Resistance fighter René Duclos’s PTT jacket now belongs to the museum

René Duclos, a discreet courier from Coutances, is spotted by the Resistance

Born in 1899 and a veteran of the Great War, René Duclos lives in Coutances. In 1939, he was mobilized again and left for Cherbourg, where he was taken prisoner in June 1940, when the Germans arrived. Along with several comrades, he managed to evade the occupying forces and returned to Coutances, where he was finally demobilized. He then returned to work for the Post Office, as a PTT courier-convoyeur on railway lines. He was assigned to the “allège postale”, a car without compartments where bags of mail from post offices close to stations were stored and sorted. Parcels and letters are received at each station stop, with the wagon acting as a mobile post office on the Lamballe-Coutances, Coutances-Lison-Caen and Coutances-Cherbourg routes. Alone in his post office on rails, René Duclos was soon seen as a potential agent of interest by members of the Resistance.

The resistance fighter becomes Hyppolite 323 and joins the Centurie

In December 1940 or early 1941, in Lison, he was approached and recruited by Gaston Picot, of Neuilly-la-Forêt, as a P2 agent in the Centurie network, on behalf of the Civil and Military Organization. Henceforth known by the pseudonym “Hyppolite 323”, his mission was to gather intelligence and circulate mail between members of the network as he traveled. His sphere of action covered North Brittany, La Manche and part of Calvados. From the end of 1942, with the introduction of the STO (Service de Travail Obligatoire), René Duclos also circulated false papers, collected in the Saint-Louis region thanks to OCM members present at the Préfecture de la Manche, for the benefit of young draft dodgers in the Coutances region. On several occasions, René Duclos also passed on information to two Coutances railwaymen, members of the “Front National Francs-Tireurs et Partisans” network, but without ever disclosing his involvement. Arrested in July 1942 during a major roundup of Communist resistance groups in Coutance, the two men disappeared, but did not turn in their PTT informer. Finally, on many occasions, René Duclos took in SOE (Special Operation Executive) agents on mission in France, without telling his wife or daughter. They wore the uniforms of railwaymen or letter carriers, but spoke very little, to avoid revealing their English origin.

A delicate task: intercepting mail destined for the Feldkommandantur

But the most complex task René Duclos has to perform is intercepting mail from private individuals destined for the Feldkommandantur or local annexes. There are letters often filled with denunciations or information likely to help the Germans, in particular in their fight against resistance (possession of weapons, anti-German activity, listening to the English radio, Gaullist remarks, etc.). This work required time and prudence, some letters being simply destroyed, others going back to the OCM members of the Prefecture who falsified them and put them back in circuit, having however warned the people concerned beforehand! In this task, he is frequently assisted by another postman from Coutance, recently hired.

Winter 44, time for reckoning

René Duclos, who had managed to slip through the net, witnessed the bombing and destruction of Coutances, then the liberation of the town. End July 1944, the resisting to resume contact with the OCM which designates it as member of the Departmental Committee of the Liberation, as well as juré holder to the Court of Justice of the Manche. He sat in Coutances from the winter of 1944, judging cases of collaboration, denunciations and so on. René Duclos was soon awarded the title of “Voluntary Resistance Combatant” by the departmental veterans’ service.

Thank you.

Donations from individuals help keep the museum alive. Whether it’s the wishes of the deceased or the desire of their descendants not to forget. They all have the same origin: the duty to remember. So that we don’t forget, so that we understand what happened, so that it doesn’t happen again. We would like to thank the family of René Duclos for this donation.

The museum showcases many of the objects that have been donated to us, and are displayed alongside the rich collections built up by its founders. To discover them, we invite you to visit the Normandy Victory Museum in Carentan, La Manche.