Civilian restistance in WW1

[Buck_Godot]

Given that that there was a significant amount of Belgium and France behind German lines in WW1, I would imagine that there would have been a resistance movement in these areas to sabotage the German war effort. Yet in spite of all I have heard of the resistance French resistance movement in WW2, I’ve heard nothing about such a movement in WW1.

Was there such a movement? If so what did they do and why haven’t I heard of their activities. If not, why not?

[Jackmannii]

@Buck_Godot

Was there such a movement? If so what did they do and why haven’t I heard of their activities. If not, why not?

Given that there was such a vicious German response to false rumors of partisan activities early in the war, it wouldn’t surprise me that it didn’t develop on a significant scale.

I never heard of any country in WWI actively encouraging guerrilla fighting in its behalf, possibly due to contempt for civilians engaging in war. This obviously changed radically during WWII.

[Slithy_Tove]

There was active guerrilla resistance in Serbia, and incredibly beastial reprisals by the Austro-Hungarians.

[lisiate]

As Jackmannii says the German Army brutally cowed the occupied territories right from the start.

From a review of a book on the topic:

The first two chapters of the book effectively refute the franc-tireur thesis. Based on an array of primary and secondary sources, Horne and Kramer demonstrate that the German Army faced no irregular forces in Belgium and France during the first two and a half months of WWI. Nonetheless, German troops were involved in 129 “major” incidents–where ten or more civilians were killed–and 383 “minor” incidents with less than ten civilian casualties; almost all attributed by Germany to franc-tireur combat. The three most devastating massacres occurred in the Belgian towns of Dinant, Tamines, and Louvain. In Dinant, 674 civilians were killed, of whom 137 were murdered in a mass execution; in Tamines 383 civilians were murdered, 269 in a mass execution; and in the renowned university town of Louvain, 248 civilians were killed and the university library, with its vast and rare collection, deliberately set on fire. All in all, the German Army intentionally destroyed 15,000-20,000 buildings, used human-shields in hundreds of cases–particularly during bridge crossings–and generated a refugee wave of over a million people. As Horne and Kramer emphasize, this brutality was not the work of a few stray units: “over 150 regiments out of some 300 are known to have participated in major incidents, and many more in minor ones” (p. 76).

[vontsira]

Assuming that the OP is not thinking purely in terms of civilians taking up arms: I understand (can’t give much in the way of citation) that in occupied Belgium in World War I, a very considerable amount of non-violent resistance activity took place. This was, largely, in the shape of gathering intelligence about German movements and doings, and secretly passing same to the Allies; and getting Allied military personnel trapped in Belgium out, and back to their own countries, usually via neutral Holland. The British nurse Edith Cavell, executed in Brussels on October 12th 1915 for anti-German activities, was – in partnership with Belgian resistance workers – engaged in thus facilitating the escape of Allied servicemen.

There’s a book, The Secrets of Rue St. Roch, by Janet Morgan – an account among other things, of WWI pro-Allied intelligence work by citizens of German-occupied Luxembourg, involving observing rail-traffic movements connected with German army activity, and secretly transmitting information obtained, to the Allied side. I personally found the book, largely dull and trite, and overall a tedious read; but some of the subject matter is interesting, especially if one is intrigued by the workings of “spy-craft”.