When we went to have lunch at Le Detour we took the opportunity to stop at the memorial on the outskirts of le Liege. It commemorates a group of French Resistance fighters who were forced to dig their own grave, then buried alive in it.
They were part of the maquis FFI group commanded by Césario Bretegnier, who operated in the Loches area during the heavy fighting after the D-Day landings in the summer of 1944. The father of one of our readers was a member of this Resistance group, who survived the war and wrote an account of the action he saw. You can read Victor Maîtrejean's testimony in French here, or you can read my English translation here.
L'original en français est ici.Susan
2 comments:
Yes, there are many dramatic untold stories about the French Resistance and Forces Françaises de l'Intérieur (FFI)
As usual, your translation is excellent, accurate, and without being nasty, in much better English than the original is in French. There is one thing, or two, in the original that doesn't make sense, but I must remember it was written by a man just a little older than I am right now, so I should not judge if I don't want to be judged!
CHM: You are very kind. My main problem with Victor's story was that although his writing looks beautiful, very calligraphic, it is quite hard to read! And, of course, I just had a photocopy that his son had sent us.
Post a Comment