French Resistance Commander Solange Alexandre Dies Aged 104

Solange Alexandre, a former commander in the French Resistance during World War II, has died at the age of 104 at a nursing home in Le Mans. Her death marks the loss of one of the few women who established and led an armed combat unit against German occupying forces in France.

French President Emmanuel Macron publicly acknowledged Alexandre’s contributions to the country's liberation following the announcement of her death. On social media, Macron wrote: “She said she only ever did her duty. But her duty was our freedom. France will never forget. Thank you.”

Born Solange Dubuisson in 1922 in the Sarthe department, she grew up in a family marked by the events of World War I. In June 1940, she responded to General Charles de Gaulle’s broadcast calling for resistance against the German occupation. By 1941, veteran Saïd Belhaffaf recruited her into the Resistance, where she gathered intelligence and delivered messages by bicycle under the pseudonym Corlay.

In April 1944, Alexandre and her future husband Guy Déliot, a former gendarme who had deserted to avoid arresting Jewish citizens, formed the Pas-de-Boeuf network near Ruillé-sur-Loir. The underground unit comprised approximately 30 fighters, including deserters from German forced labour programmes, members of dismantled resistance groups, and hidden American and Canadian airmen. Local farmers supplied the group while they lived hidden in the surrounding countryside.

Under her leadership, the group carried out sabotage acts and took part in military combat following the Allied Normandy landings in June 1944. Alexandre evaded capture by the Gestapo on two occasions while carrying out these operations.

Her military service culminated in the liberation of Tours in September 1944, at which point she held the rank of sub-lieutenant in the French Interior Forces. Following the war, she worked as a teacher and relocated across various French overseas territories for her husband's postings until his death in Martinique in 1960. She later remarried in 1981 and resided in France.

Alexandre initially declined the Légion d’Honneur on two occasions, maintaining that her actions were simply her duty. She eventually accepted France’s highest order of merit during a ceremony in 2024.

Written by Sandy van Dongen sandy.vandongen@alpineweekly.com