Roger STAUBB, Jacques PISTRE and Raymond THOMAS were killed in combat on the 29th of August 1944. This was 4 days after the liberation of Paris, and the day of the American Victory parade down the Champs Elysees (the French liberation parade was on the 26th of August).
I can't find any details of what happened on a quiet road in rural France 4 days after the Germans in Paris surrendered, but I suspect that the proximity of the railway crossing may play a part.Simon
Si vous savez n'importe quoi à propos de ce mémorial svp faites-nous savoir.
7 comments:
I think it should be remembered that the Americans were gallant enough to let "division Leclerc" dash towards Paris in late August 1944 so French soldiers would be the first to liberate Paris. But it doesn't mean the Germans were gone elsewhere. There was a lot of them all over the place.
As for sainte Maure, I did some research but didn't get very far this time.
I found Maquis Carol on the Net, but there is not much information. Here are the links but don't expect too much:
http://boutique.geneanet.org/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=62338
http://www.memorial-genweb.org/~memorial2/html/fr/resultcommune.php?idsource=12536&table=bp02&dpt=36&insee=36145&pays=France
I looked for the A.N.C.V.R (Association Nationale des Combattants Volontaires de la Résistance), who probably erected that memorial, at
www.concours-resistance.org/pdf/cnrd-2006_brochure.pdf
It's a very lengthy text with illustrations, but it doesn't have much information about Indre-et-Loire. Still, I found the following which says that there was some fighting in August in Touraine. That would explain the date these men were killed:
Plusieurs maquis se sont établis en Touraine, comme le maquis Césario de l’ORA [Organisation de Résistance de l'Armée] sous la direction du lieutenant Bretegnier qui participa aux combats d’août 1944 pour libérer la zone rurale autour de la ville de Loches (Indre-et-Loire).
In the following link which is a catalog of books
www.ihtp.cnrs.fr/IMG/pdf/catalogue.pdf
I found mention of maquis Césario in August 1944
192. LECOMTE Gabriel Louis, né en 1922
(...)
Réfractaire au STO [Service du Travail Obligatoire], entre en 1943 dans la résistance étudiante au service de Défense de la France. Vie clandestine en Bretagne (Côte du Nord), camp forestier et maquis Césario au sud de Loches (août 1944).
No doubt Maquis Carol was one of those mentioned above.
That's all I have. Probably older local people would remember what happened at the time.
would the ancvr list the recipients of the medals?
http://medaille.decoration.free.fr/France/P_Medaille/C_Combattant_Resistance.htm#M_M
my french isn't good enough to get farther than that.
I've had a quick look at the site and it doesn't seem to name the recipients.
We have recently found out that there was quite a lot of action in Indre at the time of the Liberation of Paris, with the railway lines being repeatedly blown up (on a daily basis) by the Resistance and the Germans took some terrible retaliation, especially in Maillé, about 40km away.
Susan
bonjour mon pere recement decedé faisait parti du maquis CESARIO,et j'ai en ma possession plusieurs documents qui peuvent vous aider
bien a vous
email maitrejean.pascal@free.fr
Pascal: Merci de votre commentaire. J'ai vous envoié un privé mél.
Hi,
I don't know what happened precisely but my grand father wrote something about it in his war diary.
Roger Staub, Jacques Pistre and Raymond Thomas came across germans in this intersection. They were in a car and went to Tournon from Bossay.
Before that, Roger Staub escaped death narrowly at La Gabrière. Pistre escaped death also when he was in Sologne in the group "Liberté".
I hope this could help you.
Best regards
Anon: many thanks. This is an interesting snippet of information. We never know when some little clue may prove important.
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