Biography
The Liberation of Limoges (1944 - 1952)
On August 3rd 1944, Guingouin became departmental head of 4th Brigade of the FFI and began preparing the operation to liberate the city of Limoges from Nazi control. Earlier in the year, Guingouin had defied the party line to attack the city believing that such an attack would have proved too costly.
Guingouin understood that the head of Gestapo in Limoges had promised to execute all 2,863 Limousinaise prisoners before leaving the city. Nevertheless, Guingouin, at the head of 8,750 FTP fighters, augmented by British SOE agents, Spanish Republicans, other French Resistance units and, curiously, a number of defected ex-Red Army, anti-Stalinist, White Russian Liberationists, had already given orders to carry out an encircling movement around the city.
Faced by siege situation, Guingouin succeeded in obtaining the surrender of General Gleiniger, commander of the German garrison troops for the Limousin. However, Gleiniger's surrender was not accepted by the 19th Regiment of SS Police. One unit, aided by the peaceful entry of Guingouin's fighters into the city, took the opportunity to assassinate Gleiniger and escape towards Creuse, leaving the body of their former Garrison General in a rubbish pile at the cemetery in Guéret. It was not until the evening of August 21st that the remaining part of the garrison,12 officers and 350 men, finally surrendered the city of Limoges.
The City of Limoges had been liberated purely through the efforts of the French Forces of the Interior under the command of Guingouin. On his return to France and in recognition of the military exploits of the resistance fighters of the city, General de Gaulle, praised the city as the Capital of the Maquis.
Following the liberation of Limoges, 20,000 resistance fighters, in the Limousin, fell directly under the orders of Colonel Guingouin. But on November 20th 1944, Guingouin was seriously injured in a car accident and, as a result, was hospitalized until April 4th 1945.
In recognition of his popularity in the city, Guingouin was officially elected mayor of Limoges from 1945 until 1947 and then, having served his term, returned to teaching firstly at l'Aube and then successively at Montiéramey, Saint André les Vergers and Troyes.
However the man that General de Gaulle presented as "one of most influential figures of the Resistance" became the victim of a slanderous attack by two police officers who, under the Nazi occupation, had continued their personal assault of Guingouin's character albeit in vain.