France loses its last female Resistance commander at 104

Solange Alexandre, a French Resistance commander who died on Monday, was one of the few women to lead an independent armed unit against the German occupation during World War II.

Born in 1922 in the Sarthe department, Alexandre began her service in 1941 as a courier. Three years later, she established the Pas-de-Boeuf network near Ruillé-sur-Loir. The group operated in the forested hills and included roughly 30 men. Members were a mix of deserters from German labor programs, survivors from a destroyed unit, and two Allied airmen, one American and one Canadian.

Alexandre, who used the code name Corlay, coordinated sabotage missions and hid downed pilots. She fought in the liberation of Tours in September 1944. At the war's end, she held the rank of sub-lieutenant in the French Interior Forces. Her memoirs state that she joined the resistance after hearing General Charles de Gaulle's radio appeal in June 1940. She was recruited by Saïd Belhaffaf, a Tunisian-born veteran of the French army.

President Emmanuel Macron announced her death from a nursing home in Le Mans. He described her duty as synonymous with French freedom. "She said she only ever did her duty. But her duty was our freedom. France will never forget. Thank you," Macron wrote on social media.

Alexandre met her first husband, Guy Déliot, in 1943. He had left the gendarmerie after refusing to arrest Jewish people. The couple lived in the maquis to evade capture. Alexandre recalled escaping Gestapo searches twice. She later worked as a teacher and moved to French overseas territories with her husband. Déliot died in Martinique in 1960. She remarried in 1981.

She declined the Légion d'Honneur twice, claiming others were more deserving. She accepted the award in 2024. Upon receiving it, she noted the distinction was a source of pride despite her advanced age.

The historian of the region notes that her unit's survival depended on local farmers providing food. The network's base was located in the hills near Le Mans. Alexandre's bicycle was her primary vehicle for gathering intelligence. She stated in a recent interview that the bicycle was essential due to a lack of petrol for cars.