Germain Jousse

Germain Jousse (November 20, 1895 in Coulaines - March 21, 1988 in Monblanc), was a member of the French Resistance during the Second World War.

In 1914 Germain Jousse conscripted into the army. Promoted to second lieutenant in June 1915, he held the role of company commander from June 1916 and became lieutenant in November of the same year. Wounded at Saint-Dié on October 1, 1917, he rejoined his unit after one month of hospitilization having refused any recuperation. Promoted to captain in April 1918, he was decorated with the Légion d'honneur on the battlefield in September 1918, for having advanced to the position of Celles-sur-Aisne and for having destroyed an enemy company and capturing numerous prisoners.

In 1919, he was sent to Turkey with the 412th Regiment to fight the 'Kémalistes'. Wounded on May 1, 1921, he was made prisoner after hard combat and only returned to France in 1922. In 1925 he was allowed into the École supérieure de guerre, and he then served in Algeria. In 1935 he was promoted to major and transferred to Kabylie with the 9th Regiment of Zouaves until 1938. In August 1939 he joined his station of mobilization as Chief of the 3rd Office of the Staff of the Commander in chief of the Theatre of operations of North Africa. In June 1940 with the High Command, he vainly proposed various solutions for the continuation of the fight against Germany, which he considered possible in North Africa. He was then transferred, still as Chief of the 3rd Office to the Staff of the 19th Army Corps of Algiers.

In spring 1941, continuing to refuse defeat, he secretly took part in the establishment of a plan of allied intervention in North Africa, with some comrades from the circles of General Maxime Weygand and Marshal Philippe Pétain. Others like him such as Captain Beaufre and the commanders Dartois and Loustanau-Lacau were denounced, arrested and executed. He himself only just escaped from the same fate. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in September 1941, he did not discontinue to work for the resistance in secret, by drawing up notes evaluating the technical bases for a future allied invasion of North Africa. In January 1942, he became military adviser to the Algiers resistant group directed by Henri d'Astier de la Vigerie and José Aboulker. In disgrace, under Vichy orders he was put in control of regulating supply transport bound for the Rommel army, in accordance with the agreements passed through the general delegation of Weygand and Germany (Dankworth Contract). He benefitted from it as he was able to provide information for the allied secret services, all the while endeavouring to slow down and block the transports bound for Afrika Korps.

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