Eugène Deloncle

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Eugène Deloncle
Eugène Deloncle vers 1940.jpg
Deloncle c. 1940
Born(1890-06-20)20 June 1890
Brest, France
Died17 January 1944(1944-01-17) (aged 53)
Paris
NationalityFrench
OccupationPolitician
Naval engineer
Known forFounder of La Cagoule
Spouse(s)Mercedes Cahier
Parent(s)
  • Louis Deloncle[1] (father)
RelativesFrançois Deloncle (uncle)
AwardsLegion of Honour (Knight)

Eugène Deloncle (20 June 1890 – 17 January 1944) was a French politician and Fascist leader, who founded of the “Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action" (CSAR), known as "The Hood" (la Cagoule), and became a prominent nazi-collaborator during World War II.

Biography[]

Early years[]

Antoine, Octave, Eugène was born in 20 June 1890 in Brest, Brittany, France; his parents were Antoine Charles Louis Deloncle and Anna Ange Marie née Grossetti.[2] Eugène Deloncle was a graduate of the École Polytechnique, and worked as a naval engineer for the French Navy. He married Mercedes Cahier on 4 February 1918 in Paris.

World War I[]

Deloncle served as an artillery officer during World War I, including the Champagne frontline, where he was wounded.

1930s Political Activity[]

Initially supportive of the integralist Action Française, he left the movement in 1935, due to the perception of inaction by older organisations in combating the French left. Deloncle founded his own group, the Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire (CSAR), with similar political goals . This new group was also known by the pseudonym of "The Hood" (La Cagoule), a term first-applied by Chalres Maurras and Maurise Pujo of Action Française, as the group's tactics reminded them of the American Klu Klux Klan, and the name was subsequently was embraced by the press.[3] "The Hood" was a fascist and anti-communist terrorist group that kept the Orleanist and strongly anti-republican line of the Action Française, but added the rhetoric of Fascism. "The Hood" was formed to overthrow the leftist Popular Front government of Léon Blum and in the 1930s was responsible for assassinations, including the assassination of the Rosselli brothers assignation (anti-Fascist refugees from Italy),[3] and terrorist attacks, including the bombing of several Paris synagogues.

World War II[]

In 1940, with the Fall of France during World War II and the German period of occupation, Deloncle created a movement backing Vichy France and Philippe Pétain, the Mouvement Social Révolutionnaire (MSR, Social Revolutionary Movement). MSR, a more radical form of the Cagoule, strongly supported Pétain's traditionalism, as well as the political experiment engineered in Southern France. Afterwards, he approached the National Popular Rally (RNP) of Marcel Déat, but conflicts with the latter got him expelled in May 1942, when he was succeeded as leader by Jean Fontenoy.[4]

Death[]

Deloncle's involvement with the Abwehr made him an enemy of the Gestapo. Ater plotting with the Abwehr against Hitler he was shot by the Gestapo in 17 January 1944,[5] in an Assassination in which his son (Louis) was seriously wounded.

Awards[]

On 16 June 1920, Deloncle was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honour.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ Le Monde illustré.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Nationales & DELONCLE Antoine Octave Eugène.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Gordon, Bertram M. (1975). "The Condottieri Of The Collaboration Mouvement Social Révolutionaire". Journal of Contemporary History. 2. Sage Publications, Inc. 10 (2): 261–282. doi:10.1177/002200947501000203. JSTOR 260147. S2CID 143694710. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  4. ^ Littlejohn, David (1972). The Patriotic Traitors: A History of Collaboration in German-occupied Europe, 1940-45. Heinemann. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-434-42725-3. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021.
  5. ^ Jackson, J. (2003). France: The Dark Years, 1940-1944. Oxford University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-19-925457-6. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021.

Sources[]

  • "Le Monde illustré". Gallica (in French). Le Commandant Louis Deloncle. 16 July 1898.CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Nationales, Archives; DELONCLE Antoine Octave Eugène. "Archives nationales". Léonore database (in French).
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