Saturday 16 February 2013

National Jean Moulin, Second World War Museum, Bordeaux.

We visited the Jean Moulin Museum, it has a documented archive and Museum of the Second World War, it's 3 floors house collections devoted to the Resistance, Deportation and the Free French Forces.

Jean Moulin (20 June 1899 - 8th July 1943) was a high-profile member of the French resistance during World War 11, he is remembered today as an emblem of the Resistance, owing mainly to his role in unifying the French Resistance under de Gaulle and his courage and death at the hands of the Gestapo.

Jean Moulin



The Museum is very interesting, they even have a replica of the canoe the Cockleshell heros used.The Cockleshell heroes raided Nazi-occupied Bordeaux in December 1942 in "Operation Frankton"The Cockleshell heros target was the harbour complex of the city. The port was very important to the Germans as many merchant ships used to supply the German army, stationed not only in France but also elsewhere throughout occupied Europe. They succeeded in sinking one ship and severely damaging four others and doing enough damage in the port to greatly disrupt the use of the harbour for months to come. Such was the significance of the raid the Winston Churchill said it helped shorten World War Two by six months.

The French Resistance played a vital part in aiding the Allies to success in Western Europe, especially leading up to D-Day in June 1944. The French Resistance supplied the Allies with vital intelligence reports as well as doing a huge amount of work to disrupt the German supply and communication lines within France.


My pictures will give a small insight of what is was like, a topic that could go on and on...and a very sensitive subject even today amongst the French.


Replica of Cockleshell Heroes Canoe


Machinery that forged Passports









































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