While there is a Liberal Resistance in Nouvion, he appears to be (a) not a girl and (b) in bed with a cold.
Michelle of the Resistance
A young woman whose discretion is legendary - she repeats nothing.
Michelle has the dubious distinction of being the local Resistance leader who brought to prominence Nighthawk, the greatest hero in France, after she chose Cafe Rene as a safehouse for downed British airmen. A true patriot, Michelle of the Resistance lives only for danger, glory, her brave girls, and a decent hairdresser. The life of a heroine of France has many perils - the hours spent lurking in cellars often makes her hair go quite flat - but Michelle endures all with the courage that has made her a heroine. An attractive girl, her ability to come up with more and more creatively complicated plans is matched only by her complete confidence in her brains, talent and legs. She also speaks excellent colloquial English ("Toodle-pip old chaps and back to Blighty"), making her essential for maintaining communication for the various mad Poms running about.
The only fly in her ointment is her self-made hero, Rene, who always manages to bungle her beautiful schemes with his self-interest and cowardice. The fear of him nicking off to Switzerland is ever-present. However, Michelle is capable of using any tactic to keep him in line, from pathetic tears to threatening him at gunpoint. Despite being one of the few women to resist Rene's powerful charms - see Something Queer for details - she even swallowed her true feelings enough to pretend to a desperate passion for him when his discretion was visibly on the verge of overcoming his honour.
Now, if she could only stop spending Resistance funds at the hairdresser..
Henriette and Lisette
Unlike the Communist Resistance, Michelle's brave girls yield few distinct personalities. They remain a horde of girls in berets, trench coats and bobby socks. The only girls to emerge from the crowd are 'Enriette, Michelle's lieutenant, and Lisette, a pretty woman with bobbed hair. 'Enriette in particvular holds a passionate devotion for "the bravest girl in all France," and both are prepared to sacrifice their knickers for France. They are, in fact, willing to endure anything bar frogs in their underpants.
The lovely and leggy ex-lion tamer and gymnastics star who also happens to be Rene's long lost sweetheart, who once sacrificed to him her most important possession... (Wash out your dirty minds with soap, it was her gymnastics medal.) Denise is a fanatical Communist who looks very fetching in her cap and workers' clothes. Despite the fact that all Communists are obviously equal, Denise is equally obviously the leader of the democratic Nouvian Communist Resistance, and she is rather upwardly mobile in any case. The girl is a dab hand at ballot box stuffing and terrorism, and causes even the loyal Crabtree to wonder if an alliance with the devilishly effecient Communist girls would be preferable to the well-meaning de Gaulle lot. (Fortunately for Michelle, however, Fairfax and Carstairs fear their parents' social lives would be ruined if it were discovered they were consorting with Bolshies.)
Attractive though Denise is, Rene is, however, rather reluctant to be paired with such a violent young woman. No man who has refused her has lived. And, if he accepted her, his survival would still be in doubt...
Louise
First appearing as Denise's equally tall and lovely lieutenant, Louise began to exhibit ambitions to murder her leader and take over when it became clear that Rene could be the prize. (Nice legs are such a disadvantage to a good communist hero like Rene.) After Denise left to pursue her own higher ambitions, the group was absent from Nouvion for a couple of years. When they reappeared, the fierce Denise was in charge. Louise indeed eventually won Rene as her love slave, but like a good Communist, agreed to share him with the other girls. Louise also had something going with her female commander, whose name temporarily escapes me - see Something Queer for details. Suffice it to say, Communist meetings seemed more fun than those of Michelle's Conservative Resistance.
Desiree
An extremely tough young woman who was the butt of some rather unfunny "ugly girl" jokes. (She found Rene irresistible too, naturally.) To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, Desiree is not so much fat as massive, and inadvertantly looms. One of the funniest later-season moments was a fight between Desiree and the dimunitive Mimi.- Back to 'Allo 'Allo
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