Paul GUIRAL, worked with his uncle for the Secret Army as an F.F.I. liaison and intelligence officer.

I want to make it clear here that this site is not polemical, it is not its purpose.

The new generations must have access to the reality and the truth of the facts and not to the truncated and partisan view of a particular political party for propaganda reasons, or to a particular activist for reasons of personal enmity.

The historical truth must be told and restored, outside of all chapels and based on facts (truth often hijacked or masked, even today, by obscure, doctrinaire, historically and intellectually dishonest political motives).

This is, in any case, what some of those who have risked or given their youth or their lives have taught me, without expecting anything in return, so that we, their descendants, can live in peace in a free country which is not, for the moment, constrained by any totalitarianism.

(Itshould be noted that at the end of 1944, as soon as the liberation, and in 1945, a number of new resistance fighters appeared, some of whom had resisted the heat at home and some others were, even stronger, collabos or militiamen converted by good friends who for financial or other collusion had cleared them.)

.............................................................................................

My father

GEORGES CAUSSANEL

was born on August 13, 1924 in Lacourt St Pierre (Tarn and Garonne) and Death for France on September 1, 1958.

Known as Mickey, then later under that of Jo he entered the resistance in September 1940, at the age of 16 and then in September 1942, joined the Free French Forces, at the age of 18.

Having formed with two friends a group of three patriots, to establish the first nucleus of the A. S according to the instructions of General de GAULLE , he began to work on propaganda and intelligence with CABRIT (see excerpts from Raymond Cabrit's diary over the home section of the menu) told Castor and then Cassan (who had recruited them and whom they had chosen as their leader), who received orders from DUPLAN, said Daniel and then Saulier and then Colonel Nil

Then, recruiting for the Resistance, he brought Paul GUIRAL (former magistrate) to the Resistance by putting him in contact with Cassan. (Paul GUIRAL quickly became one of the leaders of the departmental resistance under the pseudonym Gavarni and then Daumier with Cassan as deputy.).

Then he continued his intelligence work simultaneously for the S.R(1) of the C.C.R of the tarn-and-garonne, and in August 1943 of the S.R. of the M.U.R.(2) as agent P2 (3), 3rd class mission officer (certified rank of sub-lieutenant), for the 2nd office of L'A. S (4) and also for the N.A.P (5) , as an intelligence officer of these agencies and liaison officer between them, and with the maquis (he was part of the staff of the F.F.I liaisons from their formation).

The M.U.R.S. was renamed in December 1943 as the M.L.N.(6) S.R. was incorporated into the GALLIA-Kasanga intelligence network (7) (from the London B.C.R.A.) for which Mickey worked until the Liberation.

The right arm of his chief Gavarni,with whom he is in constant contact, he was in charge of the coordination of the S.R. at the department level, being in constant liaison with the agents, collecting reports and transmitting instructions and instructions, himself providing one or more collections per day.

Many missions, for which he was a volunteer, were entrusted to him.

He contributed with Paul GUIRAL to the recruitment of the Maquis army, to its maintenance (sale of solidarity vouchers), to propaganda (distribution of newspapers and leaflets).


1) Intelligence service
2) United Resistance Movements
3)A P2 agent was an intelligence officer who worked full-time for the Resistance
4) Secret Army
5) The N.A.P. born in September 1942 from a suggestion by Claude Bourdet (of the Combat movement) to Jean Moulin will be dedicated to the intelligence of Free France, the security of the Resistance, the provision of false papers, the preparation of the seizure of power to liberation, within the Public Administration)

6) National liberation movement

7) GALLIA is an intelligence network established in 1943 by the Central Office of Intelligence and Action (BCRA), the intelligence service of Free France in London.

Decorations and citations

During the winter of 1942/1943, Georges CAUSSANEL, very tired from the dangerous missions for which he volunteered day and night, fell victim to several hemoptysis (bloodshed). He learns that he has pulmonary tuberculosis.

He refused to cease or even interrupt his service, fighting a vital battle against the Militia, against the Gestapo and its executors of the low works(among others, of the SS of the Das Reich division from April 1944), and also against the disease, greatly exacerbating his evil, until the Liberation where he began to rest and follow care.

Pensioner at 100% and 7 degrees, his vitality very affected, evil will prevail at the age of 34 years in 1958.

(Being contagious and the methods of prophylaxis were not strict at that time, as they are today, his son, in turn, was infected in his infancy and suffered two attacks from the disease; he managed to survive but handicapped for life by serious lung and metabolic disorders, doubly collateral victim of this war, orphaned by his father at the age of 11 and irreparably affected by the disease).

He returns to the Prefecture of Montauban and regularly enters the office of the Chief of Staff of the Prefect or he copies many information.
He intercepts the telegrams he delivers to his boss Gavarni

Having fallen ill, he momentarily abandoned intelligence to recruit for the maquis, propaganda (tracts, clandestine newspapers (1) and subscriptions in favor of the scrub (he received, through their newspaper, the congratulations of the movement Free and Federate, for the large sums he brought them).

He also sells solidarity bonds for the benefit of the maquis.

