Francs-tireurs
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The phrase francs-tireurs was used to describe irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) and from that usage it is sometimes used to refer more generally to guerrilla fighters who fight outside the laws of war[1]. The term was revived and used by French communists to describe the French Resistance movement set up by the French commmunists against the Germans during World War II[2].
During the wars of the French Revolution, a franc-tireur was a member of a corps of light infantry organized separately from the regular army. The Spanish word francotirador and the Portuguese word franco-atirador, meaning sharpshooter, are derived from the word franc-tireur.
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[edit] Franco-Prussian War
Francs-tireurs were an outgrowth of rifle clubs or unofficial military societies formed in the east of France at the time of the Luxembourg crisis of 1867 (for which, see History of Luxembourg). The members were chiefly concerned with the practice of rifle-shooting, and were expected in war to act as light troops. They wore no uniforms, were armed with the best existing rifles, and elected their own officers.
In the words of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, they "were at once a valuable asset to the armed strength of France and a possible menace to internal order under military discipline." The societies strenuously and effectively resisted all efforts to bring them under normal military discipline; as a result, the Germans were within the laws of war in executing captured francs-tireurs as irresponsible non-combatants found with arms in their hands.
As with any irregular or guerrilla force, the character of at least some of the francs-tireurs has, at times, been disparaged. Nonetheless, it is hard to question at least the courage of people who, rather than join a regular army, fought in a manner where they know that to fall into enemy hands was to be sentenced to death or worse.
In July 1870, at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, the societies were brought under the control of the minister of war and organized for field service, but it was not until November 4 — by which time the levée en masse (universal conscription) was in force — that they were placed under the orders of the generals in the field. After that they were sometimes organized in large bodies and incorporated in the mass of the armies, but more usually they continued to work in small bands, blowing up culverts on the invaders' lines of communication, cutting off small reconnaissance parties, surprising small posts, etc.
The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as "now acknowledged, even by the Germans," that the francs-tireurs, by these relatively unconventional tactics, "paralysed large detachments of the enemy, contested every step of his advance (as in the Loire campaign), and prevented him from gaining information, and that their soldierly qualities improved with experience."
Francs-tireurs blew up the Moselle railway bridge at Fontenoy, January 22, 1871. The defense of Chateaudun (October 18, 1870) was conducted by francs-tireurs of Cannes and Nantes, along with Lipowski's Paris corps.
The francs-tireurs were often vilified by the German armies and popular press as murderers and highwaymen and seemed to the Germans to have an unerring sense of the most vulnerable parts of the German armies in France. However, the francs-tireurs caused fewer than 1000 German casualties and ultimately played only a minor part of the Franco-Prussian War. Despite this, an ambush by francs-tireurs often resulted in violent German reprisals against the nearest village or town. Whole regiments or divisions often took part in "pacifying actions" in areas with significant franc-tireur activity and bred a lasting enmity and hatred between the occupying German soldiers and French civilians.
The experiences of French guerilla attacks and of asymmetric warfare in general during the War had a profound effect on the German General Staff, resulting in the unusually harsh and severe occupation of areas conquered by Germany during World War I.
[edit] World War II
The Francs-tireurs partisans (FTP, "Partisan irregular riflemen") were fighting formations of the French Resistance during World War II.
They took their name from French irregular light infantry and saboteurs, first employed in the Franco-Prussian War.
Initially called Organisation Spéciale (OS, "special organisation"), they were created by the Communist Party of France (PCF). A number of their leaders had served in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War (for instance, "Colonel" Henri Rol-Tanguy).
Although individual communists had opposed the German occupation, prior to the German invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941 (see Great Patriotic War) the official communist position was not to offer resistance.
FTP became the first resistance group in France to deliberately kill a German. The FTP were integrated in the Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur in February 1944. Called the "party of 80,000 executed people" (le parti des 80 000 fusillés), the PCF's electoral success after World War II was, to a large extent, due to its prestige as a centre of resistance. [citation needed]
The foreign workers' section, FTP-MOI (Franc Tireurs Partisans-Main d'Oeuvre Immigrée; see French-language article FTP MOI) became especially famous when the Missak Manouchian Group was captured, its members executed, and the execution publicly advertised in the infamous Affiche Rouge.
[edit] Prisoner status
The term Francs-tireurs has been used for an armed fighter who, if captured, is not entitled to prisoner of war status. This classification could apply as of late 2004 to many persons being held at Camp X-ray.
In the Hostages Trial (or, officially, 'The United States of America vs. Wilhelm List, et. al.), the seventh of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, the tribunal found that on the question of partisans, the then current laws of war (the Hague Convention No. IV from 1907), the partisan fighters in southeast Europe could not be considered lawful belligerents under Article 1 of said convention[3]. On Wilhelm List, the tribunal even stated
- "We are obliged to hold that such guerrillas were francs tireurs who, upon capture, could be subjected to the death penalty. Consequently, no criminal responsibility attaches to the defendant List because of the execution of captured partisans..."[3]
[edit] Other
Le Franc-Tireur was the name of an underground French Resistance newspaper.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- The 1911 EB references Les Chasseurs des Vosges by Lt. Colonel St. Etienne, Toul, 1906, about the blowing up of the Moselle railway bridge.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ See the sections in this article Franco-Prussian War and Prisoner status and the article Hostages Trial
- ^ FRpartisans
- ^ a b The hostages trial, trial of Wilhelm List and others: Notes held at University of the West of England original source: United Nations War Crimes Commission. Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals. Volume VIII, 1949
