It was in preparation for and during Operation Overlord in 1944 that SOE and the French Resistance really came into their own. In the first six months of 1944 50 sabotage operations took place. All were major. They included the Schneider-Cruesset operation mentioned in Part Two. Henri Frenay's resistance units had planted specialists in various factories and installations in the South able to commit sabotage which was undetectable.
On June 5 the Resistance was alerted by the BBC to commence rail sabotage in preparation for the Allied invasion. 950 out of 1050 planned operations took place. The best known of the delays caused to German troops was due to the cutting of the railway lines between Toulouse and Montalban. The 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich was ordered to the beachhead from their base near Toulouse. SOE agents had siphoned off all axle oil from the division's rail transport cars and replaced it with abrasive grease, causing them to seize up. Travelling by road was difficult because the Division was short of fuel because the petrol dumps had been blown up by the Resistance, and ambushes had been laid on the roads. A journey which should have been quick was delayed for weeks. Other vital German Panzer divisions were also kept aways by delays caused by sabotage so that the Allies could consolidate their gains. One Panzer division raced to the Rhine from the Russian front only to take three weeks to cross France.
Fuel dumps were blown up, railways sabotaged, armed and trained snipers were ready on the roads and telephone lines were cut forcing the Germans to use wireless telegraphy, which could be read by the SOE> Tired of the cruel and arrogant occupying Germans, ordinary French people joined in the battle in any way that they could.
A heavy price was often exacted by the Germans in revenge for resistance. After the French attacked occupied garrisons in Tulle and Guerot 120 French men were hanged in Tulle and 67 murdered in Argenton.
The cruellest and most vicious punishment occurred in Oradour-sur-Glane where the German Major Otto Dickman ordered more than 600 men, women and children to be executed, then set fire to the village. This was in revenge for the delay of the 2nd SS Panzer Division.
In thankfulness for their help General Eisenhower wrote: "Throughout France the Resistance had been of inestimable value in the campaign. Without their great assistance the liberation of France would have consumed a much longer time and meant greater losses to ourselves."
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