Paulin Colonna d'Istria
Paulin Colonna d'Istria (27 July 1905 – 4 June 1982) was a French Gendarmerie officer, awarded the Compagnon de la Libération after playing a major part in the liberation of Corsica. Early life Colonna d'Istria was born on 27 July 1905 in Petreto-Bicchisano to a career soldier. He trained at the Collège d'Autun then the officer training academy in Saint-Maixent before fighting in the Rif War until 1926. Career In 1936, Colonna d'Istria was sent to north Africa and was still there when war broke out with Germany in September 1939. In 1940, learning of the Appeal of 18 June, he joined the Resistance and was sent by Henri Giraud to relieve two of the four first agents from Operation Pearl Harbour who returned to Algeria on 14 March aboard the Casabianca. After coordinating between resistance networks, organising arms drops from the Casabianca and gaining information on enemy positions, the Resistance members Toussaint Griffi and Laurent Preziosi were ordered to meet him in the office of Colonel de Villeneuve, head of the Deuxième Bureau, on rue Charras in Algiers. They provided him with everything needed to make his mission a success, knowing that the Resistance radio operator Pierre Griffi was