An extraordinary hold-up at the Lannion branch

The hold-up begins with the click of the machine guns

On Tuesday, April 25, 1944, the day begins like any other for the employees of the Banque de Bretagne branch in Lannion. Then, at 10:20 AM, its activity comes to a halt with the sudden arrival of four young men armed with pistols and machine guns.

A gun is pointed at the head of the director, Mr. Pape, to have the safes and cash registers opened (we know his name from the Board of Directors’ report dated May 26, 1945, reference 104AH093). Everyone knows what they have to do: the robbers are organized, the bank employees are trained.

The director does not lose his composure or his humor. He responds to the robber’s demand, “The money and right now!”, by exclaiming, “Ah! Here you are, gentlemen!”. His goal is simple: to protect the 50,000 francs in a large cash box and the stock of Treasury Bonds. Assisted by the treasurer and his daughter, he does everything he can to ensure the robbers’ search does not lead them to these two hiding places.

Discussions begin

Under the threat of the robbers, the director’s daughter obeys. She places the 40,000 francs from the main cash register into the robbers’ double-compartment bags. The loot is meager. One of the thieves exclaims, “You don’t expect me to believe that a bank only has this much in the till! […] But what about this large safe—it must contain money, open it at once!” The director explains that these are rented safes, and only the tenants have the keys. The thieves observe everything and want to finish their search. They head toward the two hiding places the director does not want discovered. It is then that the robbers’ driver enters the branch, shouting, “The car is ready!“

The director then declares, “You must understand that the money you are taking is stolen from depositors who have entrusted it to us. This money does not belong to us.” One of the thieves replies, “The State will reimburse you“, but the director clarifies, “The State will not reimburse us a single centime. Our bank is a private company with no connection to the State. Our Board of Directors is composed of regional figures—here is the list [he hands them the list of Board members]—and our capital belongs to our clients and shareholders. I swear to you that I am telling the truth.“

This sentence explodes like a grenade thrown at the robbers

And, against all expectations, one of the robbers—the only one wearing a mask—then orders the others to return the money (the director assumes he is the leader of the gang). While the money is being taken out of the bags, the masked robber writes a short note on a newspaper lying on the counter: “THERE HAS BEEN A MISTAKE, A THOUSAND APOLOGIES!“

^{Apology note written on a counter newspaper, BNP Paribas Historical Archives}

Realizing they were not stealing money from a bank managed by the Vichy regime, the robbers apologize and leave empty-handed. The director asks them to “warn their comrades that Banque de Bretagne is a private bank and not a State treasury to avoid such misunderstandings” in the future. Turning to him, one of the thieves lifts the lapel of his jacket, revealing a tricolor ribbon, and says, “We are not bandits, we are patriots.“

Here is the full statement made by the director of the Lannion branch. This note is addressed to the management of Banque de Bretagne. Note a small error in the month, likely made during transcription. Indeed, the apology note was written on a newspaper dated April 25, 1944, so the statement is from April.