Chasing old pictures of Roneo machines, I found this image from the French Resistance in World War 2, which is very lovely, layered with time, fear, propaganda, documentary and the utter power of words.

“Limousin Maquis. Colonel Guingouin in front of the maquis roneo, one of the first in the region, used to print underground sheets and tracts”.

Another version of the image uses this caption: “As the “Madman of the Woods”, Guinguoin’s first underground activities were publishing and printing of leaflets which were distributed among the people of the Limousin.”

The personal account of the clandestine newspaper, Défense de la France - the circulation by the end of the occupation was 150,000 - is very moving.

By the magic of the internet, Guingouin’s own story is available, and is a terrific read, with all the twists, turns, betrayals, escapes, executions and redemptions you could want in a few short pages.

In the early Fifties, he had a viciously hard time; he was a Communist, who the accounts say was attacked by the party in collusion with police who had collaborated with the Nazis. Time Magazine has archived its own contemporary story, in its usual racy style.

He went to prison, where he was beaten, and thence sent to a lunatic asylum, to be released only after six years. But he was tough - he went back to school-teaching, and finally died in 2005, at the age of 92. You can pick your way through French Wikipedia for more details.