Roderick Egal – A Great Shanghailander and a Great Frenchman

I’ve commented on the role of the French Gaullists, the Free French and the Vichyites in Shanghai before (see here). Roderick Egal, a Frenchtown vintner, was the man who tried to organise the Free French in Shanghai but was arrested and sent to Indo-China. Sad to say, the majority of Frenchtown’s residents were right wing as hell and unrepentant Vichyites. No real resistance movement emerged while Egal and other Gaullists largely ended up in Hong Kong fighting with the British.

Anyway, Shanghai based journalist Veronique Saunier (who is, as you might have guessed, a Frenchie) has dug around and written up the amazing story of Roderick Egal and if there’s one single resident of the former French Concession that deserves to be remembered then it is Egal. The article is in French, but even my schoolboy, gazing out the window and not paying much attention, French could struggle through. If I get a moment I might try and translate if I think it will get Egal’s name to more people.

Click here to get a Google translate which is a bit rough to say the least but might help non-French readers

Below – an advert for Egal’s business in Shanghai