Raoul Baligand (1913 –1981) was a Belgian politician and member of the Belgian Resistance during the Second World War.
Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Baligand
travelled to Spain and enlisted in the International Brigades in October 1936.
He was assigned to the Franco-Belgian André Marty Battalion. In June 1937, he
was wounded in action near Huesca. He was wounded a second time in Caspe. By
the end of his service in Spain, he held the rank of captain. Baligand returned
to Belgium from Spain on November 28, 1938.
Baligand was mobilized by the Belgian Army when Belgium was
invaded by Nazi Germany in May 1940. On August 4, 1940, Baligand married Berthe
Verkerk, a communist activist from Antwerp. Both Baligand and Verkerk were
active members of the underground press, writing for the publications Clarté
and Partisan.
In June 1941 Baligand began to conduct armed resistance
operations alongside several Belgian veterans of the Spanish Civil War. He
coordinated many sabotage missions, including the theft of hundreds of
kilograms of explosives from the Bois du Cazier mine.
By the end of the Second World War, Baligand was the
commander of all Partisans Armés operations in western Wallonia.
From 1943 to 1951 he would serve on the Central Committee of
the Communist Party of Belgium.
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