Living with the Enemy in First World War France
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i The experience of occupation in the Nord, 1914– 18 ii Cultural History of Modern War Series editors Ana Carden- Coyne, Peter Gatrell, Max Jones, Penny Summerfield and Bertrand Taithe Already published Carol Acton and Jane Potter Working in a World of Hurt: Trauma and Resilience in the Narratives of Medical Personnel in Warzones Julie Anderson War, Disability and Rehabilitation in Britain: Soul of a Nation Lindsey Dodd French Children under the Allied Bombs, 1940– 45: An Oral History Rachel Duffett The Stomach for Fighting: Food and the Soldiers of the First World War Peter Gatrell and Lyubov Zhvanko (eds) Europe on the Move: Refugees in the Era of the Great War Christine E. Hallett Containing Trauma: Nursing Work in the First World War Jo Laycock Imagining Armenia: Orientalism, Ambiguity and Intervention Chris Millington From Victory to Vichy: Veterans in Inter- War France Juliette Pattinson Behind Enemy Lines: Gender, Passing and the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War Chris Pearson Mobilizing Nature: the Environmental History of War and Militarization in Modern France Jeffrey S. Reznick Healing the Nation: Soldiers and the Culture of Caregiving in Britain during the Great War Jeffrey S. Reznick John Galsworthy and Disabled Soldiers of the Great War: With an Illustrated Selection of His Writings Michael Roper The Secret Battle: Emotional Survival in the Great War Penny Summerfield and Corinna Peniston- Bird Contesting Home Defence: Men, Women and the Home Guard in the Second World War Trudi Tate and Kate Kennedy (eds) The Silent Morning: Culture and Memory after the Armistice Spiros Tsoutsoumpis The People’s Armies: A History of the Greek Resistance Laura Ugolini Civvies: Middle- Class Men on the English Home Front, 1914– 18 Wendy Ugolini Experiencing War as the ‘Enemy Other’: Italian Scottish Experience in World War II Colette Wilson Paris and the Commune, 1871– 78: The Politics of Forgetting http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/subjectareas/history/research/cchw/ iii The experience of occupation in the Nord, 1914– 18 Living with the enemy in First World War France v JAMES E. CONNOLLY Manchester University Press iv Copyright © James E. Connolly 2018 The right of James E. Connolly to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 5261 1780 9 hardback ISBN 978 1 5261 1781 6 open access First published 2018 This electronic version has been made freely available under a Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC) licence, thanks to the support of University College London, which permits non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction provided the author(s) and Manchester University Press are fully cited and no modifications or adaptations are made. Details of the licence can be viewed at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third- party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce copyright material, and the publisher will be pleased to be informed of any errors and omissions for correction in future editions. Typeset by Out of House Publishing Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow v In loving memory of Edward Connolly (22 July 1933– 7 December 2012), who once asked me why I had read so many books during my research. This is the answer. vi vii Contents List of figures and tables viii List of abbreviations x Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 Part I ‘Misconduct’ and disunity 31 Introduction 31 1 Sexual misconduct 37 2 General misconduct and popular reprisals 67 3 Male misconduct 96 4 Une sacrée désunion? Conflict continues 116 5 Moral borderlands: Criminality during the occupation 134 Part II Popular patriotism and resistance avant la majuscule 177 Introduction 177 6 Notable protests: Respectable resistance (coups de gueule polis) 185 7 Symbolic resistance (coups de cœur) 223 8 Active resistance (coups de poker, coups d’éclat) 247 9 Epilogue: Liberation, remembering and forgetting 283 Select bibliography 312 Index 319 v vii v viii Figures and tables Figures 1 Map of the occupied Nord, August 1917 8 2 German poster, Tourcoing, 15 November 1915 17 3 Postcard of the Mayor of Crèvecœur- sur- l’Escaut and his family with German gendarmes (front), sent to Préfet du Nord, 31 July 1919 101 4 Postcard of the Mayor of Crèvecœur- sur- l’Escaut and his family with German gendarmes (reverse), sent to Préfet du Nord, 31 July 1919 101 5 Columns of German infantry moving through the main square of Lille 227 6 British soldier checking a store of French flags confiscated from the inhabitants of Douai by the Germans, 25 October 1918 234 7 Front cover of Liller Kriegszeitung (18 July 1918) showing Lillois running to greet British prisoners of war 237 8 Girls