Eclipse in the dark years: pick-up flights, routes of resistance and the Free French

Abstract

This article charts the importance of clandestine flights from Britain into Occupied France during the Second World War as a route of resistance. These pick-up flights were coordinated from London and were an example of the inter-Allied cooperation and Franco-British negotiation that took place between the Bureau central de renseignement et d’action (BCRA), the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, or MI6) and Special Operations Executive (SOE). The flights allowed General Charles de Gaulle to hold court with the leaders of resistance networks, smoothing problems on the route to a unified resistance council. Likewise, they allowed him to build bridges between vying factions in France and in London, drawing together the movements under his command and personalizing the narrative of resistance. From busy London restaurants and family homes via secret flights to darkened fields in Occupied France, the route of these transfers shaped the character of resistance. This article draws out the personal interactions and connections that underpinned these networks and describes the enduring connections of this route of resistance, starting with the commemoration of Jean Moulin’s crash landing at RAF Tangmere, the forward station for many of these flights.