SAP-R2 1943-1944, Parachute Drops and Landings in Provence - Volume 1, Chronicle of a Wartime Experience

During the Second World War, arming the Resistance was a vital issue for Free France — an eminently complex and lengthy task to implement. Succeeding the first parachute drop networks set up by Jean Moulin in the south of France, the SAP-R2 emerged in late 1943 as the only organisation capable of rivalling the British SOE-F and the American OSS.

From that point on, the SAP had to channel the parachute drops and prove to the Resistance as a whole and to the Allies its operational capabilities. SAP teams received weapons, equipment, agents and Inter-Allied Missions. Caught up in the political circumstances of the moment, the SAP-R2 had to free itself from the internal conflicts then agitating the Resistance in Provence. It was within this shifting context that Camille Rayon — Archiduc, regional chief of the SAP — succeeded in establishing his service and giving fighting France one of its finest tools.

This chronicle takes us to the heart of the extraordinary wartime experience that was clandestine parachute drops, offering an innovative reading of events.

Son of a fighter pilot and grandson of a Zouaves officer, the author has always lent an attentive ear to historical accounts concerning the Resistance and parachute drops. A retired History teacher, holder of a diploma in military history, member of the Souvenir Français de Sault and of the Académie de Vaucluse, his work and research focus on the occupation period in the department where he lives. For fifteen years, he has been clarifying knowledge on the subject.