(TOUBIB HENRI, TOUBIB, CAPITAINE HENRY)
(Toubib is a slang word for doctor imported from Arabic and dating from the French presence in Algeria. Toubib, Toubib Henri and Capitaine Henry were the names of Henri Cahn in the maquis)
Nov 12, 1911 Birth of Henri Cahn, Cologne Germany
1937 Doctor of medicine, University of Cologne, Germany
Meeting with the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Cologne University, in which Henri asks advice on whether he should stay in Germany or leave the country.
The Dean’s response: “When your name is Cahn, you leave.” (1)
May 1937: Departure for Berne, Switzerland, to study for the Swiss medical doctorate which would qualify him to practice medicine in Switzerland. (2, 3)
February 1938 Receives doctorate of medicine from the University of Berne. (3)
May 1938: Departure for France with the intention of obtaining a visa for the United States. (1)
Re-united with his father who had left for France in 1936. (2)
May 1938-May 1940 Lives with his father in Mantes Grassicourt in the Seine-et-Oise, 50 kms. West of Paris.
Works in a flute and clarinet manufacturing factory (1).
US visa not granted.(1).
1939 Voluntary enlistment in the Foreign Legion. (2).
May 1940 Called up to serve in the Legion, transits through Le Mans, North-West France and stationed, as an auxiliary doctor, at the military depot in Albi, South-West France. (2).
June 1940 After the Armistice, transfers to the 311 groupe de prestataires in Albi. (2).
The groupes de prestataires, also known as compagnies de travailleurs étrangers, were military units, stationed in work camps, composed exclusively of foreigners under the command of French army officers.
November 1940 Transfers to the groupe d’étrangers Région 3. (2).
The groupes de préstataires were transformed in November 1940 into civilian work-camps (groupes de travailleurs étrangers) exclusively for foreigners, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industrial Production and Labour.
March 1942 Joins the Résistance in the “Combat” movement. (4).
Another source dates his entry into the Résistance to 1941 without specifying which movement of the Résistance (2).
Henri’s membership of the “Combat” group is documented in post-war correspondence (5)
July 27 1942 Arrested after escaping from groupe d’étrangers Région 3 and imprisoned in Montpellier. (6)
August 1942 Transferred to a prison in Agen. (7)
During his stay in prison is tortured and attempts to hang himself for fear of betrayal. Which prison is unknown. (1)
Joins the Wheelwright group, the South-West Regional arm of the British Intelligence Service, under Colonel Hilaire. Rank: chargé de mission 3ème. Classe (8,9)
How he entered the British I.S. and operated as a British intelligence agent whilst in prison in Agen is a subject of uncertainty.
Transferred, at a later date in 1942 or early 1943, to a work camp in Boussès in the Lot-et-Garonne department. Date of transfer unknown. (2)
Bossuès is a small hamlet in the heart of the forest, about 20 kilometers from Nérac.
September, 1942 Father living in Marseilles. Circumstances unknown. (10)
October, 1942 Father transferred to a camp in Rivesaltes. (11)
From August to November1942, the camp in Rivesaltes served as an internment camp for Jews from the unoccupied zone in the South of France. From here, they were transferred to the camp at Draincy near Paris where they were interned prior to their transfer to the concentration camps and extermination.
October 5, 1942 Father transferred to the camp at Draincy. (12)
November 5 1942 Departure of his father to Auschwitz.
Letter from his father to Henri, just prior to his departure, in which he writes he is in good shape in all aspects and looks forward to seeing him again when life becomes normal again. (13).
Henri still in prison in Agen, as the letter was sent to the prison address.
November 11, 1942 Death of his father by extermination at Auschwitz. (14).
June 9, 1943 Henri escapes from the work-camp in Bossuès (2, 6), and joins the maquis “Fille” formed by the Armée Secrète sometime before Easter 1943, under the leadership of Louis Maraval (pseudonym). This was the first maquis South of the Garonne in the Zone Sud. (15).
