They Chose Death Rather Than Dishonour - 1939-1945

Their names are Bertrand, Justin, Berty, Maurice, Pierre, Jean, Henri, René-Georges, Godefroy, François. Airmen, sailors, soldiers, fighters of the Free French, resistance members — all refused defeat and the occupation of their country, some as early as June 1940. In the darkest hours of History, driven by the same values of freedom and independence, they chose sacrifice over dishonour.

Bertrand de Saussine, unwilling to surrender to the enemy the submarine he commands, scuttles it himself. François Delimal, a student arrested by the Gestapo, swallows a cyanide capsule to avoid talking under torture. Pierre Wallerand, trapped on a beach in northern France with his men on Christmas night 1943, throws himself into the sea in the hope of saving them. These figures of exemplary destiny and courage all gave up their future in the name of their convictions.

To die for honour — what nobler attitude ?

Some, made Companions of the Liberation by General de Gaulle, in their lifetime or posthumously, have passed into posterity. Others have fallen into obscurity. It is time to recount their journeys. Drawing on private archives and previously unpublished documents, Stéphane Simonnet movingly retraces the tragic and heroic fate of eleven combatants — men and a woman — who died for France and their ideals.