TheCarlingue (orFrench Gestapo) wereFrench auxiliaries who worked for theGestapo,Sicherheitsdienst andGeheime Feldpolizei during the Germanoccupation of France in theSecond World War.

The group, which was based at 93 rue Lauriston in the16th arrondissement of Paris, was active between 1941 and 1944. It was initiated byPierre Bonny (1895–1944), a former policeman. Later it was managed jointly byHenri Lafont andPierre Loutrel, two professional criminals who had been active in theFrench underworld before the war.

Carlingue[kaʁ.lɛ̃ɡ] in French means the cabin (or central body of an aircraft). The unit used this as a euphemistic nickname to indicate it was an organisation with structure and strength. The group was also known externally as the Bonny-Lafont gang, after Pierre Bonny and Henri Lafont.

TheReich Security Main Office (RSHA) officially referred to theCarlingue asActive Group Hesse after theSS officer "who'd looked after its foundation".^[1] It was also known as theGestapo française de la rue Lauriston or theLa Bande Bonny-Lafont.^[2]

The unit was formed in 1941 by the RSHA. Its purpose was to performcounterinsurgency operations against themaquis resistance forces in German-occupied andVichy France. TheCarlingue recruited its members from the same criminal milieu as that of its founders. Both Henri Lafont andPierre Loutrel (aliasPierrot le fou, "Crazy Pete") were criminals in the Parisian underworld before the war. Another member, the former police officerPierre Bonny, had been wanted by the French authorities for misappropriation of funds and selling influence in theSeznec andStavisky affairs.

Many others of theCarlingue were from the disbanded North African Brigades. The partly criminal nature of the organisation gave it access to contacts such as informers, corrupt officials, and disreputable businesspeople such asJoseph Joanovici. Members were also active in theblack market.

According to retired policeman Henri Longuechaud, "one might be scandalised by the numbers of 30,000 to 32,000 sometimes quoted [as members of theCarlingue]. In Paris, when the Germans launched a recruitment drive for 2,000 auxiliary policeman in their service, they received no fewer than 6,000 candidates."^[3][4] During the war, infamous French doctor and serial killerMarcel Petiot allegedly associated with Carlingue. His house was located in the same street as the Carlingue headquarters and he allegedly sometimes helped the group dispose of their victims' bodies.^{[citation needed]}

During January and February 1944, theCarlingue, as members of the paramilitaryLégion nord-Africaine  [fr;it] (LNA) commanded byAlexandre Villaplane, wore German uniforms as part ofBandenbekämpfung operations against the French Resistance in the area aroundTulle, in central France.

After theliberation of France in 1944, members of theCarlingue went into hiding. Many were caught, tried and condemned to death; some evaded arrest. One formerCarlingue agent,Georges Boucheseiche [fr], who died inMorocco in 1967, was employed byService de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage, France's postwar external intelligence agency.

In August 2014, the government of Paris ordered the current owners of 93 rue Lauriston to restore the memorial plaque to the former headquarters of theCarlingue.^[5]

• Georges Pujol, a former resistance fighter who became a double agent for the Gestapo, arrested in August 1944 and shot.^[6]
• Henri Lafont, executed at Fort Montrouge 26 December 1944.^[6]
• Alexandre Villaplane executed atFort Montrouge 27 December 1944.^[6]
• Clairé, executed at Fort Montrouge 27 December 1944.^[6]
• Engel, executed at Fort Montrouge 27 December 1944.^[6]
• Hare, executed at Fort Montrouge 27 December 1944.^[6]
• Louis "Eddy" Pagnon, a member of the North African Brigade, executed at Fort Montrouge on 27 December 1944.^[6]
• Pierre Bonny, sentenced to death and shot 29 December 1944.^[6]
• Charles Delval, executed in the courtyard of theFresnes Prison in February 1945.^[6]
• Ganioles executed at Fort Montrouge 24 June 1946.^[6]
• Jourdan executed at Fort Montrouge 13 July 1946.^[6]
• Marcel Buat, sentenced to death in June 1946 and executed at Versailles 12 August 1946.^[6]
• Pierre Loutrel, died on 6 November 1946, five days after being shot in the bladder during a robbery at a Parisian jewellery store onavenue Kléber.^[6]
• Bernard Fallot, executed at Fort Montrouge on 1 October 1947.^[6]
• Maurice Bay, executed on 5 May 1950.^[6]
• Abel Danos, shot 13 March 1952.^[6]
• Raymond Monange, an officer from the North African Brigade, shot on 13 March 1952 at Fort Montrouge.^[6]
• Auguste Ricord (1911–1985) tried postwarin absentia for collaboration; served a 10-year sentence 1972–1982 in theUnited States for drug smuggling, but not retried for war crimes.^[6]

