- Charles de Gaulle: French General and statesman, leader of the Free French during WW2, and the architect of the Fifth Republic
- Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie: formed the resistance group Liberation South he later joined the Free French Forces and became a Commissioner to the Interior
- Jean-Pierre Levy: created and led the Franc-Tireur organization in southern France
- Josephine Bake: Smuggled coded messages out of the country
- Violette Bushell Szabo: SOE (Special Operations Executives) agent for England and had the goal of forming Resistance groups in Paris
- Samuel Beckett: Served as a courier and stored military equipment in his back yard
- Jean Moulin: Symbol and high-ranking member of the French Resistance, consolidated the many underground groups, and coordinated all underground activities
- Andre Malraux: Private soldier in a French tank unit, escaped capture and joined the resistance, and commanded a Free French brigade
- Paul Eluard: Courier and writer of Underground publications
- Albert Camus: Editor of an Underground newspaper "Combat"
- Berthe Fraser: Organized an "underground railroad" to smuggle British pilots stranded behind enemy lines
- Henri Frenay: Soldier in the French army, escaped from a POW camp and joined the French Resistance, formed the Mouvement de Liberation Nationale
- Pierre Villon: Member of the Communist Party, edited the newspaper L'Humanité, joined the French Resistance after Operation Barbarossa, formed Resistance group called Front National
- Daniel Mayer: Member of the Socialist Party and worked for the newspaper Le Populaire, joined the French Resistance and founded the Comité d'Action Socialiste
- Pierre Brossolette: Served in the French Army, refused to write for the collaborationist press, took an active role in organizing the resistance, helped to found the National Council of the Resistance
- Charles Tillon: Member of the Communist Party, joined the French Resistance and became a leader of the Francs-Tireurs Partisans (FTP), and organized the FTP along military lines with local, regional, and national command structures
- Pierre Georges: known as Colonel Fabien, joined the French Resistance in the Franc Tireurs Partisans, assigned the task of forming a battalion of resistance fighters, he was to form the nucleus of a Free French force in Lorraine
- René Hardy: worked as an official on the French national railroads, he joined the French Resistance group Combat and carried out several acts of sabotage against the Germans