Defying Vichy: British agents and the French Resistance in South-West France
Dr Robert Pike
- Region:
- Anywhere
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Professional
- Fee:
- Paid: Starting at £60 + expenses
- Category:
- History
- Updated:
- 27th July 2026
- Tagged:
- French Resistance | World War 2 | World War 2 / Spies | Second World War
A talk about my research on agents sent by Special Operations Executive (SOE) F-section to South West France. Now a major book.
"Using the pioneer work of local French historians in tracking down ex-Resisters, and doing his own interviews, Robert Pike has produced a book on the largely rural Dordogne full of specific names and places and pulsating with action and detailed stories." Professor Rod Kedward, Author of La Vie en Bleu. France and the French since 1900, and In Search of the Maquis, Rural Resistance in Southern France 1942-1944.
"By focusing on a single area of France - the Dordogne - Robert Pike has not only produced a meticulously researched and valuable contribution to the history of the German occupation, but a reminder of how courageously and selflessly many ordinary French men and women behaved" Caroline Moorehead, author of Village of Secrets and A Train in Winter
Views: 1038 | Enquiries: 4About Dr Robert Pike
Dr Robert Pike gained a PhD at Cardiff University in 2026. His thesis is on the social history of the rural French Resistance in central and southern France. He graduated from the University of Exeter in 1998 with a BA Hons. in History and French. He also holds an MSc in Social Science Research Methods, and a PGCE in modern languages at secondary level. He wrote his first book, Defying Vichy, after interviewing former members of the French Resistance in Dordogne, a French département very close to his heart. His second book, Silent Village, tells the story of the tragedy at Oradour-sur-Glane, France's biggest wartime massacre. 643 men, women, and children were killed on a single day on 10 June 1944 by the SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" and the book recounts the history of the village during the occupation period. It reconstructs the events of that fateful day, and the unreported events of the days that followed. First published in April 2021 a third edition was published in May 2024 in time for the 80th anniversary of the massacre, alongside a French edition titled Oradour s'est'tu (Flammarion, 2024).
Robert teaches as an Associate Lecturer at Worcester University. He has written for History Today and BBC Magazine, and contributed to The Telegraph, The Daily Mail (UK), The Washington Post, and the New York Times (US). His work on Oradour-sur-Glane has led to television appearances on France 2 and M6. He has given conferences in Limoges and Oradour-sur-Glane, and many venues in the UK including the Gloucester History Festival. He has also contributed papers to conferences about the French Resistance at Oxford University and Cardiff University.
Robert lives in Worcestershire with his wife and two children.
www.robertpike.co.uk
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