As a teenager, Mr. Cordier, the far-right and monarchist group inspired by Charles Maurice (1868-1952), became the organizer of the Action Franchise, a writer and politician who opposed the Republican government. Mr. Cordier became a secret admirer of Europe’s fascist leaders, and yet, the hedonistic avant-garde nurtured an equally vague passion for the works of author Andre Gide.
As a descendant of a wealthy family, Mr. Cordier divided his time between the Atlantic resort of Byritz and the summer vacation in winter skiing – a lifestyle that abruptly ended on September 3, 1939, with the declaration of war by France and Britain. The following June, German troops crossed Paris; Pete called for an armed struggle and established an allied Vichy government in the south of France; And de Gaulle urged his followers to continue the fight.
As the German troops moved south, Mr. Cordier and a group of other young French men at the port of Beyonc સવાર boarded the Belgian freighter Leopold II, whose captain agreed to take them to his ship in exchange for Mr. Cordier’s payment. Stepfather. The ship was supposed to be steam towards North Africa, but it didcked at Cornwall, on the southwest side of England, changing course at sea.
In London, Mr Cordier and other fugitives were welcomed by de Gaulle. According to Mr. Cordier’s memoirs, he told him, “I will not congratulate you for coming here: you did your duty. “When France is in agony, its children have a duty to save it.”
Mr Cordier returned to France in July 1942, as a secret opera operative, as part of the so-called Central Bureau of Financial Operations, known in France as the BCRA by its founders. French and individual resistance groups.
Equipped with a revolver and a knife, and carrying documents for “Rex” in Lyon, Mr. Cordier parachuted from a low-flying British plane across the French country and landed at Gorse’s hut.
Little did he know that Rex was effectively de Gaulle’s viceroy in occupied France. (He won’t learn his true identity later.) Upon receiving the papers, Moulin asked him, “How was your trip?” And asked him for dinner. Moulin then hired him to be their personal assistant.