Allied Fifth Column

Even the most skeptical military man had to concede that the Allied fifth column in France was more than an emotional exaggeration. The French Forces of the Interior, under the hard-bitten Foreign Legionnaire, General Joseph Pierre Koenig, were now a definite part of the Allied armies.

They had won the distinction of three special communiques from General Eisenhower's headquarters. Not only did they seriously damage Nazi communications to the Normandy battlefield, they also fought Nazi divisions in skirmishes and pitched battles; they were keeping ten of them tied down in the interior of France.

Sabotage. Their pre-D-day record was impressive enough. In the past year they had performed 300 sabotage acts a month (they had lost 500 executed a month by the Germans in reprisal). But from D-day on, their goal was in sight, their activities carefully coordinated with the Allied attack.

On June 6, F.F.I.'s detailed plan for disruption of rail, road, canal and message communications was turned into action. All the main rail routes into France from Germany, Belgium and Italy were promptly cut or completely blocked.

The Air Forces did their thundering bit with bombs; when they left, the F.F.I, took over, refreshing the damage. Everything was charted on a sabotage map in Allied headquarters, kept up to date by underground communications.

The War Inside. The French also made active war. Whole chunks of territory were under complete patriot control. Known German losses since Dday: 3,000 killed, 500 wounded, 473 prisoners. The French themselves lost 389 killed, 33 wounded and an uncertain number of prisoners.

Active in 18 departments of France, the F.F.I, was proving even stronger and more dangerous to the Germans than the Allies had hoped. Said Eisenhower's communiques: "The arm of French Forces of the Interior has with its British and American comrades played its assigned role in the battle of liberation. . . . Systematic disorganization of enemy transport by the F.F.I, has contributed directly to the success of Allied operations in Normandy."

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