This Monday, November 18, France Bleu Lorraine looks at the liberation of Metz, in November 1944. Thomas Jeangeorge focuses here on the role of the resistance fighter Jean Denis. He collected a lot of intelligence for the American army.
” 80 years since the liberation of Metz ” are in the spotlight, this Monday, on France Bleu Lorraine! on November 22, 1944, after more than four years of Nazi annexation, American soldiers chased the German army from the Moselle capital. Fights in which the Moselle resistance. In its ranks, a certain Jean Deniswho carried out an incredible reconnaissance and intelligence mission.
Find out how Metz was defended by the Germans
This native of the Pays Haut, injured during the fighting of June 40, joined the resistance in August 41. Three years later, in October 44, the Americans ordered him to cross enemy lines, to enter Metz, to obtain information precise on the German defense.
With two of his comrades, Noblesse and Gornik, Jean Denis set off on the night of October 23 from a US outpost, north of Mondelange. After many alerts and adventures, the commando arrived the next day, in Metz, at number 26 rue des Trois évêchés, at the home of a certain Madame Louis, who was going to hide them during their mission.
For two weeks, the 3 resistance fighters will establish precise plans of minefields, anti-tank pits, and German artillery batteries. At the end of October, Noblesse and Gornik returned to the American army, but during their swim across the Moselle, they lost part of this precious information and once on the other bank, one of the two was seriously injured. injured by the explosion of an anti-personnel mine.
The 26-year-old resistance fighter will continue his reconnaissance mission. But while listening to Radio Londres, he heard the following message at the beginning of November: ” Arsène to Jean, we have arrived safely! Please return immediately ! “. Allied HQ needs his information.
The Moselle, the Mirabelle and some well-felt lies
On the night of November 6 to 7, with 3 other Metz resistance fighters, Jean Denis left Metz. The quartet boards an old boat which is taking on water. After several hours of navigation on the Moselle, the commando arrives at the Argancy dam. Then he stops at a stable in Hauconcourt, where, soaking wet and suffering from the cold, Jean Denis goes to warm himself by hugging a horse.
In Talange, unfortunately, they were stopped by a German patrol. Jean Denis then launches into a hell of an actor’s act. He first explains to his jailers that he and his acolytes are ” shelter “, Moselle civilians requisitioned by the Wehrmacht to carry out earthworks and that they got lost. Then after two or three swigs of mirabelle plum brandy, they confessed to the German soldiers that he had lied to them that they are in fact simple volunteer workers who fled from Germany to join their families in France.
The Nazi officer buys his lies and decides to let them leave, on the only condition that they do not give their positions to the American soldiers. A few hours later, Jean Denis and the 3 other resistance fighters returned to the Allied lines. He then delivers his information and the staff of General Walker, whose troops will liberate Metz a few days later, will warmly thank him.
A few weeks later, Jean Denis was assigned to Morhange, as garrison major and he left the army, a year and a half later in April 1946. Jean Denis died in January 2022 at the age of 103.
Le Souvenir Français de Metz will organize this Tuesday, November 19, at 10 a.m., a tribute to the Metz resistance fighter Jeanne Louisat 26 rue des trois evêchés. This is where Jean Denis had been hidden during his incredible reconnaissance mission in October and November 1944.
