Albert de Lima fought in the resistance after the invasion of France by the German troops in 1940.

In 1942 - with 19 years old -  he was captured by the Nazis and executed by firing squad.

During his youth, he was active in the French communist youth organizations, and shortly after the occupation he joined the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans Français (FTPF), the resistance organization created by the French Communist Party.

Lima took part in several sabotage operations. After an attack on a police officer, during the night of 11 to 12 August 1942, he was arrested by the French authorities and handed over to the Germans on the 13th along with other comrades-in-arms. He was tried on 22 October and accused of armed robbery, complicity in acts of sabotage, and communist activity.

He was executed by firing squad on 3 November 1942 at the Citadel of Arras, where he was being held.

Albert de Lima’s father — José de Lima — had been born in Lamego, Portugal, on 16 January 1895. During the First World War, he was mobilized into the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (CEP) and fought in the trenches of Flanders and France. After leaving the CEP in 1919, he settled in the French Calais area, where he married.

Along with Albert Lima, another 28 resistance fighters were executed around the same time in Arras. Among them was José dos Santos, a Portuguese citizen born in Vila Flor.

During the five years of the occupation of France, 218 individuals associated with the French resistance were executed at the Citadel of Arras alone.

Carlos Guerreiro

Note: We thank António Marrucho for his collaboration. He has published stories about Portuguese individuals in the armed forces and the French resistance in Luso Jornal, a newspaper based in France.