Returning to his work at the Prefecture, he provided information on the activities of employees and secret notes from government departments.

He was ordered to search for Code 23, which he was able to discover in the Prefect's Office; they combine a plan, with Gavarni,to steal it for one night, photograph it and put it back in place the next morning. (A first attempt in 1943 failed).

It provides the plans for the Verlhaguet power plant (82) and then those of the Montbartier gas tanks (with photos of the tanks under construction).

This depot of gasoline was in the hands of the German army; It was bombed (2) by the Anglo-Americans some time later (June 25, 1944) thanks to this information, which delayed (with the sabotage and harassment operations of the maquis) the rise of the last German troops of the SS Das Reich armoured division to Normandy (part of the division having mounted as early as June 8, 1944). (3)

It also provides reproduction of a map of the Montech Forest, which the A. S had asked him.

(1) distributed newspapers: Combat, Liberation,Franc-Tireur, Defense of France,

Popular, Free and Federate.
The distribution of clandestine newspapers was very dangerous (Repression affects anyone who may have made, disseminated or simply read these texts. Holding a leaflet or a clandestine newspaper makes it suspicious. Having several copies is guilty.
The police are actively looking for printing locations and network leaders. Searches, seizures and arrests are multiplying. Thousands of people are arrested, deported, executed - extracted from the site www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr. page on the underground press 39/45

(2) 64 bombers participated (Boeing B17flying fortress) and 83 fighters (P 38 Lightning, P 51 Mustang and P 47 Thunderbold ) of which 1 was shot down.

The bombardment lasted 20 minutes from 9 a.m.; 147 tons of bombs were dropped with an excellent result.

At about the same time, the airfields of Toulouse Francazal and Toulouse Blagnac-

information from the book: Before the memory died of Louis OLIVET and André ARIBAUD, describing the action of the maquis of Tarn- and Garonne.

(3) the division Waffen SS Das Reich, (infamous for the hangings of Montauban , Tulle (99 young men were hanged) the massacres and barbarities of Marsoulas, Frayssinet le Gélat, d'Oradour sur Glanes and alas many others, various murders and abuses, the bulk of which were confined to Montauban and the surrounding area (on Hitler's orders) (the rest spread over several cities in the South West), was delayed by the railway sabotage carried out by the Resistance. Marshal von Rundsted's orders were to suppress the action of the maquisards and resistance fighters (terrorists, gangs) as a priority and by all means and to terrorize the population.

This elite armoured division of repression, was forced to go up to Normandy by road (a fortnight instead of the 4 or 5 planned by rail) suffering ambushes and attacks from the scrub.
The delay caused by these repressions and the attacks of the maquis was a key element of the success of the Normandy landings.

The last SS troops remained in Montauban and the South West for policing (approximately 8,000 men) were greatly hampered by the lack of presence and spare parts. They left the area for good around July 20, 1944.



OTHER ACTIONS

Georges CAUSSANEL returns, then and in order, to the standard of the Special Police of Montauban (General Intelligence); there, he provided a great deal of information on police and militia operations and on the Gestapo.

Some of his acquaintances turn away from him, including his fiancée (who later became his wife and my mother), thinking he worked for the Vichy police.

It also provides information on the movement of German troops, their strength, their armament and morale.

He gives valuable information about the militia's and Gestapo's intentions to the Maquis and the leaders of the local Resistance.

He writes and signs many false identity cards and hides at home, Perruquière Road in Verlhaguet,escapees and resisters to the S.T.O,including Gavarni,wanted by the Gestapo and among others, on the night of July 28, 1943, Mr Gaston Franceries and Captain Robert Cassagneau who had escaped from a train of the Youth Buildings that was leaving for Germany.

He established liaisons with the leaders of the Resistance in Toulouse as well as with the tarn-et-Garonne scrubs.

He stored many weapons and explosives in the attic of his house in Verlhaguet.

Some of these weapons and explosives were parachuted onto a field codenamed Manioc located at the place called Pech Berthier in Montaigu du Quercy. Mickey and his comrades depended on this terrain for parachutes from London.
This land was under the supervision of the 8th Company of the Secret Army whose leaders were Raymond CABRIT and CAILLEAU until March 2, 1944.

Two parachutes of 60 containers took place on May 30 and July 29, 1944 (page 174 of the book Before Memory Dies of Louis OLIVET and André ARIBAUD).

He was wounded, chased by the German army and managed to narrowly escape through the woods (the bullet that had hit him was not extracted and could be seen and felt by palpating his neck).

His head is priced by Stotz, the head of the Gestapo de Montauban.

He took part in the Liberation fighting, liaised and arrested militiamen and collabos, escorted cars into dangerous territory, was caught in shootouts, and shot at militiamen.

He continued his work for the D.G.E.R until May 1945.

It is obvious that the above only reflects a tiny part of what my father and his fellow Resistance fighters experienced and relates only a few facts, the greater part having remained in the shadows.

Text and photos ©Serge Caussanel
(personal archive)


Decorations and Quotes

.

"Mickey" (on the left of the photo, holding the flag) framing a demonstration of high school students in Montauban on May 8, 1945.

Source :

http://www.montauban.com/uploads/files/infosPratiquesVille/museeresitance/LiberationMtb.pdf

 8 TH MAY 2023

8 mai 1945

LACOURT-SAINT-PIERRE (Tarn-et-Garonne) 

On May 8, 2023, on the occasion of the commemoration of the surrender of Germany signed on May 8, 1945 and of the liberation, Mr. Daniel CRUSBERG, deputy mayor, on his initiative, read a speech in homage to Georges CAUSSANEL my father, native of the place and officer of the Resistance during the war.
I would like to thank him and the mayor Françoise PIZZINI for this tribute which touched me.


ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE, A PLACE OF MEMORY AT RISK

Martyred village of Oradour-sur-Glane
Martyred village of Oradour-sur-Glane
.
See the article on:
Church at Oradour-sur-Glane, where 349 women and children were massacred on June 10, 1944
Church at Oradour-sur-Glane, where 349 women and children were massacred on June 10, 1944
.

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The Soul of the Resistance

This photo, a testimony to General DE GAULLE's gratitude, remained posted for a long time among the few family photos that accompanied my childhood.

the good companions

Joséphine Baker at the Panthéon

November 30, 2021

SOLIDARITE VOUCHER

Dated November 11, 1943
Those who sold or bought these solidarity coupons whose funds went to the Resistance organizations and the Maquis took very big risks.

IO JUNE 1944, ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE MASSACRE

On June 10, 1944, the horrific Oradour-sur-Glanes massacre took place

ON JUNE 10, 1944, THE ORADOUR MASSACRE ON GLANE

Le village français

article by Mr Eric Brunet, from the journal Actual Values No. 4145

I wanted to point out here the analysis of Mr Eric Brunet, which I fully share, concerning the first 6 seasons of the aforementioned film which in the form is well edited and retraces the atmosphere of that era as accurately as ever; alas as quite often the substance has been confiscated and, as I say here:

truth is often hijacked or masked, even today, by obscure, doctrinaire, intellectually and historically dishonest political motives and of course for propaganda purposes.

In relation to the previous article, one can consult:

History of France: Stop the lies
By Jean Sévillia Updated on 29/12/2017 at 10:35 Published on 29/12/2017 at 08:00 on Le Figaro Histoire

History of France: Stop the lies

Emile Albert CAUSSANEL

Emile, Albert CAUSSANEL, my grandfather, worked as a liaison officer for the AS, and then for the FFI staff, hid and lodged refractories and also his leader, Paul GUIRAL who was wanted by the Gestapo and the Militia.

He gathered, transported and helped to assemble a clandestine transmitter, hidden at Mr Antonio TONICELLO's in Lacourt St Pierre, at the beginning of 1944.

He brought Gaston GUIRAL to look for his brother Paul GUIRAL who was hiding with his cousins in Bioule to bring him back by bike to the "Cammas" in Montauban where he hid until the Liberation. (testimony of Mr. Georges Guiral, son of Gaston)
all this at the risk of his freedom or his life.

cliquez sur le bouton du bas

TEMOIGNAGE

the link found by clicking on the book image leads to a server optimized for reading on tablets, ipad, etc...

Madame Suzanne GUIRAL's book: "44.694 F- DE SAINT MICHEL A RAVENSBRUCK is a poignant and powerful testimony to the reasons which brought her and her mother Madame Henriette GUIRAL to the RAVENBRUCK concentration camp in Germany, as well as the conditions terrible that they suffered there.

This book which had remained rather confidential in view of the few copies which had been drawn from it has just been put online by Suzanne GUIRAL's godson who offers it to as many people as possible.

This testimony had to be brought to the knowledge of new generations, highlighting how far Nazi barbarism could go.
It will complement other testimonies given to us by other deportees, can be used for research by historians, and will hopefully serve to change mentalities, knowing that what happened only a short time ago (70 years) can still resurface in our time, the same causes leading to the same effects.

This book was written very shortly after the release of Suzanne GUIRAL from the Nazi prison, when her mother Henriette had died in Germany following deprivation and ill-treatment.

It is a story without concessions (and why would there be) and if some find it hard, let them think that the fate of these unfortunate women in the hands of sadistic brutes, was far more terrible than a simple narrative cannot express it. Those who have lived it in their soul and in their flesh are the only ones able to bear witness to it; when to those who have not had to experience it, let them praise Heaven for having been spared.

And then each of us knows very well that the truth is rarely well perceived in our society of pretenses.

I recommend everyone to read this unique testimony and to deepen the reflections it provokes.

I would like to particularly thank Georges GUIRAL, sole heir of Suzanne GUIRAL and holder of literary rights, for leaving this testimony free of charge available to all Internet users.
De St Michel à Ravensbrück

The second link leads to a server used by many researchers around the world,
for a pdf version on: archive.org

De St Michel à Ravensbrück

Une série de procès concernant les criminels de guerre et leurs exactions dans ce camp de concentration ont eu lieu à Hambourg à partir du 5 décembre 1946.

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