July 1, 1943 Promoted to sub-lieutenant in the Wheelwright group. (8,9)
1943 In the maquis, quickly becomes Maraval’s right hand man, as testified by his attendance at a meeting at the house in Nérac of the head and founder of the Résistance South of the Garonne, Paul Charles. Henri would not have been present at this dinner if he had not had an important function. (15).
April 1943 Picks up Philippe de Gunzberg, a member of the British Intelligence Service, on his parachute landing in the Nérac area to join the Wheelwright group, subsequent to the liquidation of his previous group South of Toulouse by the Germans. (1)
1943-1944 After his arrest and deportation, Paul Charles was succeeded by Gabriel Lapeyrusse under whose leadership the various maquis in the Nérac area were structured as a military battalion, le Bataillon Néracais.
Henri becomes one of the four senior leaders under Gabriel Lapeyrusse (16) with responsibility for (1) coordinating the reception of the parachute drops of arms by the British Royal Air Force, (2) the distribution of arms among the maquis, (3) communicating orders to the local maquis chiefs and ensuring they are strictly adhered to. The priority was to prevent the movement of trains in order to disrupt German supplies and troop movements, whilst avoiding contact with the German Forces and the French militia. He spent a great deal of time and effort instilling this message with the maquis chiefs and members and, more generally, keeping up the morale of the maquis. (1,17).
. Henri was was not a member of a fighting unit, nor was his function that of medical officer.
During the period 1943-1944, Henri has no permanent home. He lives in a completely clandestine existence, perpetually moving from place to place, often sleeping in his car, staying at Gabriel Lapeyrusse’s home, when in Nérac. He always travels armed and with a machine gun in his car. (1,18).
The lady who, after the war, became his wife, Lucienne Pinaud, was his driver, in 1944, when he visited the maquis in the northern sector of the Bataillon Néracais. (18).
It is not known if she also was his driver in other areas where the Bataillon Néracais operated.
In this period, Henri contracts tuberculosis, but refuses treatment until after the war.
January 1944 Henri organizes the forced retreat of a maquis based near Tonneins, north of the Garonne River, and makes the contacts necessary for it to re-group South of the Garonne. This would have required diplomacy, as this maquis was a member of the communist organization FTP (Francs Tireurs Partisans) re- locating to an area dominated by the non-communist maquis groups. (15)
March 1944 As a leading figure in the Bataillon Néracais and a senior member of the Wheelwright group, Henri Cahn played a leading role in the escape of allied airmen shot down over the Nérac area.
The airmen were hidden by the maquis of the Bataillon Néracais and their escape to Spain was organized by the Wheelwright group. (16)
Among these airmen were Chuck Yeager and 8 US airmen from a B-24 bomber shot down March 5 during a bombing mission to Bordeaux. (19, 20).
Chuck Yeager was hidden in the home of Gabriel Lapeyrusse in Nérac and was entrusted with the mission of teaching the maquis how to handle explosives.
Six of the other airmen were hidden in the maquis in the forest and the other two at different locations.
March 25 1944 He personally drives the truck which brings Chuck Yeager, the airmen from the maquis and the other sites to the farm 4 kms south of Nérac which served as a meeting place before the drive to the Pyrenees and the escape to Spain. (19, 20)
April 1944 Following Gabriel Lapeyrusse’s departure to escape arrest by the gestapo, assumes responsibility for running the Bataillon Néracais together with the three others of Gabriel’s most trusted officers. This lasts until Gabriel’s return from hiding early May. (16)
May 1944 Becomes the right-hand man of lieutenant-colonel Durandel, head of the Western zone of the R4 Region of the Corps-Francs de Libération (part of the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur, FFL).
The Corps Francs de Libération were formed in late 1943/early 1944 to provide a uniform command to the various Résistance movements.
