The Corps Franc Pommiès (CFP) was founded on 17 November 1942 by its namesake, André Pommiès. It operated in south-western France, becoming one of the largest and most important Resistance units in the south. After initial work in the sabotage of rail and road networks, factories and power plants, on 15 April 1944 it sabotaged the Hispano-Suiza factory in Soues in the Hautes-Pyrénées, forestalling Allied bombing of the factory and the inevitable collateral damage.

This was no small, covert cell: the CFP mobilized some 12,000 combatants to support the D-Day landings. Its harassment of the Gestapo, the fascist Milice, and other Occupation forces turned the area around Toulouse into a no man’s land for the Nazis. The CFP linked up with the newly formed French 1st Army during the advance into central France and fought in the brutal campaign to liberate Alsace. It participated in the Rhine crossings, the march on Stuttgart, and the French occupation of Germany, becoming the first French regiment to occupy Berlin. Their story is brought to life in this book, the first in the English language to record their heroic deeds.

Cambridge graduate Paul StJohn Mackintosh is a British author and editor living in France. He has contributed extensively to historical reference works such as 'The Plantagenet Encyclopedia', and to the 'Los Angeles Review of Books', ''Teleread', 'Financial Times', the UK 'Independent', the 'Times Literary Supplement', and other periodicals and websites. For Amberley he is the author of 'The Liberation of Strasbourg 1944'.