Madam Forcade's Secret War by Lynne Olson
I have long been interested in the French resistance in World War 2. There is a common belief, especially among Americans, that because the French government failed in world war 2 that France failed. You could see this mostly in jokes which have become less common. But not that long ago that if you typed French military victories into Google, it gave you the message, “Did you mean French military defeats.” and you also heard from time to time the admittedly funny insult Cheese eating surrender monkeys.
Madam Forcade’s Secret War proves the lie in all of that by giving a history that hasn’t been given enough attention. The French government before World War Two failed. As did the American government, the English government and everyone else who allowed the Nazi’s to gain enough power to cause chaos in Europe, even though there were plenty of chances to step in and make everything far less painful.
Madam Forcade’s Secret War begins as the titular character, Marie Madeleine Forcade, is recruited into a French resistance that doesn’t really exist yet. Barely 30, she spied and recruited spies who would spend the entire war inside Nazi-occupied territory risking their lives to get information to Britain and America once we finally decided that ignoring the entire war wasn’t a reasonable strategy for the war.
Following a woman in this is brilliant not only because she is an interesting and courageous woman in a time when women weren’t given the respect or freedom they deserved but because it also demonstrates that the courage most often needed in the world isn’t to pick up a gun, but to do the right thing when it I hard.
In all of this, I have barely touched on what the resistance network that she created did. And when you hear it, you wonder how there aren’t statues of her all over France. Among other things they supplied the allies with information on the V2 allowing for a raid that slowed the creation of one of the most dangerous weapons in the war by crucial months and created the most important map of Normandy including the location of virtually every Nazi bunker and weapons emplacement on the beach. And I don’t think it is hyperbole to say that those two acts alone dramatically shortened the war and save thousands of soldiers’ lives. And while all that was happening, Madam Fourcade gave birth to her third child while running the spy network and being on the run.
Among the most interesting and important parts of this story were the many times she was caught, or nearly caught, and the many ways she escaped. From assumed Nazi collaborator French cops working to help her escape to the masons who created the prisons intentionally leaving gaps just big enough for someone to slip through there were people in every part of French society who did everything they could to fight against an enemy that wasn’t being fought by young men on the other side of the world but by old men and young women who in many cases gave their lives to protect people who have spent the next century telling everyone how they came in and saved the day.
The book itself Madam Fourcade’s Secret War owes a lot to that character because while well written it was a less than cohesive list of events with a lot of names that were difficult to remember and for my taste would have been easier and more interesting to follow in a more narrative style. But that isn’t what the book is trying to be. This is a record of a time, place and person who are fascinating and worthwhile for anyone to read if for no other reason than to remind you that you don’t have to embrace the failures. Of your government and that anyone can stand up against Nazi if they have the courage.
