Gun Control in Nazi Occupied-France Read online

  As reported by the Resistance newspaper Combat, on July 25 the German military tribunal at Lille imposed twenty-eight death sentences against miners for sabotage, possession of prohibited arms, and anti-German activities. The sentences were carried out.94

  The Vichy cabinet convened on July 31 and imposed the death sentence for possession of explosives and stocks of arms. Any demonstration likely to disturb public order was also prohibited.95 The London Times commented that this reaffirmed existing preparations to resist the opening of a second front in France by American and British forces.96

  Issued by Marshal Pétain, Pierre Laval, and Justice Minister Joseph Barthélemy, the decree-law amended the prewar law of April 18, 1939, to provide in part: “Anyone who shall be in possession of an arm or ammunition cache of category 1, 4, 5, or 6 shall be handed over to the special court created by the law of April 24, 1941, and sentenced to death.”97 These prohibited categories included military arms, firearms for self-defense and ammunition therefor, hunting arms and ammunition, and edged weapons.98

  This was the first time the Vichy government decreed the death sentence for unauthorized possession of firearms. Since it applied in the unoccupied, “free” zone, it reflected great distrust by the French authorities of the French people themselves. It also applied in the occupied zone, as French criminal law applied there as long as it did not conflict with German decrees. In the occupied zone, the Vichy government arrested, tried, and punished people for arms possession, subject to the power of the German authorities to review, investigate, and take over cases of interest for their perceived security.

  An exemption existed for authorized manufacturers or dealers, or people who registered the items with the police within five days.99 This obviously applied only in the unoccupied zone.

  In more welcome news, the Vichy government announced that hunting season in the nonoccupied zone would begin on Sunday, September 6, at 7:00 a.m. However, pheasant hunting would open on October 11, and certain species would close as early as November 2—white hare, grouse, hazel grouse, rock partridge, and male “tetras” (a sort of grouse). It was prohibited to hunt chamois, ibex, marmot, or female tetras.100

  As reported by Combat, among a list of people shot by the Germans on August 29 at Montceau-les-Mines was a First World War veteran. They found a rifle in his house.101 Nor could university students be trusted—a revolver was found at the Lycée Charlemagne, prompting an urgent Gestapo investigation.102

  While the quantities of arms surrendered or confiscated suggested that France was awash in arms, the Resistance was in desperate need of effective weapons. Henri Frenay of the organization Combat made a secret visit to London to meet with General de Gaulle in September, stressing that “we in France are expecting a lot, especially in the way of arms. We must have arms!” De Gaulle answered, “I know. Try and explain that to the English. A bientôt [goodbye].” Frenay estimated the need for 1,000 tons of weapons to be parachuted into France each month, but for many months they received “nothing but a dribble in the way of arms.”103

  District A reported on October 5 some 380 cases of illegal weapons possession, an increase partly due to smuggling, along with 12 cases of espionage and 58 cases of sabotage. Cases of illegal weapons possession were frequently associated with anti-German demonstrations. While the high number of cases of arms possession was due in part to the population’s submission to German orders to denounce others, many reports were made anonymously and were based on personal revenge or hatred. Many proceedings were terminated because they were baseless. The report praised the French gendarmes and judicial authorities for their cooperation.104

  The MBF reported for June through September a total of 276 French citizens sentenced to death by the courts for the following charges:105

  126 giving aid and comfort to the enemy

  103 illegal weapons possession

  24 espionage

  8 guerrilla activity

  5 violent acts

  2 murder

  1 robbery, helping British soldiers, and failure to report planned crimes

  The Vichy regime was certainly cooperating. At the meeting of the cabinet of ministers on October 19, the chief of state insisted that disturbance of public order and of work would not be tolerated. Economic ministers declared that the commitments by French workers to labor in Germany were improving greatly. Laval’s instructions to reinforce the prefects’ authority were approved. The cabinet also approved measures proposed by Minister of Justice Joseph Barthélemy against Allied airdrops of arms and explosives.106

  An Eyewitness

  Gilles Lévy, who was then seventeen years old, became active in the Resistance in 1942 in the region of Auvergne, which is located in central France near Vichy. He was a member of Combat, Franc-Tireur, Mouvements Unis de la Résistance (MUR), and l’Armée Secrète (AS). He fought with the Maquis against the Germans in several battles in 1944.107 After the war, Lévy would become a general, rendering military service to France for sixty-eight years. He wrote several works on the Resistance in Auvergne.108 As vice-president delegate of the Association of the Friends of the Resistance (Association des Amitiés de la Résistance), he responded to my questionnaire.109