kissing the first French soldier to enter Lille, 18 October 1918 285 9 Frenchwomen and children cheering the arrival of the men of the British 57th Division at Lille, 18 October 1918 286 10 French civilians listening to a British regimental band playing in the Grande Place of Lille, 18 October 1918 287 11 View of the main square in Cambrai, showing damaged buildings and the town hall, 23 October 1918 288 12 British soldier checking a wreck of a tram in the ruined Grande Place at Douai, 25 October 1918 289 v viii v ix List of figures and tables Tables 1 Statistical breakdown of suspects from the Nord mentioned in January– April 1917 interviews with repatriated individuals 39 2 Statistical breakdown of suspects in occupied France compiled by the British I(b) Intelligence Service, July– October 1918 39 3 Statistical breakdown of suspects from the Nord compiled by the Deuxième Bureau, 1914– 18 40 4 Commissariat central de Lille, recorded infractions relating to prostitution, November 1914– October 1918 46 5 Police personnel in Lille- Roubaix- Tourcoing, pre- war and 1916 142 v ix v x Abbreviations ADHS Archives Départementales de la Haute- Savoie ADN Archives Départementales du Nord AML Archives Municipales de Lille AMT Archives Municipales de Tourcoing AN Archives Nationales (France) BDIC Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale et Contemporaine CAN Cour d’Assises du Département du Nord CANF Comité d’Alimentation du Nord de la France CRB Commission for Relief in Belgium NA National Archives of the United Kingdom SHD Service Historique de la Défense USNA National Archives of the United States of America v x v xi Acknowledgements Many individuals contributed to the completion of this book in different ways. A number of people read and commented on various drafts: Sophie De Schaepdrijver, Rod Kedward, Julian Jackson, John Horne, Eloise Moss and Laure Humbert. I extend special thanks to Richard Vinen, my former doctoral supervisor, for all his advice, humour and support; and Rebecca Jinks, valued friend, sounding board and proofreader since our first year of undergraduate studies. Discussions and debates with fellow occupation historians further helped me to clarify my ideas, so thanks to Emmanuel Debruyne, Bernard Wilkin, Alex Dowdall, Larissa Wegner, Matthias Meirlaen, Annette Becker and Philippe Nivet. Tammy Proctor and Deborah Buffton kindly posted me important documents from the USA. Pamela Pilbeam and Daniel Beer provided references that helped me to secure funding for my research. The team at Manchester University Press were patient, responsive and supportive. I wish to thank those organisations whose financial assistance allowed me to pursue the research behind this book: the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Institute of Historical Research, King’s College London and the Historial de la Grande Guerre. My project was facilitated by being able to live and later work in France as an EU citizen in May 2009– August 2010 and April 2013– July 2014. During my time as an immigrant, I learnt much about French culture and history, and met people of different nationalities whose perspectives on life enriched my own and whose friendship was crucial to my intellectual and personal development. I am thankful for this privilege and saddened by the pro- spect that in the future British citizens may not be able to do so as easily. I am grateful to numerous institutions and their staff for their assistance, notably: the British Library, King’s College London Maughan Library, Senate House Library (University of London), the Imperial War v xi v newgenprepdf xii Acknowledgements Museum, the National Archives of the United Kingdom, the Historial de la Grande Guerre, the Bibliothèque municipale de Lille, the Bibliothèque Georges Lefebvre (Lille 3 University), the Archives Nationales, the Service Historique de la Défense, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale et Contemporaine, the Archives Départementales du Nord, the Archives Départementales de la Haute- Savoie, and the Archives Municipales of Lille and Tourcoing. Family and friends provided patience, understanding and support throughout the process of researching and writing this book. In par- ticular, my parents, my uncle Brian, and my grandmother have supported me throughout the years. My wife, Martina, offered unceasing encour- agement, putting up with my time abroad and much more. Marjorie Burghart helped me as a proofreader, friend and cultural guide. My good friends Katie Turner and Peter Sutton were also work companions in the early years of the project, and I benefited greatly from our discussions. My twin brother Liam and close friends James Grey, Emma- Louise Hopkins, James and Claire Hunt, Verity and Mark Reynolds, Kari Trogen and Laura Young provided respite from work when needed.