Jeanne Bohec

Jeanne Bohec (born 16 February 1919 in Tourlaville in Normandy; died 11 January 2010) was a French Resistance fighter.

After enlisting in the Women's Volunteer Corps of the Free French Forces, she joined the Central Intelligence and Action Bureau and learned sabotage techniques. She parachuted into occupied France in February 1944 and then conducted her work in the resistance by criss-crossing Brittany by bicycle; hence, her nickname “the bomber on a bicycle”. She trained teams of saboteurs, organized and took part in several sabotage operations and participated in the liberation of France.

After the war, she became a professor of mathematics and deputy mayor of the 18th arrondissement of Paris. She wrote a book describing her involvement in the Resistance: La Plastiqueuse à bicyclette (The Bomber on a Bicycle).

On 10 April 1975 Jacques Chaban-Delmas stated: "At a time when the equivalence between women and men is the subject of many speeches or is the subject of many measures, Jeanne Bohec provides striking proof that women are quite capable of attaining a degree of courage, determination and efficiency accessible to few men."

Early life Jeanne Bohec was born in 1919 in Tourlaville in Normandy.

Nazi invasion and occupation

Brest In March 1940, she accepted a job offer to be a chemist's assistant at the Moulin-Blanc explosives factory in Brest. This job did not last long. At the beginning of June 1940, defeatist attitudes were gaining ground. To a colleague who asserted that the Germans could no longer be stopped, Bohec replied: “I will not stay here to work with them, I will go to England. I will find a boat”.

Departure for Great Britain According to Bohec's memoire, “18 June 1940 began like any other day.”

Bohec joined the Women's Volunteer Corps of the Free French Forces in January 1941. She worked first as a secretary to the technical and armament office at Carlton Gardens.

Parachuting into occupied France On the night of 29 February 1944 Bohec (alias "Rateau" and later "Micheline") boarded a Halifax of RAF No. 138 Squadron and jumped onto the clandestine airfield "Ouragan", near Assé-le -Boisne, in the Alençon region. She was one of a total of five women parachuted into France. She was received there by Jean-François Clouët des Pesruches (alias "Galilée"), head of the Air Operations Office for the western region. He had been informed of her arrival by a broadcast message from Radio London; "The coiling boa will bring you a little one".

On 8 March Bohec got off a train at Questembert station in the Morbihan. Her mission was clear: she was to provide training in the handling of explosives to the resistance fighters who were to enter into action after the launch of so-called 'Green Plan'. The 'Green Plan' called on the Resistance to sabotage railway tracks and communications during and after the D-Day landing in order to hinder Germans troop movements to Normandy.

For several weeks, Bohec criss-crossed the French countryside on a bicycle arousing little suspicion among the Occupation forces. In addition to the explosives training that she gave to Resistance fighters, she actively participated in sabotage operations. On 7 May 1944 she blew up an 11-meter rail near the Roc Saint-André station in the Morbihan. On the evening of 18 June the resistance stronghold where she was staying was attacked by German troops. She managed to flee to Quimper and she actively contributed to the liberation of the city on 8 August. but she was not allowed to bear arms. She regretted not being to fight during the final phases of the liberation of France. thumb

Après-guerre After the war, Bohec was decorated with the Legion of Honor, the Croix de guerre and the Resistance medal. She finished her studies and worked until 1980 as a mathematics teacher at the Roland Dorgelès college in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. From 1975 to 1983, she was deputy mayor of this arrondissement, where she lived on the Avenue Junot, in Montmartre. She died on 11 January 2010, and is buried in Plestin-les-Grèves.