Solange Alexandre
Solange Alexandre | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Born | Solange Rose Marguerite Dubuisson 9 September 1922 Mamers, Sarthe, France |
| Died | 8 November 2026 (aged 104) Le Mans, Sarthe, France |
| Other name | Corlay (wartime pseudonym) |
| Education | Normal school |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1941–1945 |
| Era | World War II |
| Organization | French Forces of the Interior |
Solange Alexandre (née Dubuisson, first married name Deliot; 9 September 1922 – 8 November 2026) was a French schoolteacher and a member of the Resistance during World War II. She was one of the founders and also the head of the cell known as "Pas-de-bœuf" ("Ox's Step"), in Ruillé-sur-Loir, in which she commanded more than thirty men, and which took part in liberating Touraine from Nazi German occupation.
Biography
[edit]Family and youth
[edit]Solange Rose Marguerite Dubuisson[1] was born in Mamers on 9 September 1922.[1][2][3] Her father was the gendarme Albert Dubuisson, who was posted to the Mamers gendarmerie school. He quit the Gendarmerie after fifteen years and found a job at the Sarthe prefecture. Her parents had suffered during World War I; her father was wounded, and her mother lost her first husband. Solange Dubuisson was raised in a fervently patriotic household.[2][3][4][5]
She was at one time a gymnastics champion in the Maine-Anjou-Touraine region.[6] When World War II broke out, Dubuisson was a student at the Le Mans normal school[4][5] where she studied from 1940.[1]
In the Resistance
[edit]Solange Dubuisson was inspired to join the anti-German resistance in 1940 after hearing Charles de Gaulle's Appeal of 18 June.[7][8] In 1941, she met Lieutenant Saïd Belhaffaf, who had retired from the French Army. Of Tunisian origin, he had been one of her father's friends and was an early member of the Resistance. Thanks to him, she became involved in the Resistance within the Organisation civile et militaire (OCM) as a liaison officer in Maine, Brittany, and Normandy. She took the name "Corlay". She quickly took advantage of her travels and her knowledge of the region to gather intelligence.[2][4]
In 1943, she met the man who would later become her first husband, Guy Deliot. To avoid the Service du travail obligatoire (STO), he became involved in the Gendarmerie nationale, where he was assigned to the Le Mans brigade. While serving alongside some Gestapo officers, he refused to arrest a Jewish couple, and then he chose to desert, with one of his fellow gendarmes, and joined the Resistance.[2][5][9]
On 5 April 1944, with her friends Michel and Jean Gadois, as well as Guy Deliot, Dubuisson established a Resistance cell at the place called "Étang du Pas-de-bœuf" ("Ox's Step Pond") near Ruillé-sur-Loir. It was made up mainly of those who resisted STO service, but there were some survivors from the Mortagne cell, which had been decimated by the Gestapo.[4][9]
The "Pas-de-bœuf" cell fought the Germans, organized acts of sabotage, sheltered Allied flyers, and took part in liberating Tours and its surrounding region alongside the reconstituted IV/4 battalion of the French 65th Infantry Regiment.[9][10]
On 8 August 1944, the cell returned from a sabotage operation against a munitions train on the Tours–Le Mans line. They learnt that a group of Germans were stationed at a farm at the place known as la Durtière, in Ruillé-sur-Loir. Counting on the element of surprise, while also underestimating the enemy's numbers, the cell's fifteen or so members attacked them. They had not noticed a guard who was posted nearby, who shot back at them. The cell had to retreat, and as they did so, Michel Gadois was wounded by the German guard, sustaining a gunshot wound to the head.[4][9][11].
