The secret press The activities of Combat originally revolved around the dispersal of information using secret newspapers. These pieces of information were provided to Frenay initially from army offices, then, after the disbandment of the French army, from the
Deuxième Bureau of the Vichy regime. Combat quickly distanced itself from Vichy, after which information was gathered through various resistance groups with which Combat had links. These pieces of information fed into newspapers which were published from time to time. In the beginning Frenay mainly distributed bulletins in army offices; these bulletins stopped after the army broke up. In the occupied zone, the newspaper
Les Petites Ailes du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais (little wings of the North and Pas-de-Calais) appeared. In time it became
Les Petites Ailes de France, then
Résistance. In the free zone, an underground newspaper was established, modelled on
Petites Ailes de France. Its name was
Vérités (Truths).
Vérité (Truth) had been considered for the name, but was judged too philosophical; according to Frenay, the truth was difficult, if not impossible to express. After the merger of Combat with
Liberté,
Vérités was scuttled and its place taken by a new newspaper bearing the name of the network,
Combat. Other small journals also saw the light of day, but gradually separated from the Combat movement. Examples are ''
and the Catholic-oriented ]
(Christian witness notebooks). These journals, particularly the important ones, contained propaganda articles against the Vichy regime, which revealed and criticised the actions of the government and state apparatus, as well as substantive pieces dealing with e.g.
Nazism or collaboration. Frenay generally constructed the editorial of the Combat newspaper in person, until he joined de Gaulle in Algeria. The subtitle of the Combat newspaper was Organe du Mouvement de la Libération Française
, accompanied by a quote from Georges Clemenceau: "Dans la guerre comme dans la paix, le dernier mot est à ceux qui ne se rendent jamais."
(In war as in peace, the last word is theirs that never surrender). In 1943, a section Attentats'' (attacks) was added to the paper; it contained a list of the paramilitary operations of Combat. The first issue of the Combat newspaper appeared in late 1941 in Lyon, with a press run of 10,000.
André Bollier replaced Martinet, the initial printer for the movement. He distributed the printing across 14 presses in the free zone, thus reducing the need for transporting papers from Lyon, and allowing the run to be increased. In May 1944, the newspaper had a run of 250,000. Bollier was also responsible for printing
Défense de la France (the future
France-Soir),
Action (a paper with communist sympathy), the first issues of
Témoignage chrétien, and certain issues of the
Franc-Tireur paper and
La Voix du Nord.
Information Alongside the underground press activities, information was sent to London by circuitous routes. These operations were directed by Jean Gemahling, from
Alsace. The
Noyautage des administrations publiques (infiltration of public services) was also established, with the original aim of recruiting public figures who would be able to assure the return of the republic after the Vichy regime fell. However, the
NAP gradually changed direction and allowing itself necessary cooperation with public services and the ability to obtain basic information about German army movements. The
NAP-police were created, whose members would warn their comrades about forthcoming arrests. Another branch, the
NAP-fer led by
René Hardy, provided the
Groupes Francs with schedules of German supply trains from 1943. The NAP also operated within the customs service.
The Groupes de Choc The
Groupes de Choc were set up, generally specializing in attacks against collaborators and shopkeepers who sold collaborationist papers like the Nazi magazine
Signal (the shops of the latter were generally blown up). From 1942 onwards the
GC gradually merged into the Armée secrète which was assimilating by degrees the various paramilitary groups of Combat, Libération and Franc-Tireur. This merging was encouraged by Frenay and Moulin, who wanted the operations of the
GC remained separate from any intelligence and propaganda activities. For this reason, the leadership of the
Armée Secrète was not conferred upon Frenay as he had initially wanted (his movement being more significant than the other two members of the
MUR) but rather upon the division general
Charles Delestraint, who was recruited by the chef de Combat. The
Sabotage and
Maquis sections were added to the network in 1943.
Groupes Francs Frenay put Jacques Renouvin in charge of mounting
Groupes Francs, mobile armed squads, in each of the six regions covered by the network. They were organised in the
Choc branch of the network. They worked independently of the
Armée Secrète but in contact with it to organise their operations and provide intelligence. The
Groupes Frances organised their operations on their own initiative, following the general framework which was given them. They communicated the results of their operations to the steering committee. Before November 1942, the operations of the
Groupes Francs were similar to those of the
Groups de Choc. They were responsible for obtaining their own arms from supply dumps or police posts, and making their own
explosives or stealing them from mines. After the German invasion of the free zone in November 1942, the
Groups Francs changed their operations style. They were ordered to attack trains containing German soldiers or going to Germany, to sabotage railway lines, to destroy arms factories and dumps and to assassinate
Gestapo agents. The
GF were supplied and armed by Britain through parachute dumps which provided them with
Sten guns,
pistols,
ammunition, explosives,
grenades and other equipment. The
GF also organised escapes for captured resistance fighters such as that of
Paul Reynaud (planned and prepared but never executed) and the successful escape of
Berty Albrecht who was being held at the Lyon-Bron psychiatric hospital. In January 1943, Jacques Renouvin, was arrested by the
Gestapo getting off a train. He was held in
Fresnes prison. A commando raid was mounted to free him but all its members were arrested. Renouvin was deported to
Mauthausen concentration camp where he died. He was replaced as head of the
GF by a member of
Libération.
The Maquis In 1943 the steering committee of Combat learned that refugees from the
Service du travail obligatoire forced labour had fled to
Haute-Savoie and the
Maquis had been created in the mountainous
massifs. The
service Maquis was established in Combat's Military affairs branch with the aim of helping all those who had "taken the
maquis" to survive and to fight, and of providing them lives and armaments, and of integrating them into Combat's network. While the objective for Combat was to develop, oversee and organise these armed groups, there were some divisions relating to this at the heart of the
MUR; some, like
Charles Delestraint, saw the Maquis as actual pockets of resistance within French territory, whereas others like Frenay saw them as armed bands operating by ambush and disappearing once their mission was accomplished. == Political orientation and activities ==