Jean Romans-Petit, a former French Army Colonel, was the leader of some three hundred underground French fighters hiding out in the hills of east-central France. In early November 1943, Jean drew up plans to both trick the Germans and bolster the spirits of underground French fighters throughout France. After the occupation of France by the German Army, the German commanders forbid any public demonstration in observance of Armistice Day, November 11th, that marked the Allied victory over Germany in the First World War. So Romans-Petit planned a daring celebration of that day. The town he selected for celebration was Oyonnax. A week before the event, under cover of night, a group of French resistance fighters went into the village of Nantua, which was some twelve miles from Oyonnax, and plastered walls with posters calling for a demonstration there on November 11th. The Germans swallowed the bait, and ordered the French Police in the region, including those in Oyonnax, to converge on Nantua early on the morning of Armistice Day to prevent or break up the French celebration. On the morning of November 11th, resistants came down into Oyonnax. They posted guards to block traffic from entering or leaving the town. They took over the Police station, the town hall, and the telephone exchange. Surrounded by hundreds of weeping and cheering townspeople, Colonel Romans-Petit and his men gathered around the town's memorial to the French soldiers who died in the First World War. At the foot of the monument, Romans-Petit placed a floral cross of Lorraine inscribed to "the victors of yesterday from those of tomorrow." Then the emotional crowd and the resistants started singing the French national anthem after which the underground fighters formed up and paraded through the town. Meanwhile, the Germans remained on the alert twelve miles away in Nantua. News of this daring exploit spread rapidly throughout France. This bolstered the spirits of both the underground fighters and civilians. Bibliography Breuer, William. Daring Missions of World War II. John Wiley & Sons, 2001. Back to Table of Contents -- World War Two Newsletter March 2003 Back to World War Two Newsletter List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Shahram Khan. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com