Durandel had set up his HQ in the Bataillon Néracais and quickly recognized Henri’s talents as negotiator, motivator, organizer and liaison officer. (15, 16)
Henri is responsible for communicating orders, received directly from the head of the R 4 Region in Toulouse, Colonel Ravanel, to the FFL chiefs of the Lot-et-Garonne department. He continues his direct contacts with the local maquis ensuring the orders are strictly adhered to. The main mission was to stop the movement of German troups to Normandy by sabotage of the railways, roads and bridges between Bordeaux and Toulouse. (16).
June 2 1944 Together with Durandel, Henri works with Gabriel Lapeyrusse to mobilize and unify all the patriots south of the Garonne under the overall leadership of Gabriel. The Bataillon Néracais is structured into 4 companies, a special unit with the mission of keeping the railroad closed in the Garonne valley, and a reserve unit. In total, over 3 000 fighters. (16).
End-June 1944 Becomes a member of the “Comité Départemental de la Résistance.” (4)
July 1944 Promoted to rank of “commandant” in the FFI (21)
August 1944 Participates, together with colonel Durandel in the negotiations for the transfer of the cadets of the Ecole Navale (the Naval Academy) to the Bataillon Néracais. (13)
In October, 1943, the Ecole Navale had been re-located to the Lot-et- Garonne.
Despite the reluctance of the officer in charge of the Academy, the negotiators, colonel Durandel and Henri Cahn, obtained the release of 250 cadets.
Although of minor importance, as the war was over in the Lot-et-Garonne, this incident again demonstrates Henri’s skill as a negotiator
April 1945 Volunteers to serve as medical officer in the town of Marmande until the end of the war. (8)
October 1945 Receives the Légion d’Honneur, with the rank of chevalier. (22)
June 1946 Receives the “Croix de Guerre avec palme.” (8)
October 3 1946 Receives the medal of the Résistance. (23).
1946-1952 Lives in Paris with his wife whom he had met in the maquis in 1944.
Studies for his French medical diploma (the third time after Germany and Switzerland), which was required to practice medicine in France.
April 2 1952 Receives his doctorate from the University of Paris.(24)
End 1951 Opens medical practice in the Marmande area.
February 1956 Left lung removed.
February 1, 1981 Retires from medical practice, due to ill health.
February 1982 Death, as the result of tuberculosis contracted in the war years.
SOURCES
1. Personal communication, E. Cahn, 2013
2. Demande de naturalization, 1945
3. Doctor of Medicine, University of Berne, Switzerland, 1938
4. La Résistance en Lot-et-Garonne, ANACR 47, 2013
5. Letter dated 10/21/1948
6. Certificat 47997 Ministère des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre 03/22/1948
7. Source to be verified
8. Etat signalétique et des services rendus, IV Région Militaire, Bureau de Recrutement de Poitiers, 1976
9. Attestation, Secrétaire d’Etat aux Forces Armées, 05/03/1950
10. Letter from Otto Cahn to Henri Cahn, 09/1942
11 Letter from Otto Cahn to Henri Cahn, 10/1942
12. Letter from Otto Cahn to Henri Cahn, 10/1942
13. Letter from Otto Cahn to Henri Cahn, 11/1942
14. Certificat Victime Civile Ministère des Anciens Combattants et Victimes de Guerre 1950
15. Personal communication, G. Charles, 2013.
16. Bataillon de Marche Néracais, not dated.
17. Mémoire de Proposition Pour la Légion d’Honneur, not dated.
18. Personal communication, R. Renaut, chief of the parachute reception group in the Bir Harkeim
maquis, 2013
19. Escape and Evasion Report, Lt.. Seidel and Lt. Nall, May 1944.
20. Escape and Evasion Report, F.O. Yeager, May 1944
21. Note from Colonel Ravanel, commander of FFI Region 4, 07/1944.
22. Décret du 16 octobre 1945 portant nomination dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur
23. Letter from the Grande Chancellerie de l’Ordre de Libération, 07/1976
24. Doctor of Medicine, University of Paris, 04/1952
by Ken Pope
c. GCYI
I love that reaction!