  General Lévy brought to my attention discoveries of firearms mentioned in the monthly reports made by the Vichy prefects in the department of Haute-Saône, which was partially in the occupied zone and partially reserved for German settlement. In one example, in Velleclaire a crate of 1,370 cartridges together with a carbine and an automatic weapon were confiscated from a house. In another, after being denounced, a man was arrested after the Feldgendarmerie of Lure found four war weapons and 1,000 cartridges in his house. In another case, a stock of 127 hunting guns and 3 rifles were discovered in Plaux at the house of the father of a gunsmith, and was apparently kept for commercial purposes.110

  Lévy’s perceptions would have reflected his experiences in the region of Auvergne, which was in the free zone until occupied by the Wehrmacht on November 11, 1942. He responded to my questionnaire as follows:

  The possession of firearms by civilians before the war was common, including hunting guns, sporting firearms, and collections of arms from the First World War. Some civilians had a permit to carry an arm such as a revolver for self-defense. Gunsmiths also sold arms if an authorization from the police was provided.

  For the most part, people complied with the decrees and turned in their arms, others kept them in hopes of using them some day to fight the occupying forces. Others got rid of them by burying them. Hunting firearms were brought to the gendarmeries or police stations.

  People were searched during identity controls in the streets, and those who were carrying an arm were immediately arrested, brought to court, and sentenced to be deported or shot.

  As to how people who were executed for possession of firearms were discovered, Lévy stated that it was usually by an anonymous denunciation. In his experience, most of the arms used by the Resistance were airdropped by the Allies—the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—or were recovered from hidden storage depots of the French army.

  Lévy’s observation was consistent with France’s prewar ban on civilian possession of “war weapons,” such as bolt-action rifles in calibers used by the military. The populace had been primarily limited to possession only of shotguns and small caliber rifles and handguns. Such arms could be used by members of the Resistance in individual self-defense, but far better arms were needed for organized confrontation with Wehrmacht forces. That day would come.

  1. Laub, After the Fall, 177.

  2. Le Prefet du Lot à Monsieur le Prefet de Police Paris, 5 janvier 1942, Archives de la Préfecture de Police, Paris, BA 2259.

  3. Note pour Monsieur le Commisaire de Police du Quarter du Montparnasse, 21 janvier 1942, Archives de la Préfecture de Police, Paris, Réf: 140. D. BA 2259.

  4. Rapport le Commissaire de Police du Quartier au Montparnasse a Monsi
eur le Préfet de Police, 28 janvier 1942, Archives de la Préfecture de Police, Paris, Réf: 140. D. BA 2259.

  5. “Avis,” Le Matin, Janurary 13, 1942, 1.

  6. “Avis,” Le Matin, January 15, 1942, 1.

  7. Mitchell, Nazi Paris, 61–62.

  8. Laub, After the Fall, 160–61.

  9. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Etat Francais, 18. Januar 1942.

  10. “Avis,” Le Matin, January 20, 1942.

  11. Cobb, The Resistance, 94.

  12. de Bénouville, Unknown Warriors, 106–8.

  13. “Ceux qui se refusent à la honte,” Combat, organe du mouvement de libération française, n° 2, février 1942. Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

  14. “Avis,” Le Matin, January 23, 1942, 1.

  15. “Avis,” Le Matin, January 24–25, 1942, 3.

  16. “Avis,” Le Matin, January 26, 1942, 3; “2 More Executed in Paris,” New York Times, January 26, 1942, 3.

  17. “Germans Execute 20 in Paris and Belgium,” New York Times, January 29, 1942, 9.

  18. Notes of Paul C. Squire, American Consulate, Geneva, Switzerland, reporting to Washington (January 29, 1942), in Luzi Stamm, Johannes Hofmann, Stefanie Frey, and Lotti Wanner, eds., Liberty, Independence, Neutrality (Lenzburg, Switzerland: Verlag Merker im Effingerhof, 2006), 171–72.

  19. BA/MA, RW 35/12, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Lagebericht Dezember 1941–Januar 1942, 31. Januar 1942.

  20. BA/MA, RH 36/420: Lagebericht, 19. Monatsbericht der Kreiskommandantur 635, Berichtszeit: 1. bis 28. Februar 1942, Béthune, 7. März 1942.

