Charles Tillon

Charles Joseph Tillon (3 July 1897 – 13 January 1993) was a French metal worker, Communist, trade union leader, politician and leader of the French Resistance during World War II (1939–1945). Tillon was born into a working-class family and trained as a metal worker. During World War I (1914–18) he was conscripted into the navy. He was a leader in a naval mutiny in 1919, and was sentenced to five years hard labor. Released after two years, he returned to factory work. He became active in the French Communist Party and in the trade union movement, rising to senior positions in both. In 1936, he was elected a Deputy in the National Legislature. He lost this position when the Communist Party was outlawed early in 1940, and went underground. After the German occupation of France in June 1940, Tillon became one of the three leaders of the Communist Party and head of the Communist armed Resistance forces. Following the war he was again elected a deputy, and between 1944 and 1946 was in turn Minister of Air, Minister of Armaments, and Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning.