Tuesday, 30 May – CONFERENCE Général Delestraint : The Résistance and the Secret Army to Dachau

As part of the Mardis de la Mémoire organized by the Mayor’s office of the 16th arrondissement, please find attached an invitation to the conference by Lt. Col. Jean Bourcart, officer in the French Army and PhD historian, who will discuss his book: ” Le Général Delestraint : la Résistance, de l’Armée secrète jusqu’à Dachau”.

An infantry officer during the First World War, Charles Delestraint developed a fascination for tanks and the strategic application of armored divisions. During the interwar period, he had Charles de Gaulle under his command. In 1940, he joined the Resistance and in 1942 became the first leader of the Secret Army. Under the pseudonym of “Vidal”, he worked closely with Jean Moulin and undertook, at the age of sixty, to merge the paramilitary groups of the resistance movements. He was arrested by the Gestapo on June 9, 1943 and was executed in Dachau on April 19, 1945, a few days before the liberation of the camp by the Americans.

Invitation enclosed.
Free admission.
Conference in French.