  21. BA/MA, RW 35/1215, Lage- und Tätigkeitsbericht für die Zeit vom 7. Januar bis 6. März 1942, Militärverwaltungsbezirk A, Tgb. Nr. 476/42, 17. März 1942.

  22. BA/MA, RW 35/1262, Chef des Militärverwaltungsbezirks B, 3. Februar 1942.

  23. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Ablieferung von Waffen, 5. März 1942.

  24. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Kriegsverwaltungschef, Staatsminister, an Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, 13. Februar 1942.

  25. “Avis,” Le Matin, February 17, 1942, 2.

  26. “Avis,” Le Matin, February 23, 1942, 3.

  27. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Erteilung von Waffenscheinen an Zivilpersonen, 26. Februar 1942.

  28. Laub, After the Fall, 168, 172–73.

  29. Humbert, Résistance, 93–105 (entries dated January 8 through February 17, 1942). See also Laub, After the Fall, 297–98.

  30. Humbert, Résistance, 318–19.

  31. Guéhenno, Diary of the Dark Years, 147 (entry dated February 24, 1942).

  32. Humbert, Résistance, 350.

  33. Guéhenno, Diary of the Dark Years, 147–48 (entry dated February 26, 1942).

  34. Humbert, Résistance, 234–37 (entry dated April 7, 1945).

  35. Noël Créau, ancien président national, Amicales des Anciens Parachutistes S.A.S. et des Anciens Commandos de la France Libre, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, letter to author, February 4, 2002. For more details on Noël Créau, see www.francaislibres.net/liste/fiche.php?index=62760.

  36. Cobb, The Resistance, 294.

  37. “Le recensement des armes de chasse,” Le Saint-Hubert, n°2, 41e année, mars 1942, 13.

  38. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Verordnung über Ablieferung von Waffen, 27. Februar 1942.

  39. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Ablieferung von Waffen, 5. März 1942.

  40. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Délegation Générale du Gouvernement Français, Note Officieuse Pour Monsieur Le Lieutenant Roesch, 3. Mars 1942.

  41. BA/MA, RW 35/1, Abdruck aus Pariser Zeitung vom 13. September 1941, Bekanntmachung. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Avis, Le Matin, 13. September 1941.

  42. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Gruppe Justiz, Ablieferung von Waffen, 9. März 1942.

  43. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Bekanntgabe der neuen Waffenverordnung durch die französischen Behörden im besetzten Gebiet, 18. März 1942.

  44. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Verordnung über den Besitz von Waffen, 19. März 1942.

  45. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Verordnungsblatt des Militärbefehlshabers in Frankreich, Journal Officiel contenant les ordonnances du Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Nr. 56, 18. März 1942.

  46. For example, “Une Ordonnance Concernant La Détention Des Arms,” Le Matin, March 18, 1942, 3.

  47. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Der Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Bekanntgabe der neuen Waffen-Verordnung durch die französischen Behörden im besetzten Gebiet, 19. März 1942.

  48. “Paris Extends Arms Ban,” New York Times, March 19, 1942, 8.

  49. “La détention des armes à feu,” Le Matin, March 21–22, 1942.

  50. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Gruppe Justiz an Gruppe Propaganda, Verordnung über den Besitz von Waffen, 23.März 1942.

  51. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Gruppe V 9 Prop. an Gruppe V 8, 25. März 1942, Verordung über den Besitz von Waffen vom 25. März 1942.

  52. “1er Avril, Dernier Delai Pour La Remise Des Armes, Le Matin, March 25, 1942, 1.

  53. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Ablieferung von Waffen, 13. März 1942.

  54. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Chef des Militärverwaltungsbezirkes C, Ablieferung von Waffen, 27. März 1942.

  55. Jacques Demange, vice-président de l’association d’anciens combatants du village, Mont-sur-Meurthe, France, letter to author, June 3, 2003.

  56. BA/MA, RW 35/14, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Lagebericht für die Monate Februar 1942 bis März 1942.

  57. “Vingt-cinq communistes condamnés à mort,” Le Figaro, April 16, 1942, 1.

  58. Procès verbal n° 234/1, commissariat de police du service de sûreté de la ville de Rouen. 4 M 262, Cab 4/15 cote provisoire. Port et détention d’armes. Archives départementales de la Marne, Châlons-en-Champagne.

