Henri Rol-Tanguy

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Expand French Template:Infobox military person Henri Rol-Tanguy ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 12 June 1908 – 8 September 2002) was a French communist and leader in the Resistance against Nazi Germany in World War II.<ref name=RolTanguyInternationalBrigades/><ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/> At his death The New York Times called him "one of France's most decorated Resistance heroes".<ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/>

Biography

Henri Tanguy was born on 12 June 1908 in Morlaix, Brittany to a family of a sailor.<ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/><ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/><ref name=francearchivesHenriTanguy/> Aged 14, he moved to Paris to work as a foundryman. In 1925, he joined the Young Communists and ended up as a secretary. He did his military service in 1929 with the 8th Régiment de Zouaves in Oran, Algeria; on his return, he became an activist with the local metal workers union.Template:Citation needed

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1937, Tanguy joined the International Brigades to fight for the Spanish Republic.<ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/><ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/><ref name=Maitron/> He was political commissar of the André Marty Battalion (made up of French and Belgian volunteers) which was part of the XIV International Brigade. He was wounded in the Battle of the Ebro in 1938. After the war, he returned to France.Template:Citation needed

At the outbreak of World War II, Tanguy was conscripted into the French Army.<ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/><ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/> After the surrender, he went underground with his wife Cécile Le Bihan. He became one of the leaders of communist resistance in Paris and organized a group that became Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP). Tanguy used a nom de guerre of "Colonel Rol", after a close friend who had died in Spain.Template:Citation needed

In June 1944, Tanguy took command of the French Forces of the Interior in the Île-de-France.<ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/><ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/> When Allied armies approached Paris, these forces took part in the liberation of Paris. Tanguy said, "Paris is worth 200,000 dead, so long as the city frees itself before the Free French armies arrive" <ref>Is Paris Burning?</ref>

After five days of fighting, German General Dietrich von Choltitz notified Colonel Rol that he was ready to negotiate. Alongside Free French general Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Tanguy accepted and signed the act of surrender on 25 August 1944.<ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/><ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/> Like many resistance members, Tanguy later added his wartime pseudonym to his official name and became Rol-Tanguy.Template:Citation needed

File:Plaque Henri Rol-Tanguy, 4 avenue du Colonel-Henri-Rol-Tanguy, Paris 14.jpg

avenue du Colonel-Henri-Rol-Tanguy

Rol-Tanguy joined the French 1st Army of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and served during the battles in Germany.<ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/> After the war, he received the Croix de Guerre, the Médaille de la Résistance and the Ordre de la Libération. He remained in the French army with a permanent commission until 1962.Template:Citation needed

After his army career, Rol-Tanguy joined the central committee of the French Communist Party where he remained until 1987.<ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/><ref name=nytimes2002-09-02/> He lived in the department of Loir-et-Cher. In 1994, he received the Grand Croix de la Légion d'honneur and, in 1996, received an honorary citizenship from Spain for his part in the International Brigades.Template:Citation needed

Henri Rol-Tanguy died on 8 September 2002, and received a salutation in the Invalides from Jacques Chirac, the recently re-elected President of France.<ref name=FigaroTanguyObit2017-09-07/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2004 he was commemorated at Place Denfert-Rochereau, in Paris, with a plaque renaming a part of the place Avenue du Colonel-Henri-Rol-Tanguy, and the metro station there was sub-titled Colonel Rol-Tanguy.Template:Citation needed

Further reading

• Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, Is Paris Burning?, New York: Pocket Books, 1965.
• Template:In lang Order of the Liberation: citation and biography Template:Webarchive

External links

• Template:Commons category-inline