Hidden Ally

How did the French Resistance and Allied forces work together to liberate southern France from the Germans during World War II? Arthur Funk gives the first detailed account of the complex British, French, and American operations in 1944, an account that uses a wealth of original source material on both sides of the Atlantic to evaluate the role of the French Resistance and to assess the problems in coordinating Allied military activities. The study should be of great interest to historians, history buffs, and colleges and universities that wish to fill this gap in the historiography of World War II.

The first half of the book deals with preparations for the Allied landings in August 1944, telling about agents first in contact with the French Resistance and about the work of Allied missions, French groups, and British officers and teams directed from London and Algiers. The second half of the book covers the collaboration of French Forces of the Interior with the U.S. Seventh Army in the liberation of Marseilles, Lyon, and other cities in southeastern France. Filled with interesting detail about major figures in the war and little-known agents and officers, the book is unique in weaving together recently declassified OSS sources in Washington with British and French archival information that is rarely noted. Maps and photographs are included in the book, and a useful bibliography is also provided.

ARTHUR LAYTON FUNK is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Florida. He is a recognized expert on American-French relations in World War II and the author of Charles De Gaulle: The Crucial Years, 1943-44 (1959), The Politics of TORCH (1974) and De Yalta a Potsdam (1982).