  59. Le Préfet de la Seine-Inférieure à Messieurs les Préfets de la Zone Occupée et à Messieurs les Préfets de la Zone non Occupée. Rouen, le 30 avril 1942. 1 W (M 5381), Port et détention d’armes. Archives départementales de la Marne, Châlons-en-Champagne.

  60. Hitler’s Secret Conversations, trans. Norman Cameron and R. H. Stevens (New York: Signet Books, 1961), 403. The first two sentences in the original German were:

  Der größte Unsinn, den man in den besetzen Ostgebieten machen könnte, sei der, den unterworfenen Völkern Waffen zu gegen. Die Geschicte lehre, daß alle Herrenvölker untergegangen seien, nachdem sie den von ihnen unterworfenen Völkern Waffen bewilligt hätten.

  From Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1942 (Stuttgart: Seewald Verlag, 1963), 272.

  61. Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, 7:167 (February 8, 1946).

  62. Guéhenno, Diary of the Dark Years, 152 (entry dated April 20, 1942).

  63. Cobb, The Resistance, 118.

  64. Cobb, The Resistance, 126.

  65. Latour, Jewish Resistance, 106–7, 178.

  66. Frenay, Night Will End, 164–65.

  67. Laub, After the Fall, 184; Umbreit, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, 111.

  68. Herbert, Best, 320–21.

  69. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Chef der Militärverwaltung Bezirk C (Nordostfrankreich), Ablieferung von Waffen, usw, die als Beweisstücke in französischen Strafverfahren dienen, Verordnung über Waffenbesitz vom 5. März 1942, 2. Mai 1942.

  70. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Ablieferung von Waffen, 14. Mai 1942.

  71. BA/MA, RW 35/1217, Lagebericht für die Zeit vom 16. März einschliesslich 12. Mai 1942, Sachgebiet Gerichtswesen, Chef des Militärverwaltungsbezirks A, 15. Mai 1942.

  72. BA/MA, RW
35/1217, Lagebericht vom 16. März 1942 bis 12. Mai 1942, Chef des Militärverwaltungsbezirks A, Verwaltungsstab, 21. Mai 1942.

  73. BA/MA, RW 35/16, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Lagebericht für die Monate April/Mai 1942.

  74. Laub, After the Fall, 168–69, 177–78, 181–83.

  75. Hélène Berr, The Journal of Hélène Berr (New York: Weinstein Books, 2008), 71, 75 (entry dated June 24, 1942).

  76. Allan Mitchell, The Devil’s Captain: Ernst Jünger in Nazi Paris, 1941–1944 (New York: Berghahn Books, 2011), 27.

  77. Mitchell, Devil’s Captain, 40, 70.

  78. Flender, Rescue in Denmark, 40-41; Best, Dänemark in Hitlers Hand, 52–53.

  79. Guy Faisant (born August 23, 1925), Rennes, France, (circa 2000).

  80. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, Verwaltungsstab, Abteilung Verwaltung, Änderung der Verordung über den Besitz von Waffen vom 5. März 1941, Anzeige des Täters durch Angehörige, 5. Juni 1942. See also Ordonnance du 5 Juni 1942 modifiant l’ordonnance du 10 Mai 1940, concernant la détention des armes en territoire occupé de la France, Verordnungsblatt des Militärbefehlshabers in Frankreich (VOBIF), No. 64, 5 Juni 1942, 385.

  81. BA/MA, RW 35/544, Verordnungsblatt des Militärbefehlshabers in Frankreich, Journal Officiel contenant les ordonnances du Militärbefehlshaber in Frankerich, Nr. 64, 5. Juni 1942.

  82. Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, 6:395 (January 31, 1946).

  83. Trial of the Major War Criminals, 6:396.

  84. BA/MA, RH 36/231, Bericht der Feldkommandantur 590, Feldgendarmerietrupp 590, in der Strafsache gegen Dargent Heinrich, Bar-le-Duc, 16. Juni 1942.

  85. BA/MA, RH 36/231, Bericht der Feldkommandantur 590, Feldgendarmerietrupp 590 betreffend Waffenfund in Noyers le Val, Bar-le-Duc, 25. Juni 1942.

  86. BA/MA, 36/231, Bericht eines Oberfeldwebels der Feldgendarmerie, betreffend Auffinden einer Pistole in Ligny, Bar-le-Duc, 7. Juli 1942.