Once the region's liberation operations were over, Dubuisson was named the departmental head of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) social service, and welcomed deportees and freed prisoners.[1][5][9]
She came out of the war with the rank of FFI sub-lieutenant.[2][9]
On 7 April 1945 in Le Mans, she wed her friend, the gendarme Guy Deliot, with whom she had three children (Jean-Pierre, Marie-France, and Françoise).[5][9][11]
After the war
[edit]In 1951, Deliot followed her husband, who had been transferred, to New Caledonia. As there was no work for her there in teaching, she became Secretary General of Nouméa's Chamber of Agriculture.[11] As a result of her husband's changing assignments, the couple had to move house 17 times.[2][5]
In 1960, her husband died whilst on official duty in Martinique, which was at the time beset with violent demonstrations. She then returned to Le Mans with her three children, where she once again took up her profession as a teacher, continuing until her retirement in 1978.[10][11]
In 1981, she married Bernard Alexandre.[10][11] Alexandre was an active member of the Association pour le droit de mourir dans la dignité ("Association for the Right to Die with Dignity"; ADMD).[2][5][10]
Death
[edit]Solange Alexandre died at a nursing home in Le Mans on 8 November 2026, at the age of 104.[12][13]
Recognition
[edit]On 17 September 2022, on the occasion of Alexandre's one hundredth birthday, the town of Loir en Vallée (Ruillé-sur-Loir), which had already made Alexandre an honorary citizen, renamed the square at its town hall "Solange Dubuisson Alexandre".[4][14] She had until then refused the honour but then agreed, saying "... so that no one forgets".[15]
On 10 November 2026, President Emmanuel Macron summarized her contributions, concluding: "With the passing of Solange Alexandre, we lose an exemplary figure of the French Resistance. She sought no reward, weighed no risks, and asked of France no honour other than the privilege of serving her country."[16]
Awards
[edit]
Knight of the Legion of Honour (8 November 2024)[17]—Twice before receiving this award, she had turned it down, believing that she had only been doing her duty.[2][5][10]
Croix de Guerre 1939–1945[4]
Resistance Medal (15 October 1945)[1][10][18]
Volunteer Combatant's Cross 1939–1945[4][9][10]
Cross of the Resistance Volunteer Combatant[9][10]
1939–1945 Commemorative war medal (France) with the Liberation clasp[9][10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 "Solange Rose Marguerite Alexandre". Ordre de la liberation (in French). 9 November 2026. Retrieved 12 November 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Solange Alexandre, WWII French resistant, dies at 104". Obituaries. Le Monde. 9 November 2026. Retrieved 10 November 2026.
- 1 2 "Elle a créé un maquis à Ruillé-sur-Loir en 1944 : Solange a 100 ans ce vendredi 9 septembre". Le Maine Libre. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Solange Alexandre, résistante centenaire donnera son nom à la place de Ruillé-sur-Loir". actu.fr (in French). 15 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Lebeur, Philippe. "Célébration de notre centenaire – UD 72 – UNPRG". unprg.fr (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ↑ "Solange Alexandre, résistante centenaire donnera son nom à la place de Ruillé-sur-Loir" [Solange Alexandre, centenarian resistance fighter, gives her name to the square in Ruillé-sur-Loir]. Le Petit Courrier - L'Echo (in French). 15 September 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2026.
- ↑ Schofield, Hugh (10 November 2026). "French wartime resistance heroine Solange Alexandre dies aged 104". BBC News. Retrieved 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Pépin, Mélodie (10 November 2026). "La disparition à 104 ans de Solange Alexandre, une des rares résistantes à avoir dirigé des maquisards" [Death at 104 years old of Solange Alexandre, one of the few resistance fighters to have led maquisards]. Radio France (in French). Retrieved 11 November 2026 – via France Info.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Louvard, Antoine (2015). Solange s'engage dans la Résistance. ISBN 978-88-97539-46-9. OCLC 991205861. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Les 100 ans de Solange Alexandre fêtés par les gendarmes sarthois". Le Maine Libre. 13 September 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Davoust, Maxime (8 December 2015). "Solange raconte son passé de Résistante dans un livre". actu.fr (in French). Retrieved 19 September 2022.
- ↑ Fernand, Nicolas (9 November 2026). "La résistante Solange Alexandre est décédée à l'âge de 104 ans : « Elle a eu une vie fantastique »". Le Maine Libre (in French). Retrieved 9 November 2026.
- ↑ "La disparition à 104 ans de Solange Alexandre, une des rares résistantes à avoir dirigé des maquisards". franceinfo. 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Hochet, Bertrand (18 September 2022). "Ruillé-sur-Loir : la résistante centenaire Solange Alexandre donne son nom à la place de la mairie". francebleu.fr (in French). Retrieved 20 September 2022.
- ↑ "Elle a créé un maquis à Ruillé-sur-Loir en 1944 : Solange a 100 ans ce vendredi 9 septembre" [She created a resistance group in Ruillé-sur-Loir in 1944: Solange turns 100 this Friday, September 9th]. Le Maine libre (in French). 9 September 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2026.
- ↑ Macron, Emmanuel (10 November 2026). "Disparition de Solange Alexandre" (in French). Élysée. Retrieved 12 November 2026.
- ↑ "Liste unique des décorés - Fiche Solange Rose Marguerite Dubuisson". Grande chancellerie de la Légion d'honneur (in French). Retrieved 10 November 2026.
- ↑ "Base des médaillés de la résistance - Mémoire des hommes". www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
Further reading
[edit]- Louvard, Antoine (9 September 2015). "Solange Alexandre and Alain Riffaud". Solange s'engage dans la Résistance. Portaparole. p. 114. ISBN 978-88-97539-46-9.
External links
[edit]
- "Elle a créé un maquis à Ruillé-sur-Loir en 1944 : Solange a 100 ans ce vendredi 9 septembre". lemans.maville.com. 9 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
- "Solange et son passé de résistante aux Térébinthes". ouest-france.fr. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2022.