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Marcel was a young boy he was on only six years old when he helped his dad in resistance during WWII.

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Marcel was born on April 12, 1938 in Valenciennes, France. He was the youngest of five children. His father, Eugene Pinte, was a local resistance leader. He was given the nickname “Quinquin” after a children’s song. "Marcel was happy to spend time in the woods with Resistance fighters, known as maquisards, learning about their clandestine methods." On the night of 19 August 1944 Marcel sadly passed away at age six.

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Marcel was a courier for local resistance fighters and worked mainly for his Dad. He also made a great messenger. "The Nazis didn’t question Marcel, who, because of his young age, avoided serious scrutiny. “With his school satchel on his back he didn’t raise suspicions,” said his relative. However, Marcel’s youth could be a concern too". Marcel was able to take away suspicion because of how he looked and nobody ever would have guessed a SIX year old boy would be able to help in resistance.

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What did Marcel's relatives say about him?

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What did Marcel's relatives say about him?

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"Marcel surprised people with his “astonishing” memory and was trusted to deliver messages to Resistance chiefs, which he hid under his shirt. “He understood everything at once,” Marc Pinte, grandson of Marcel’s father Eugène". and his grandma described him as, "an extremely happy, intelligent and brilliant brother, sparkling with mischief". Whenever Marc described Marcel he made Marcel sound like he wasn't like any other boy his age. His mind was capable of so much. When Marcels grandma describes Marcel you can tell that Marcel was a very bubbly six year old boy. All quoted from the source above.

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I have mixed feelings about the story of Marcel Pinte. I didn't think that any child, especially a child as young as six, should ever be used in a war situation. However, I have also never lived in a wartime situation.

Marcel was born on 12 April 1938 in Valenciennes, France. He was the youngest of five children. His father, Eugene Pinte, was a local resistance leader who used his farmhouse in Aixe-sur-Vienne to receive coded messages from London and coordinate parachute drops in a field nearby.

Young Marcel acted as a courier for local resistance fighters. He was given the nickname "Quinquin" after a children's song.

Marcel surprised people with his "astonishing" memory and was trusted to deliver messages to Resistance chiefs, which he hid under his shirt. "He understood everything at once," Marc Pinte, grandson of Marcel's father Eugène, told the AFP news agency.

He said Marcel was happy to spend time in the woods with Resistance fighters, known as maquisards, learning about their clandestine methods.

Eugène, his wife Paule and their five children hosted clandestine farmhouse meetings with Resistance fighters and even hid a British paratrooper in the loft, so it was a hive of activity at night.

Another relative, Alexandre Brémaud, spent years researching Marcel's story because the official records focused on the Resistance fighters and sabotage operations, rather than on the many helpers - often women and children - who also took risks to defeat the Nazi occupation.

Mr Brémaud told the BBC: "My grandmother described him as an extremely happy, intelligent and brilliant brother, sparkling with mischief".

Also, he made for a very able messenger. The Nazis didn't question Marcel, who, because of his young age, avoided serious scrutiny. "With his school satchel on his back he didn't raise suspicions," said his relative. However, Marcel's youth could be a concern too.

"There was a bit of carefree attitude because of his age," the French newspaper Le Figaro quoted a relative as saying. (and why wouldn't there be he was only 6)"A resident told his father to be careful because Marcel sometimes sang songs learned from fighters."

On the night of 19 August 1944 Marcel went with a group of maquisards, resistance fighters, to a parachute drop of munitions and other supplies. They had received a coded message via the BBC: "The forget-me-not is my favourite flower." They waiting to meet other guerillas arriving by parachute ahead of a battle. But when they landed, a Sten submachine gun accidentally went off. To the horror of everyone there, the spray of bullets struck and killed six-year-old Marcel Pinte.

Marcel was buried by local resistance fighters on 21 August shortly before the liberation of Limoges, in which his father participated. According to Marc Pinte, the next supply drop, a few days after Marcel's death, used black parachutes: "The British knew that the little Marcel played a real role. This parachute was the calling card sent to the family.

In 1950, Marcel was posthumously awarded the rank of sergeant of the resistance. In 2013, he posthumously received an official card for "volunteer combatants of the resistance" from the National Office of Former Combatants and War Victims.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54919375 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/11/france-pays-tribute-to-six-year-old-resistance-hero-marcel-pinte https://allthatsinteresting.com/resistance-fighters/8
Published by dirkdeklein

People call me a historian, but I am not, I do however, have a keen interest in History and particularly the human side of the Holocaust and World War 2. Other then that I love music and movies. View all posts by dirkdeklein

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Marcel Pinte-6 Year Old War Victim and Hero

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I have mixed feelings about the story of Marcel Pinte. I didn't think that any child, especially a child as young as six, should ever be used in a war situation. However, I have also never lived in a wartime situation. Marcel was born on 12 April 1938 in Valenciennes, France.

