Teenage Resistance Fighter: With the Maquisards in Occupied France

Verneret relates his experiences as a young member of the French resistance during the late summer and early fall of 1944 in this underwhelming work. He joined the resistance to the German occupation in August 1944, operating with the Louis Maquis group in central France against German forces retreating back toward the German border. Part one is mostly a day-by-day account of events taken from the diary kept by Verneret at the time. Verneret describes no major combat actions, as he faced none during his two-month service; the book largely relates the activities, attitudes, organization, and equipment of the Maquisards. Part two expands on the first through a series of postwar interviews Verneret conducted with several leaders of the resistance movement. The brief final section operates as an appendix of sorts, contextualizing the events within the wider story of the war. This is a very limited lens on the French resistance, covering a very short period of time and told only from the perspective of a single group. Verneret’s work will be valuable to those who have a specialized interest in and are already knowledgeable about the French Resistance to German occupation. (Nov.)