As a teenager, Mr Cordier became the organizer of the action franchise, inspired by the far-right, royalist group. Charles Maurice (1868-1952), writer and politician who opposed the Republican government. Mr. Cordier became a secret admirer of fascist leaders in Europe, yet developed a passion that did not speak to the works of the hedonistic avant-garde writer. Andre Guide.

As an occupation of a wealthy family, Cordier divided his time between summer vacation at the Atlantic resort of Biarritz and winter skiing – a lifestyle that ended abruptly on September 3, 1939 with the declaration of war by France. Britain. The following June, German troops occupied Paris; Petine demanded an arsenal and established the Co-op Vichy government in southern France; De Gaulle asked his followers to continue the fight.

As the German army advanced south, Mr. Cഡിയrdier and a group of young French men boarded the Belgian cargo ship Leopold II. The captain agreed to take them to his ship. Stepfather. The ship was supposed to sail to North Africa, but it changed course at sea and reached Cornwall on the southwestern tip of England.

In London, de Gaulle received Mr Cordier and other fugitives. “I do not congratulate you for coming here: you have done your duty,” he said. Memoirs of Mr. Cordier. “When France is in distress, her children have a responsibility to save her.”

Mr. Cordier returned to France in July 1942 as an undercover operator as part of the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Operations. It is also known by the initials BCRA in French. The bureau operated with British support as the main channel between De Galle’s Free. French, individual defense groups.

Carrying the documents for the “Rex” in Lyon with a revolver and a knife, Mr. Cordier parachuted from a British plane and flew down the French countryside into a group of gorges.

Little did he know that Rex was Moulin, the viceroy of de Gaulle in occupied France. (He will never learn his true identity again.) Moulin, who received the papers, asked him, “How was your journey?” Asked for dinner. Moulin then hired him as a personal assistant.