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"One night Marcel went with a group of maquisards to a parachute drop of munitions and other supplies. They had received a code message "The forget-me-not is my favourite flower. The rendezvous was at La Gaubertie and suddenly, as they were waiting, one of the men's Sten guns went off by accident, killing Marcel with several bullets". The way Mercel died was very sad, but it was also an accident. Marcel just wanted to go with them and return home. The first part happened the second part sadly did not. All quoted from the website listed above in the section "How Did Marcel Die"?

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The youngest hero of the French Resistance was just six years old - and finally the name Marcel Pinte has been inscribed on a memorial alongside those of other anti-Nazi fighters.

The boy, who carried messages for the Resistance, died tragically in August 1944, when one of the guerrillas' Sten guns went off by accident.

He was honoured on Armistice Day at a ceremony in Aixe-sur-Vienne, near the city of Limoges in central France.

His father was a Resistance leader.

Eugène Pinte, alias Athos, ran a Resistance network from the remote family farmhouse in La Gaubertie, a hamlet in the Aixe-sur-Vienne area.

What was Marcel's role?

The boy was a liaison agent, carrying secret messages and letters to surrounding farms.

"With his school satchel on his back he didn't raise suspicions," said Marc Pinte, grandson of Marcel's father Eugène.

Marcel surprised people with his "astonishing" memory and was trusted to deliver messages to Resistance chiefs, which he hid under his shirt. "He understood everything at once," Marc Pinte told the AFP news agency.

He said Marcel was happy to spend time in the woods with Resistance fighters, known as maquisards, learning about their clandestine methods.

Eugène, his wife Paule and their five children hosted clandestine farmhouse meetings with Resistance fighters and even hid a British paratrooper in the loft, so it was a hive of activity at night.

Another relative, Alexandre Brémaud, spent years researching Marcel's story, because the official records focused on the Resistance fighters and sabotage operations, rather than on the many helpers - often women and children - who also took risks to defeat the Nazi occupation.

Mr Brémaud told the BBC: "My grandmother described him as an extremely happy, intelligent and brilliant brother, sparkling with mischief".

Marcel was eager to play his part in the struggle against Nazi Germany - and he became an agent nicknamed "Quinquin", or "the little kid".

Mr Brémaud described how the boy would laugh as the clandestine radio operator, working from the family dining room, would pretend to swallow the cyanide pill he carried.

The farmhouse was "a hidden place and very difficult to access," and the guerrillas found it "practical and discreet", Mr Brémaud told AFP.

Marcel's role was eventually recognised by the French state. In 1950 he was posthumously awarded the rank of sergeant of the Resistance.

Then in 2013 the National Office of Former Combatants and War Victims issued him a posthumous official card for "volunteer combatants of the Resistance".

How did Marcel die?

As the Allies pushed down into France from their Normandy beach-head in the summer of 1944 the Resistance stepped up their operations against the Germans.

One night Marcel went with a group of maquisards to a parachute drop of munitions and other supplies. They had received a code message via the BBC: "The forget-me-not is my favourite flower."

The rendezvous was at La Gaubertie and suddenly, as they were waiting, one of the men's Sten guns went off by accident, killing Marcel with several bullets.

His death certificate was faked to keep the unit's existence secret.

Mr Brémaud says the British paid homage to Marcel by using black canvas parachutes in their next supply drop.

It was a note found by Mr Brémaud in the military archives in Vincennes which told Marcel's story, written by a French army officer. The wartime exploits of Marcel's father Eugène were already well known.

Marcel was buried in August 1944, just hours before the liberation of Limoges, "in the presence of numerous battalions - the coffin was covered with the tricolour flag," said Marc Pinte.

Eugène died in 1951, aged 49, and was buried next to his son in Aixe-sur-Vienne.

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France honours six-year-old WW2 Resistance agent

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The youngest hero of the French Resistance was just six years old - and finally the name Marcel Pinte has been inscribed on a memorial alongside those of other anti-Nazi fighters. The boy, who carried messages for the Resistance, died tragically in August 1944, when one of the guerrillas' Sten guns went off by accident.

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In 1950, Marcel was awarded the rank of sergeant of the resistance after his death. In 2013, he posthumously received an official card for “volunteer combatants of the resistance” from the National Office of Former Combatants and War Victims. Marcel was honored by France regarded as its youngest resistance hero.

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Why did people have concern with Marcel being the messenger?

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Why did people have concern with Marcel being the messenger?

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Marcel often sang songs that he had learned from other soldiers, so some of his dad's friends told his dad to be cautious about it. Marcel also was very lenient, but the main reason was because Marcel was only six years old.

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Often Eugène(Marcels dad), his wife Paule and their five children hosted secret farmhouse meetings with Resistance fighters and even hid a British paratrooper in the loft, so it was a hive of activity at night.