[1] On release, Couraud joined the new French economy by becoming a gangster, arranging importation, trading, distribution and export of illegal goods and people.

It was through this activity that he was introduced to American socialite Mary Jayne Gold, who had chosen to relocate from Paris to the new Vichy controlled area, over returning home.

Gold helped subsidize the organisation, which is credited with the rescue of over 2,000 refugees, among whom were: sculptor Jacques Lipchitz; artist Marc Chagall; writer Hannah Arendt; Nobel Prize winner Otto Meyerhof.

On 28 March, Couraud became the only French national to participate in the Lord Mountbatten-led British Commandos raid on St. Nazaire, intended to deny the Tirpitz any base on the Atlantic Ocean.

[1] After the landings, they destroyed a large Wehrmacht convoy in the area of Chieti, and then harassed German units as they withdrew to Sangro via the advancing front.

After Couraud returned to the UK, he was commanded to set up a specialist six-man assassination unit in preparation for D-Day and the Invasion of Europe, which would target high-ranking Nazi Wehrmacht staff.

Resting in a barn, he was approached by a man who lived in La Roche-Guyon, asking for assurances that as Rommel's headquarters was in the village, that the Royal Air Force would not bomb them.

On learning of the location of Rommel's HQ, Couraud and his unit were moved to a flat in London, to wait for a storm to pass and be parachuted into Orléans.

[4] Arriving on 18 July, the team radioed in, but found that Rommel had been severely injured the previous day after his staff car had been over turned in an attack by RAF Hawker Typhoons, and replaced by Günther von Kluge.

[4] Couraud and his team orders regarding Rommel were aborted, and they moved toward advancing US Army lines on foot, while ambushing trains and attacking German units along their route.

After an attack on the German Command at Mantes, Couraud disguised as a policeman made his way through the judicial police of Pontchartrain, and joined the American 3rd Army of General George S. Patton on 12 August.