20 Facts About Alfred Touny

Alfred Touny was a French soldier, lawyer and businessman who became one of the leaders of the French Resistance during World War II.

Alfred Touny was arrested by the Gestapo towards the end of the war and shot.

Alfred Touny was born on 24 October 1886 in Paris, son of the Director of the Paris municipal police.

Alfred Touny studied at the Lycee Henri-IV in Paris, where he was a brilliant pupil, then attended the Ecole Speciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr.

Alfred Touny was made a sub-lieutenant and served in succession with the 11th, 9th and 1st Regiments of Cuirassiers.

Alfred Touny was appointed captain in 1917, and was awarded the Legion of Honour at the end of the war, with six citations.

Alfred Touny resigned from the army in 1920 and joined the bar of Paris.

Alfred Touny refused to accept defeat and in November 1940 began to establish contacts and seek information.

Alfred Touny soon met the industrialist Jacques Arthuys and helped him create the Organisation civile et militaire.

Arthuys and Heurtaux were arrested at the end of 1941, and Blocq-Mascart and Alfred Touny took over leadership of the OCM.

Alfred Touny personally recruited many agents covering the north and west of the occupied zone.

Alfred Touny organized communications through which the reports of the agents were collected and synthesized centrally.

In 1942 Alfred Touny met Gilbert Renault, alias Colonel Remy, founder of the Confrerie Notre-Dame network, through which OCM information was transmitted to the secret services of Free France, the Bureau Central de Renseignements et d'Action.

On 20 April 1942 Alfred Touny became a member of the Free French Forces, and with the support of the Confrerie Notre-Dame saw his network, which became the Centurie network, expand considerably.

Under the code name "Langlois", Alfred Touny sat on the Central Council of the Resistance and then the National Council of the Resistance as president of the military commission, where he helped realize the projects of General "Vidal", first head of the Armee secrete in the northern zone.

Alfred Touny maintained contacts between the regional leaders of the AS and the regional military delegates sent to London.

Alfred Touny was arrested at his home in Paris on 25 February 1944 and taken to Gestapo headquarters on Avenue Foch.

Alfred Touny's body was found and identified in January 1945, and returned to Paris on 11 November 1945, where he was chosen to represent the men of the Resistance who had been killed by the enemy, among 15 French heroes taken solemnly to the Dome des Invalides in Paris, then to the Arc de Triomphe, before being buried at Fort Mont-Valerien.

Alfred Touny's body is entombed in the crypt of the Memorial de la France combattante at Mont-Valerien.

Alfred Touny was decorated for his service in both World Wars.