The War Memorial at le Grand Pressigny

Recently I photographed the war memorial (Fr. Monument aux morts) in le Grand Pressigny. We parked near it for a doctor's appointment, and a couple of names caught my attention. I didn't quite understand who Femme Gallien was, or what the AFN referred to. So I posted the photo on Facebook and tagged my friend and font of all local history knowledge, Fabrice Doucet. I can now reveal to you what all this means, thanks to him.

This is the Second World War side, listing regular soldiers at the top, both conscripts and career, who would mostly have died very early in the War; then members of de Gaulle's Free French (the Resistance); then those sent to concentration camps and forced labour camps, including a woman; and then someone from the independence wars with North African colonies. Below the names on the black background is a single name on a white marble plaque, of a soldier from le Grand Pressigny who was killed in Afghanistan in more recent times.

To clarify the term AFN, Fabrice told me (I've translated):  "The term "AFN" covers the conflicts that took place during the decolonization of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, otherwise known as "Afrique Française du Nord". The Algerian War was the most deadly, and it was often conscripts, ordinary soldiers doing their military service, who lost their lives. This was clearly the case for Roland RIBAULT, born in le Grand-Pressigny on 6 November 1932, who "Died for France" on 12 July 1956 in Algeria. As such, he is listed as a native of the village on this war memorial. There were also professional soldiers killed during this conflict, but Roland Ribault's age of 23 suggests that he was a young conscript (the official length of military service, which was 18 months at the time, was sometimes extended by the French authorities to 28 or even 30 months)."

On the subject of 'femme Gallien' Fabrice did a bit of digging and found this (once again, translated by me): "For the GALLIEN husband and wife, it was a terrible story, like so many others during the Second World War. They were a farming couple, both natives of le Grand-Pressigny. They were married on 5 April 1921. During the War, they were members of a Resistance network called "Marie-Odile", whose main task was to shelter Allied airmen shot down over France, then transfer them to England. They took part in welcoming Allied soldiers, eventually leading to their escape. Jean (Baptiste) Gallien was arrested in February 1944, along with his wife. First imprisoned in Tours, he was deported from Compiègne to Auschwitz on 27 April 1944. He died in the Flossenbürg concentration camp on 12 September 1944. Renée (Gabrielle Eugénie) Gallien (née Dechêne) was also deported and gassed to death in the Ravensbrück camp on 9 March 1945. She is therefore the "femme Gallien" of the inscription. It's a singular inscription, but in the slightly misogynistic mentality of the time, when a woman only existed through her husband... As a native of le Grand-Pressigny, Renée's first name was well known. And Renée was recognized as a Resistance fighter in her own right. There are few women on the war memorials, and virtually none in the First World War. Jean Baptiste Gallien and Renée Gallien were posthumously awarded the Médaille de la Résistance in 1947. There you go, that's the result of a quick search..."

Thanks Fabrice! It's good to know these stories, tragic though they are.