This is a fascinating account of a young man's involvement with the French Maquis during World War II. The first half of the book is his first person account and introduces his fellow Maquinards, and the second half of the book is a series of interviews twenty-five years later with his former brothers-in-arms and other people in his home town.

It is an honest account and appears to be fairly unembellished, The reader gets a good sense of the waiting and anticipation associated with the resistance as well as the brief, terrifying moments of action. Death can come abruptly in this environment. Readers younger than junior high may have trouble because the phrasing is translated from the original French. Highly recommended!

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When Hitler invades Poland, 14-year old Hubert Verneret watches the French soldiers leaving South Morvan to fight, thinking that they will soon be marching victoriously through German cities. How little the Boy Scout knows! As the Germans march through France instead, he sees hordes of refugees fleeing their approach and he tries to help them. He also sees the French soldiers in a complete rout.



The brave young boy joins the Maquis and his adventures begin as he learns to shoot, attempts to prevent Germans retreating to the Rhine and looks for soldiers to take prisoner. Much of his war, to his disappointment, consists of watching and waiting, and there is a nasty episode where he almost shoots one of his own.



This was written in the middle of the war and it provides a vivid picture of the suffering of the French and the courage of the Maquis and Resistance. Some of the writing is quite beautiful and makes one wish that Verneret had written more books. There are interviews with some of the major characters in his group at the back to provide more background. It's certainly worth reading if you are interested in the French Resistance. And as Catholics are often criticised for their role in the war, I was glad to see that an Abbott was involved in Verneret's group.



I received this free ebook from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

Hubert Verneret began writing a diary in 1938. The very first entry, on Hubert’s 13th birthday on 11 March, records Hitler securing Anschluss with Austria and his father observing that this could lead to war.

War did, of course, come and the diary, which makes up Part I of the book, records the 15-year-old Hubert’s reactions as war arrived at his home in Nevers on the Loire in Burgundy, first in the form of refugees and then in the broken shapes of wounded soldiers, before he and his family became refugees themselves, eventually returning home to life in occupied France.

This is all quite interesting but Hubert’s account becomes even more absorbing when, shortly after D-Day, he joined the Louis Maquis in the mountainous forests of Morvan, in the heart of Burgundy. Hubert’s hopes for active combat were not realised (“I have not encountered real fear, nor the intoxication of fighting”) but this aspect of events and the history of the Louis Maquis generally is covered by Part II of the book, which includes extracts from the diary of a Luzy resident, an interview with a Special Operations Executive officer operating in the region, and interviews with three Maquis fighters. Part III evaluates the role of the Louis Maquis and the French Resistance as a whole in the Liberation of France.

This relatively slim volume is book-ended by two Forewords (one by the Chief of the French section of SOE and the other by De Gaulle’s Aide-de-camp) and an Epilogue which pays tribute to the undoubted bravery of all those engaged in the French resistance.

There are gaps. There’s surprisingly little discussion, for example, of collaboration or of the process of épuration (the postwar purging of known or suspected collaborators), one of the interviewees simply telling the adult Hubert that, as far as he was aware, no maquisards engaged in retaliation. But what it does offer is a valuable primary source, written by a thoughtful young man combined with his and others’ mature reflections on what the Resistance achieved.

Assessments differ amongst historians regarding the precise contribution made to the war effort by the Resistance but ‘Teenage Resistance Fighter’ is certainly worth reading in order to understand how, not least amongst its achievements, the Maquis helped give the French nation a renewed sense of pride after the humiliations of defeat and Vichy.