Date of birth:

August 25th, 1899 (Paris, France)

Date of death:

July 28th, 1977 (Paris, Ve, France)

Nationality:

French

He participated in the war of 14/18 in the artillery from April 1917 until the armistice and was cited.

Mobilized in 1939, he took part in the French campaign and retired to the Creuse in June 1940.

Demobilized, he moved to the southern zone, at Mont Dore, where he found his family. From the beginning of 1941, he tried in vain to reach London.

At the beginning of 1942 he settled in Nice and looked again on the Côte d'Azur for a way to leave for England. In May, through his former regimental comrade René Lefebvre, he met Emmanuel d'Astier de la Vigerie who enlisted him in the "Liberation" movement.

Quickly, Jean-Louis Chancel made a certain number of important connections for the movement, but the activities of the movement, which were too "political" and not sufficiently military in his eyes, did not satisfy him.

In September 1942, he became Deputy Commander Rewez, alias Jacques Robert, charged by London with creating a military intelligence network in the southern zone. From that date, he devoted himself entirely to the creation and management of the "Phratrie" intelligence network, dependent on the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Action (BCRA), the Gaullist secret services.

Arrested in April 1943 in Nice at the same time as Rewez, he was released thanks to his presence of mind and immediately organized his leader's escape, which was successful after three attempts. Rewez, completely "burned", sends Chancel, alias Chavagnac, in connection with London in May 1943 so that this one takes his place at the head of "Phratrie" on his return to France.

In June 1943, Chancel, returned from London by an air operation, effectively replaced Rewez in the management of the network, which he continued to develop from then on, both in the southern and northern zones.

His cover was blown in turn, tracked down by the Gestapo, he joined England in March 1944 after having in turn left the network in the hands of his first deputy, Antoine Masurel, alias Marc. On this date, the "Phratrie" network has acquired such importance that it is subdivided into eight independent networks.

When he arrived in London, Chancel took command of the "R" (Intelligence) section of the BCRA, where by his intelligent and experienced action, he came to the aid of his comrades who remained in France in an efficient manner.

Back in France a few days after the liberation of Paris, he was sent on a mission to Sweden, Morocco and then Germany to deal with the recovery of political prisoners. He ended the war with the rank of lieutenant-colonel FFI before resuming his profession as a painter-decorator.

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• - Jean-Louis CHANCEL | L'Ordre de la Libération et son Musée