Tom Morel Théodose Morel , known as Tom Morel ( born Lyon , 1 August 1915 - died Entremont , 10 March 1944 ) was a career military officer and French Resistance fighter . A student , then instructor , at the Saint - Cyr military academy , he fought for the French Army against the Italians in the Alps . After the Fall of France , he led the Maquis des Glières , organizing attacks and parachute drops , and was the recipient of multiple military awards including the Croix de Guerre . He was killed in action at the end of a successful commando raid . He is memorialized at Saint - Cyr and by the French scouting movement . Youth and military career . Morel was born into a family of the Lyon bourgeoisie . His father was the son of a Lyon silk industriaist and his mother was from a family of Savoie jurists and soldiers . He was well schooled by the Lyon Jesuits where he was a " Scout de France " and patrol leader ( 1st Lyon , externat St Joseph ) , and moved towards a military career . At the Versailles private school of Sainte - Geneviève took the trial for the Saint - Cyr military academy , in which he enrolled in 1935 ( promotion 1935 - 1937 " Maréchal Lyautey " ) . On finishing in 1935 he was appointed sub - lieutenant , and chose to be assigned to the 27th battalion de chasseurs alpins of Annecy . He then took high - altitude training at Chamonix and became leader of the " section d ' éclaireurs skieurs " ( SES ) , which he turned into a first - class fighting force . In November 1938 , he married a woman from Annecy , Marie - Germaine Lamy . In May 1939 , the 27th BCA was stationed on the Italian border , with Morel ' s SES just above Val d ' Isère . In September 1939 , while his battalion left for the Eastern front , the section commanded by Morel ( who had been promoted to lieutenant ) remained guarding the Italian border . After the Italians entered the war on 12 June 1940 , he distinguished himself in the battle of the Alps , decisively exploiting the success of one of his patrols to take five prisoners and seize important supplies . He was decorated with the " croix de Guerre " and obtained his first citation . Injured on June 18 , he remained at the head of his section . On 20 and 22 June he fought near the Petit - Saint - Bernard col where his action forced the Italian troops to withdraw . He received a second citation , then was made Knight of the " chevalier de la Légion d ’ honneur " . He was still only 24 years old . Morel then served in the Army of the Armistice at Annecy under commandant Vallette d ' Osia and participated in the sequestering of weapons and supplies . In 1941 he was appointed instructor at Saint - Cyr , which had moved to Aix - en - Provence in the " zone libre " . Here he quietly encouraged his pupils to join the French Resistance . Resistance and the Glières Plateau . After the invasion of the " zone libre " by the Germans in November 1942 , Tom Morel went underground , and joined the resistance in Haute - Savoie where he found his old commander , Vallette d ' Osia , organizer and head of the Armée Secrète ( AS ) for that department . He signed up , along with Vallette d ' Osia ' s old adjutant Captain Maurice Anjot , to organise the AS , whose numbers were multiplying after the February 1943 initiation of the STO , the scheme of obligatory labour in Germany . In September 1943 , Vallette d ' Osia was arrested by the Germans who had recently replaced the Italians in occupying Savoie . Vallette d ' Osia ' s successor was Captain Henri Romans - Petit , organiser and head of the AS in Ain . Romans - Petit appointed Morel head of the Maquis in the department , and gave him the task of organizing the receipt of allied parachute drops on the Glières Plateau . On 31 January 1944 , Morel occupied the plateau with 120 maquisards . By the end of February , he had approximately 300 men under his orders , whom he organized into three companies . Morel was distinguished by his talent as a leader and trainer of these men who had come from varied geographical , social and political backgrounds . He took up the doctrine of " live free or die " , and disciplined his battalion to turn it into unified and effective force in the fight for liberation . In February and March , numerous clashes occurred with the Groupe mobile de réserve ( GMR ) and with the Milice of the Vichy régime who were surrounding the plateau . On 2 March , Morel decided on commando operation against the Beau Séjour hotel at Saint - Jean - de - Sixt where the GMR were stationed . Thirty of them were taken prisoner . They had to provide currency in exchange for Michel Fournier , medical student and auxiliary doctor for the maquis , who had been arrested at le Grand - Bornand several days earlier . The prisoners were freed but , in spite of the agreement on the honour of the Annecy police intendent , Fournier was not released . Thereafter , the Maquis benefited from the arrival of 120 fighters from Chablais and Giffre . Morel decided to lead another operation , more significant and hazardous , against the staff of the GMR , " Aquitaine " , in Entremont at the foot of the Glières Plateau . Couret , officer of the peace and interim commandant of the GMR , had not performed his duties regarding the resistance , and his superior , commandant Lefebvre , who had arrived on 7 March , refused to speak to the Maquis . Over 100 men took part in the operation on the night of March 9 – 10 . One of the groups , commanded directly by Morel , succeeded in taking the hôtel de France where the GMR staff was based . The maquisards disarmed their prisoners , but Lefebvre pulled out a concealed gun , and fired on Morel at close range , shooting him directly in the heart . Morel collapsed dead . Lefebvre was killed immediately . Morel ' s body was brought up to the plateau where he was buried on 13 March after a moving religious ceremony . On 2 May , his body was brought down to the valley , and he remains buried today in the Morette military cemetery , now the Glières en Haute - Savoie national necropolis . Posterity . On 5 November 1944 , General Charles de Gaulle awarded Morel the posthumous title of " croix de la Libération " . The citation was as follows : The 174th promotion from the Saint - Cyr academy was named " Lieutenant Tom Morel " in his honor . Morel ' s personality was summarized by Pierre Golliet in the book " Glières - Haute - Savoie - Première bataille de la Résistance - 31 janvier - 26 mars 1944 " ( by Golliet , Pierre , Helfgott , Julien et Louis Jourdand 1946 ) : In October 1995 , the new dormitory of the Saint - Cyr military academy was named the Tom Morel building . The barracks of the 27e BCA carries the name of Tom Morel . Tom Morel is the father of Admiral Philippe Morel ( d . 22 June 2010 ) who was president of the Association of families of the " compagnons de la libération " and vice - président of the " Association des Glières " . Tom Morel ' s widow , Marie - Germaine Morel née Lamy , died 14 November 2010 . Both one of the Rover Crews of Paris of the UIGSE and the second troop of the Mouvement des Scouts Unitaires de France , Saint - Cloud group ( France , Hauts - de - Seine ) bears Morel ' s name .