• Geheime Feldpolizei - the secretmilitary police of theWehrmacht in France.
• 84 Avenue Foch - Parisian headquarters of theSicherheitsdienst.
• Special Brigades - a unit from the French police that specialized in fighting theFrench Resistance.
• Milice - a paramilitary force raised byVichy France.
• Bezen Perrot - a comparable Breton nationalist formation
• Business collaboration with Nazi Germany

• Othen, Christopher (2020).The King of Nazi Paris: Henri Lafont and the Gangsters of the French Gestapo. London: Biteback.ISBN 1785905465.
• Auda, Grégory (2002).Les belles années du "milieu", 1940–1944: le grand banditisme dans la machine répressive allemande en France (in French). Paris: Éditions Michalon.ISBN 2-84186-164-3.OCLC 50493997.
• Aziz, Philippe (1972).Au service de l'ennemi: la Gestapo française en province 1940–1944. Paris: Fayard.OCLC 4173712.
• Aziz, Philippe.Tu trahiras sans vergogne: histoire de deux collabos, Bonny et Lafont. Paris: Livre de poche.OCLC 1206738.
• Berlière, Jean-Marc (2018).Polices des temps noirs: France, 1939–194 (in French). Paris: Perrin.ISBN 978-2-262-03561-7.
• Briand, Luc (2022).Alexandre Villaplane, capitaine des Bleus et officier nazi (in French). Paris: Plein Jour.ISBN 978-2-370-67074-8.OCLC 723952731.
• Delarue, Jacques (1993).Trafics et crimes sous l'Occupation (in French). Paris: Fayard.ISBN 978-2-21303-154-5.OCLC 722598561.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
• Eder, Cyril (2006).Les Comtesses de la Gestapo (in French). Paris: Grasset.ISBN 978-2-246-67401-6.OCLC 723952731.
• Jacquemard, Serge (1992).La bande Bonny-Lafont. Paris: Fleuve noir.ISBN 978-2-265-04673-3.OCLC 40382542.
• Miniac, jean-François (2009).Les Grandes Affaires criminelles du Doubs (in French). Romagnat: De Borée.ISBN 978-2-84494-959-2.OCLC 690431283. (about Roger Griveau)
• Patrice Rolli, La Phalange nord-africaine (ou Brigade nord-africaine, ou Légion nord-africaine) en Dordogne: Histoire d'une alliance entre la Pègre et la Gestapo; 15 March–19 August 1944, Éditions l'Histoire en Partage, 2013, (mostly about Alexandre Villaplane and Raymond Monange)
• Grégory Auda (2002).Les belles années du "milieu", 1940–1944: le grand banditisme dans la machine répressive allemande en France (in French). Paris: Éditions Michalon.ISBN 2-84186-164-3.OCLC 50493997.
• Philippe Aziz (1972).Au service de l'ennemi: la Gestapo française en province 1940–1944. Paris: Fayard.OCLC 4173712.
• Philippe Aziz.Tu trahiras sans vergogne: histoire de deux collabos, Bonny et Lafont. Paris: Livre de poche.OCLC 1206738.
• Jean-Marc Berlière (2018).Polices des temps noirs: France, 1939–1945 (in French). Paris: Perrin.ISBN 978-2-262-03561-7.
• Luc Briand (2022).Alexandre Villaplane, capitaine des Bleus et officier nazi (in French). Paris: Plein Jour.ISBN 978-2-370-67074-8.OCLC 723952731.
• Jacques Delarue (1993).Trafics et crimes sous l'Occupation. Paris: Fayard.ISBN 978-2-21303-154-5.OCLC 722598561.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
• Cyril Eder (2006).Les Comtesses de la Gestapo (in French). Paris: Grasset.ISBN 978-2-246-67401-6.OCLC 723952731.
• Serge Jacquemard (1992).La bande Bonny-Lafont. Paris: Fleuve noir.ISBN 978-2-265-04673-3.OCLC 40382542.
• Jean-François Miniac (2009).Les Grandes Affaires criminelles du Doubs. Romagnat: De Borée.ISBN 978-2-84494-959-2.OCLC 690431283. (about Roger Griveau)
• Patrice Rolli, La Phalange nord-africaine (ou Brigade nord-africaine, ou Légion nord-africaine) en Dordogne: Histoire d'une alliance entre la Pègre et la Gestapo; 15 March–19 August 1944, Éditions l'Histoire en Partage, 2013, (mostly about Alexandre Villaplane and Raymond Monange)

• Vichy France
• French collaboration during World War II
• Gestapo
• 16th arrondissement of Paris
• Reich Security Main Office
• Black markets
• Gangs in Paris
• Paris in World War II

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• Articles with short description
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• Pages with French IPA
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