Operation Grock

Following operations Dingson and Samwest (carried out from the night of 5-6 June 1944 by the commandos of the 4th Battalion of the French Special Air Service (SAS) and aiming to coordinate resistance actions in Brittany), the Germans gradually managed to destroy the French armed groups (in particular the one born thanks to Operation Samwest, destroyed on 12 June 1944) which converged towards the maquis of Saint-Marcel. A week after the beginning of these operations, the resistance fighters were scattered, hunted down and a good number of them could not join the maquis.

In order to maintain the continuity of resistance actions with the survivors of Operation Samwest, and to reinforce the Saint-Marcel forces in numbers and resources, the French S.A.S. launched Operation Grock, commanded by Captain Deplante, on June 13, 1944. Arms and ammunition parachuted from the Samwest and Dingson bases were now dropped without a fixed base. From then on, elements were collected near Pontivy (under the responsibility of Captain Leblond until July 1944, who was also responsible for the military training and equipment of new recruits joining the ranks of the Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur, or F.F.I.). Operation Grock lasted until the general uprising in August 1944, following the American breakthrough at Avranches.