France’s last Resistance hero, Hubert Germain, dies at 101

The last surviving French Resistance fighter awarded the highest bravery order by Charles de Gaulle for his World War II exploits has died aged 101.

Hubert Germain at the Hotel des Invalides in Paris last November. Picture: AFP

The last surviving French Resistance fighter awarded the highest bravery order by Charles de Gaulle for his World War II exploits has died aged 101.

The death of Hubert Germain marks a sobering point in a chapter in French history that saw the country capitulate to Nazi forces in 1940, occupied but then liber­ated four years later with the help of resistance fighters inspired by de Gaulle.

“I want to inform you that ­Hubert Germain, the last surviving member of the Order of the Liberation, has died,” Defence Minister Florence Parly said. “It’s an important moment in our history.”

President Emmanuel Macron “bows down in front of the life of this figurehead of Free France,” the Elysee Palace said.

Germain was among 1038 decorated with the Order of the Liberation for their heroism by de Gaulle, the Resistance leader and later president of France.

Shocked by French collaborationist leader Philippe Petain’s call to lay down arms against the Germans, Germain was inspired by de Gaulle’s call for resistance on June 18, 1940, made from BBC studios in London.

As a member of the French Free Forces and the Foreign ­Legion, Germain took part in key battles at Bir-Hakeim in Libya, at El Alamein in Egypt, and in Tunisia.

He also took part in the decisive French-led assault on Mediterranean beaches in August 1944, setting foot on home soil for the first time in years.

He fought for the liberation of the southern city of Toulon, the Rhone Valley and Lyon in central France, moving to the Vosges mountains and Alsace in the east, and ended the war in the southern Alps.

Charles de Gaulle and Germain, right, in Tunis in 1943. Picture: AFP

Of the Resistance heroes honoured by de Gaulle, a third died in combat, while 80 per cent of the survivors were wounded in action.

Of the last three survivors, ­Edgard Tupet-Thome died aged 100 in September last year and Daniel Cordier died, also aged 100, last November.

In his last public appearance, Germain met Mr Macron in June at Mont Valerien, the hilltop fortress west of Paris where German forces executed more than 1000 captured fighters and hostages.

Germain was helped from his wheelchair to accept a red sash from Mr Macron, who kissed him on both cheeks. Germain then ­saluted the President before putting on his military cap.

“Hubert Germain, the last of the 1038 members of the Order of the Liberation, is dead,” Mr Macron tweeted.

“Mont Valerien will welcome the body of a man who was a ­resistant from the very beginning, a hero of Bir-Hakeim and the Provence landings, who reconquered our freedom and rebuilt our homeland.”

AFP