Archives of Ivan Gérard
- Access and consultation : The fonds of General Ivan Gérard can be accessed during the opening hours of the reading room. Its content is freely accessible. Reservation.
- Reproduction: The content of the fonds can be reproduced freely in our reading room. For any information about requests for a document reproduction carried out by CegeSoma staff can be found here.
- Research instruments: Inventory AA694
Archive fonds description:
Archives of General Ivan Gerard: Campaign of 1940, interior troops 1944, Belgian liaison mission 1945
The archives of Lieutenant General Gérard were handed over to CegeSoma in 1969 by his wife. The are sorted mainly on chronological order. It is composed of three parts. The first part bears on the 12th Regiment of the Line during the offensive of 1940, the second part documents the first months after the Liberation and the creation of interior troops, and the last part is a collection of archives dating until November 1945 about the role of the military liaison service. Despite the richness and importance of this archive holding, it contains no document about the period in which Lieutenant General Gérard commanded the Secret Army – that is to say from April 1943 to March 1944.
Ivan Gérard fought in the Battle of Belgium as Lieutenant Colonel of the 12th Regiment of the Line. He was made a prisoner and only left captivity in summer 1942. He then joined the underground resistance and became leader of the Secret Army in Liège in November 1942. In April 1943, he succeeded Colonel Bastin at the head of the Secret Army. On 15 March 1944, he was replaced by General Pire and left for London. He came back to Belgium a few months later, in September 1944. On 3 September, he was also charged with the coordination of the “interior troops” on behalf of the Allies and the Belgian government. This meant that he coordinated the actions of the different resistance groups operating and recruiting in Belgium, and therefore played a key role during the Liberation. His command was lifted on 8 December. He continued to be active in the Belgian military however, taking the lead of the liaison service that was among others in charge of safeguarding Belgian interests in Germany.
For more information:
- Bernard Henri, La Résistance 1940-1945, Bruxelles : La Renaissance du Livre, 1969.
- Le livre d’or de la résistance en Belgique, Bruxelles : M.D.N., 1948.
- Marquet, Victor, Contribution à l’histoire de l’Armée secrète 1940-1944, Bruxelles, Pygmalion/Union des Fraternelles de l’Armée secrète, 6 fasc., 1991-1995.
- Maerten, Fabrice, Papy était-il un héros ? Sur les traces des hommes et des femmes dans la résistance pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Bruxelles : Racine, 2020.