The ''Organisation de résistance de l'armée'', ''O.R.A.'' (Fr: resistance organisation of the army) was a French paramilitary resistance organisation during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. It was created on 31 January 1943, following the November 1942 German invasion of the ''
zone libre
The ''zone libre'' (, ''free zone'') was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during World War II, established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940. It lay to the south of the demarcation line and was administered b ...
'' as a self-styled apolitical organisation bringing together former French military personnel in pursuit of active resistance against the German occupiers, but rejecting
Charles de Gaulle.
The ORA was founded by General
Aubert Frère This surname has Anglo-Saxon pre-8th century origins; spelling variations include Albert, Albertson and Alberts in English names. It is derived from the Old German compound 'Aedelbeort' meaning 'noble-bright'. However, many sources show it as a Fre ...
, president of the tribunal which had condemned de Gaulle to death in August 1940. Frère was arrested in 1943 and deported. He died in
Struthof
Natzweiler-Struthof was a Nazi concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the villages of Natzweiler and Struthof in the Gau Baden-Alsace of Germany, on territory annexed from France on a basis in 1940. It operated from 21 May ...
on 13 June 1944. The ORA's next leader was Major General
Jean-Edouard Verneau, who was arrested on 23 October 1943 and died while being deported to
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or sus ...
on 14 September 1944. The leadership was then assumed by Major General
Georges Revers, whose second was Brigadier General
Pierre Brisac.
The ORA grew quickly in the southern zone, which was not handed over to the Germans, thanks to its officers and armaments acquired from the Vichy army. In 1944, it amalgamated with the
Armée secrète
The armée secrète was a French military organization active during World War II. The collective grouped the paramilitary formations of the three most important Gaullist resistance movements in the southern zone.
History
In mid-1942, in t ...
(AS) and the
Francs-tireurs et partisans
The ''Francs-tireurs et partisans français'' (FTPF), or commonly the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP), was an armed resistance organization created by leaders of the French Communist Party during World War II (1939–45). The communist par ...
to form the
French Forces of the Interior
The French Forces of the Interior (french: Forces françaises de l'Intérieur) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation ...
, although it retained its autonomy.
The initial stages of resistance in the army
On the day after the defeat and the signature of the armistice in 1940, a certain number of French army officers, reduced to a body of 100,000 men, considered that all was not lost. The forces across the French empire were still intact, and the reconquest of France with the help of the allies remained possible. From July, certain services considered preparing the counterstrike.
Colonel Rivet, chief of the ''2 Bureau'' gathered his allies and said to them that the mission against Germany and Italy would continue.
Notable members
* Jacques Boutet
* Marcel Descour
* Aubert Frère (1881- 13.6.1944 / place of death: KZ Natzweiler-Struthof)
*
Jacques Lécuyer
*
Joachim Murat, 7th Prince Murat (1920 – 20.7.1944 / place of death:
Lingé)
*
Louis, Prince Napoléon
Louis, Prince Napoléon (''Louis Jérôme Victor Emmanuel Léopold Marie''; 23 January 1914 – 3 May 1997) was a member of the Bonaparte dynasty. He was the pretender to the Imperial throne of France, as Napoléon VI, from 3 May 1926 until his ...
* Georges Revers
* Jean-Edouard Verneau (1890 - 14.9.1944 / place of death: KZ Buchenwald)
See also
*
Armée secrète
The armée secrète was a French military organization active during World War II. The collective grouped the paramilitary formations of the three most important Gaullist resistance movements in the southern zone.
History
In mid-1942, in t ...
*
Resistance during World War II
Resistance movements during World War II occurred in every occupied country by a variety of means, ranging from non-cooperation to propaganda, hiding crashed pilots and even to outright warfare and the recapturing of towns. In many countries, r ...
*
Maquis (World War II)
The Maquis () were rural guerrilla bands of French and Belgian Resistance fighters, called ''maquisards'', during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Initially, they were composed of young, mostly working-class, men who had escap ...
*
Military history of France during World War II
From 1939 to 1940, the French Third Republic was at war with Nazi Germany. In 1940, the German forces defeated the French in the Battle of France. The German occupied the north and west of French territory and a collaborationist régime under Ph ...
*
Free France
Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...
*
zone libre
The ''zone libre'' (, ''free zone'') was a partition of the French metropolitan territory during World War II, established at the Second Armistice at Compiègne on 22 June 1940. It lay to the south of the demarcation line and was administered b ...
*
Francs-Tireurs et Partisans
The ''Francs-tireurs et partisans français'' (FTPF), or commonly the ''Francs-tireurs et partisans'' (FTP), was an armed resistance organization created by leaders of the French Communist Party during World War II (1939–45). The communist par ...
*
French Forces of the Interior
The French Forces of the Interior (french: Forces françaises de l'Intérieur) were French resistance fighters in the later stages of World War II. Charles de Gaulle used it as a formal name for the resistance fighters. The change in designation ...
References
External links
*
X-Résistance at Buchenwald 14 September 1944)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Organisation de resistance de l'armee
French Resistance networks and movements