Marcel Laborde’s FFI brassard

This FFI (French Forces of the Interior) brassard belonged to Marcel Laborde, who was born in Tours in 1904. Mr Laborde was a member of the Renard resistance network. The Renard network was a group opposed to the Nazi occupation, founded by Louis Renard in 1940 and based in the Poitou. The network’s aim was to run anti-Vichy propaganda operations (the clandestine newspaper Le Libre Poitou), then to prepare to welcome the invasion troops from England and establish links with other Resistance groups. It was exposed in the summer of 1942. Almost 100 members were arrested, mainly in Poitiers. Most were released, but 29 of them were deported to Germany in early 1943 and 11 (including all the leaders) were guillotined at the Wolfenbüttel prison, in Lower Saxony, on 3 December 1943. The French Forces of the Interior (FFI) were created on 1 February 1944 by a coalition of the main military groups of the French Resistance that had formed throughout Occupied France: the Secret Army (AS, Gaullist, consisting of Combat, Libération-Sud, Franc-Tireur), the Army Resistance Organization (ORA, Giraudist), the Franc-tireurs et partisans (FTP, communist) and others.

Description analytique : White cotton brassard with a tricolour flag in the centre, containing a Cross of Lorraine in black felt. Below the tricolour is the inscription “FFI” (French Forces of the Interior) and Marcel Laborde’s service number: “Me : 20.170”. A barely readable stamp is evidence of the originality of the item. A three centimetre red ribbon is sewn on top of this stamp.

Matières et techniques : fabric, cotton

Dimensions : L. max 40cm ; l. 40cm ; H.10cm

Inscriptions : Cross of Lorraine: emblem of the Free French Forces 

Tampon inscription : Saint-Symphorien Town Hall (Saint-Symphorien is a former commune in the Indre-et-Loire, part of which became a district of the city of Tours in 1964)