Henri Roltanguy

Vocation

French politician and activist. Rol-Tanguy joined the work force at 15 as a foundryman. He soon developed an interest in politics and the labor movement. In 1925 he joined the Young Communists and was elected to the executive board of the Metal workers union, where he took charge of youth activities in 1934. He left the labor movement to join the International Brigades in 1937 and fought for the Spanish Republic and took part in the Battle of the Erbe in 1938. Mobilized in the French Army in WW II, Rol-Tanguy went underground after the armistice and took charge of organizing the armed resistance groups that emerged as the "Franc-Tireurs et Partisans" (Communist Resistance) in February 1942. Taking command of the French Forces of the Interior in Ile de France region in June 1944 under the nickname (war name) Colonel Rol, he gave orders for an insurrection despite Allied plans to leave Paris in German hands until the advance from Normandy had opened up defendable supply lines. The insurrection provided Charles de Gaulle with an urgent reason to send the French 2nd Armoured Division to the capital in support, bringing about a rapid German surrender: he received General von Choltitz's surrender along with General Leclerc on August 25,1944. A short time later he joined the regular army and took part in the final campaign against Germany. He was made a "Compagnon de la Liberation" in 1945 and remained in the army until he retired in 1962. Member of the central committee of the French Communist Party from 1964 to 1987, Rol-Tanguy died on 8 September 2002. Link to Wikipedia biography