A tank-war innovator who became the Secret Army's first commander
On 9 June 1943, the Secret Army commander Vidal was arrested at Paris's La Muette station.
Charles Delestraint was a French general shaped by captivity in the First World War and by command of armoured units, whose advocacy of tanks reflected a changing theory of modern war. After France's defeat and the armistice, he chose resistance and, selected by Charles de Gaulle, became the first commander of the Secret Army, bringing several movements' military structures together. Working with Jean Moulin, he helped extend the organisation across occupied France, but his arrest on 9 June 1943 created the succession crisis behind the Caluire meeting. Deported to Natzweiler-Struthof and Dachau, he was killed shortly before liberation and posthumously made a Companion of the Liberation.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1897–1900Cadet, Saint-Cyr military academy
- 1914–1918First World War service, German prisoner of war
- 1923–1936Armoured-unit commander, colonel
- 1936–1939Commander, 3rd Tank Brigade; brigadier general
- 1939–1940Commander of the 7th Army's tanks and 1st Armoured Group
- 1942–1943First commander of the Secret Army, code name Vidal
- 1943–1945Imprisoned at Natzweiler and Dachau; executed
Related historical events
Building the Secret Army as "Vidal", 1942-1943
In the summer of 1942, on Henri Frenay's advice and Jean Moulin's proposal, Charles de Gaulle chose Delestraint to head a military organisation drawing on the southern resistance movements. The confirmation message reaching Moulin from London on 4 August 1942 read "Charles to Charles, agreed". After meeting Moulin, he was confirmed in the mission by a handwritten letter from de Gaulle on 11 November 1942, and as commander of the Armée secrète he took the name "Vidal".
The Secret Army was not built from nothing: it merged the armed groups of Combat, Libération and Franc-Tireur in the southern zone, with the aim of creating a force able to act when the Allies landed. Delestraint moved to Lyon, formed a staff and worked to integrate the movements' military leaders. The difficulty of that task is visible in the quarrels among commanders. Henri Frenay, his subordinate in the armoured units, attacked him in this period and later portrayed him in print as close to a follower of Petain. Francois-Yves Guillin, his secretary at the time, rejects that account, recalling that what he saw from 1940 was a propagandist for the leader of Free France.
After conferring with Allied command in London with Moulin in February 1943, his authority was extended to the whole of France, but he also learned that no landing would come before spring 1944. The task became organising and training men during the wait. Back in France he developed the maquis, notably in the Vercors, saw to their supplies of food and arms, and insisted on well-prepared operations rather than premature gestures. On 15 March 1943 several members of his staff were arrested and German surveillance intensified; he knew his own time might be short. When he was arrested at the La Muette metro station in Paris on 9 June, he was to meet the military chiefs of the northern zone and his chief of staff Joseph Gastaldo.