MK-V radio transmitter-receiver

© Centre Régional « Résistance & Liberté »

Dating from 1942, this British-made radio transmitter-receiver belonged to one of the groups of the SR-Air Villon intelligence network, which operated in the Montpellier-Nîmes area. The network sought information about the German armed forces and passed it on to the Allies, who could then carry out attacks on the military targets identified. The messages were encrypted beforehand and sent in Morse code.

The operator of this apparatus was Gérard Hubière. Having trained before the war as an electrician and wireless operator at the Cachan air force training base, Hubière joined the SR-Air Villon network as a radio technician in August 1943.

Emblematic of the Resistance, underground communications with London or Algiers were extremely risky and Hubière would have had to take a series of precautions, such as transmitting for a limited time only, switching the frequency every few minutes and frequently changing location. For that reason, he had three hideouts across Montpellier from which he operated.

When moving between them, Hubière concealed the radio equipment in a suitcase and used a false identity, carrying papers in the name of Henri Grimal.

Although his leader, Pierre Pontal, was arrested on 4 June 1944, Gérard Hubière himself managed to escape capture.