intricate dance around the roads to detect a tail, before escorting them to a smart villa. Forest expected to meet the great Ginzburger privately and quietly, but to his astonishment when they entered the villa was alive with people, and not just communists. Catholic priests shook hands with men intrinsically opposed to their views and principles. The meeting was clearly going to be a far cry from the quiet interview Forest had expected.
The communists would later become an integral part of Forest’s work, but as he sat quietly and listened to Ginzburger testifying to the strength and might of his organisation, he knew that it would not be an easy alliance. Ginzburger was a typical Front National, believing firmly that all resistance should be coordinated under a communist banner. He sang the praises of the Franc-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), the paramilitary arm of the Communist party, who were already producing significant results against the Germans. They had killed several officers in audacious shootings and had no intention of stopping. That in itself was not something the British or Forest objected to, it was necessary to pick away at the Germans, but it was the sinister subtleties underlying Ginzburger’s words that worried him. The communists had deliberately chosen the name ‘Front National’ (FN) for their group to avoid obvious links with their communist politics. Communism was an unpopular political view and the party was well remembered for their troublemaking and recent disloyalty. By creating the Front National they enticed people to join the group who would otherwise have turned their backs on them.
Forest was not fooled. While Ginzburger talked of the necessity of unity, of bringing the various small groups together under FN to form a significant force, which in itself was a logical and sensible approach, Forest could only think of the communist powers that stood behind him. Once he had control Ginzburger would bring all the resistance under the communist regime and there was no telling where that would lead.
Ginzburger talked in figures, proudly claiming that the FTP committed 250 attacks and killed between 500 and 600 Germans per month. The penalty for such success however was heavy reprisals from the Germans, largely aimed at any communist prisoners they had in custody. Posters across Paris extolled the terrible death toll for each single act of rebellion, but it did not stop the FTP, and for every man or woman they lost, others joined their ranks. However, Forest recognised a flaw in Ginzburger’s logic: his newest recruits, drawn in due to the German reprisals, did not necessarily ascribe to communist politics. They had merely joined to fight back at the Germans and because the FN was the only party they knew of.
The new recruits hastily drawn in had weakened FN’s security. Gossip leaked out and the Gestapo were hot on the heels of the party. To try and counteract this, the party had been divided into individual cells, each working separately and with little knowledge of the others. The result might have been more security, but it was at the cost of ease of communication. The existence of many leaders meant that distributing orders was time-consuming and labour intensive, but despite this by D-Day the FTP would be able to call on 100,000 troops.
As Ginzburger wrapped up his lecture on the FN, Passy and Brossolette asked him one simple question: would the FN cooperate with London on the same terms as the other resistance groups. In the typical words of every communist leader they had met, Ginsburger promised to give them an answer at a later date. Forest later summed up the problem of the FN in a report to SOE:
From my contacts with them I imagine that the rank and file are really patriots and only interested in a free France, whereas the heads have other ideas in mind and are planning well ahead, in fact, so far ahead as the period which will follow the ‘Gouvernement Provisoire’ [after
The communists would later become an integral part of Forest’s work, but as he sat quietly and listened to Ginzburger testifying to the strength and might of his organisation, he knew that it would not be an easy alliance. Ginzburger was a typical Front National, believing firmly that all resistance should be coordinated under a communist banner. He sang the praises of the Franc-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), the paramilitary arm of the Communist party, who were already producing significant results against the Germans. They had killed several officers in audacious shootings and had no intention of stopping. That in itself was not something the British or Forest objected to, it was necessary to pick away at the Germans, but it was the sinister subtleties underlying Ginzburger’s words that worried him. The communists had deliberately chosen the name ‘Front National’ (FN) for their group to avoid obvious links with their communist politics. Communism was an unpopular political view and the party was well remembered for their troublemaking and recent disloyalty. By creating the Front National they enticed people to join the group who would otherwise have turned their backs on them.
Forest was not fooled. While Ginzburger talked of the necessity of unity, of bringing the various small groups together under FN to form a significant force, which in itself was a logical and sensible approach, Forest could only think of the communist powers that stood behind him. Once he had control Ginzburger would bring all the resistance under the communist regime and there was no telling where that would lead.
Ginzburger talked in figures, proudly claiming that the FTP committed 250 attacks and killed between 500 and 600 Germans per month. The penalty for such success however was heavy reprisals from the Germans, largely aimed at any communist prisoners they had in custody. Posters across Paris extolled the terrible death toll for each single act of rebellion, but it did not stop the FTP, and for every man or woman they lost, others joined their ranks. However, Forest recognised a flaw in Ginzburger’s logic: his newest recruits, drawn in due to the German reprisals, did not necessarily ascribe to communist politics. They had merely joined to fight back at the Germans and because the FN was the only party they knew of.
The new recruits hastily drawn in had weakened FN’s security. Gossip leaked out and the Gestapo were hot on the heels of the party. To try and counteract this, the party had been divided into individual cells, each working separately and with little knowledge of the others. The result might have been more security, but it was at the cost of ease of communication. The existence of many leaders meant that distributing orders was time-consuming and labour intensive, but despite this by D-Day the FTP would be able to call on 100,000 troops.
As Ginzburger wrapped up his lecture on the FN, Passy and Brossolette asked him one simple question: would the FN cooperate with London on the same terms as the other resistance groups. In the typical words of every communist leader they had met, Ginsburger promised to give them an answer at a later date. Forest later summed up the problem of the FN in a report to SOE:
From my contacts with them I imagine that the rank and file are really patriots and only interested in a free France, whereas the heads have other ideas in mind and are planning well ahead, in fact, so far ahead as the period which will follow the ‘Gouvernement Provisoire’ [after
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