A Symbol of a Past Life

On Saturday 28 December we went out with friends, just for a little jaunt, and with the intention of visiting the Chateau of Chenonceau to see their spectacular Christmas decorations. I'd already seen them, so I could assure our friends that they were worth seeing. But Chenonceau turned out to be absolutely packed, with no tickets for the chateau interior until late afternoon. So we opted to go to Amboise and treat ourselves to a hot chocolate at Bigot.

 

Maison Bigot, patissier, chocolatier, Amboise.

Bigot is an institution in Amboise. Situated on the corner diagonally opposite the Chateau Royal entrance, it has been run by the Bigot family for over a hundred years. They make cakes, pastries and chocolates, and have a café where you can get light meals, ice cream sundaes and of course, hot chocolate. It too was packed when we got there, but we managed to get a table in the cosy back room.

 

 The brooch, pinned to my winter coat, which also comes from this time in my life, and is much loved.

Two days later when I came to put my coat on I noticed that the brooch that has been pinned to the left shoulder for many years was not there. I've had that brooch a long time and I was sad to lose it. I spent that day contacting anyone I could think of who might have found the brooch. The bakery in Preuilly hadn't seen it, but the pharmacy said someone had found a brooch in the street near them. I went to the mairie (town hall) to see if someone had handed it in, but they didn't have it. I put a message on Facebook and I phoned three chateaux and a restaurant, in case it had been missing longer than I realised. Finally, that evening, Mme Bigot sent me a text message, and all was well. They had my brooch, and Simon and I went up the next day to pick it up.

 

Me wearing the brooch in 2023, in the Cobra Café in Amsterdam.

I bought the brooch at the V&A in London in the late 1990s. It's made of a bronzey looking metal and a green glass bead with a foil back, and is a copy of a piece of medieval jewellery. It represents a time when I lived in London and was in and out of the V&A on a nearly weekly basis for one reason or another. I was a member of the Costume Society, I worked for the National Trust, I went to exhibitions, lectures, book launches and private tours of the V&A, Hampton Court Palace and other marvellous historic places. I was hanging out with some of the most charismatic and knowledgeable people in the heritage industry, and learning a lot. The brooch is a symbol of all that and more. I would hate to lose it and am very grateful to Bigot for having kept it safe and returned it to me.

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

At first glance this print hanging in the reconstruction of the World War I hospital at the Chateau of Chenonceau looks like a satirical print. But nothing could be further from the truth. It's not even really caricature, but rather a familiar gentle spoof depicting a group of mates. The men shown are some of the great French flying aces of the First World War, drawn by one of their own number, who was a professional illustrator.

The print, a lithograph, is by Jean de Moulignon, and the subjects have signed their portraits. Only 13 prints were produced, being one for each of the airmen, some for the Air Force and one for the artist. Jean de Moulignon had been a student of Edouard Detaille, a well known illustrator and painter specialising in military scenes.

Combat Group 12, especially Squadron 3, nicknamed the Escadrille des Cigognes (Stork Squadron), was legendary, and many of the most famous war aces, such as Roland Garros and Georges Guynemer, flew in this combat group.

The pilots in this drawing are Antonin Brocard, Georges Guynemer, René 'Pere' Dorme, Alfred Heurtaux, Albert Deullin (with his dog Parasol), and Mathieu Tenant de la Tour. Leading the parade is a stork, wearing a Lewis machine gun on its head. At its peak the squadron flew SPAD planes with powerful Hispano-Suiza engines and armed with Lewis machine guns. After the War Hispano-Suiza adopted the stork as their own emblem, in tribute to Guynemer.

The drawing was commissioned by Brocard for Pierre Delage in 1916, and subsequently he gave one of the prints to Capitaine Colcomb, with a dedication which translates as 'To Captain Aviator Colcomb observer and fighter pilot during the Great War in memory of his comrades and of the Stork's Reconnaissance Patrol. With all the esteem and admiration of his boss and his friendship. Commander Brocard.'

At auction the prints go for around 300 to 800 euros each.

Who were these rather gawky looking men, slouching along with their hands in their pockets?

Antonin Brocard, the Commander, became a politician between the Wars. During the Second World War he was put in charge of training the Polish Air Force. He died in 1950.

Georges Guynemer, 54 aerial victories, killed in action September 1917 aged 22. The circumstances of his death and subsequent burial remain somewhat mysterious. There is a memorial to him in the town of Poelkapelle in Belgium, near where it is presumed he came down. His original SPAD S.VII, nicknamed "Vieux Charles", is in the collection of the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Paris-le Bourget airport. He is considered the most brilliant of the Storks and was the hero of the popular press during his career, much to his own discomfort. Rather frail he was rejected for military service four times before his persistance led to him being accepted to train as a pilot.

René Dorme, 23 aerial victories, nicknamed 'le Père', and easily recognisable because of the cane, which he was never seen without. Killed in action in May 1917, aged 23. Greatly admired by his colleagues.

Alfred Heurtaux, 21 aerial victories, survived to become a politician between the Wars then joined the senior management teams of leading automobile manufacturers (Ford in the US, General Motors in Europe, then finally Renault). He was an active member of the Resistance in the Second World War and died in 1985 aged 92.

Albert Deullin, 20 aerial victories, killed working as a test pilot in 1923 aged 32.

Mathieu Tenant de la Tour, 9 aerial victories, killed in an accident whilst performing acrobatics in December 1917 aged 34. He trained as a pilot because wounds put an end to his cavalry career. He, Guynemer, Deullin, Dorme and Heurtaux were particularly close friends.

Pierre Delage, 7 aerial victories, killed in action in October 1918 aged 31. Like Mathieu Tenant de la Tour he switched disciplines and only trained as a pilot after wounds left him incapable of continuing in the infantry.

To have an official 'kill' recorded Brocard insisted that there must be three eye witness testimonies verifying the event. This was often impossible to achieve, especially if the witnesses were the enemy, so the official aerial victories list is often a mere fraction of these pilots real effectiveness.

Bellevue OZO Service Station

 As I was leaving a family rolled up in a lovely Wartburg to do photos. This East German coupe was manufactured from 1956 to 1965.

Sitting alongside the Nationale 10 this service station has been designated as 'Remarkable Architecture', and has been much photographed over the years. The building is an iconic mid-twentieth century American influenced structure, especially with the sweeping, soaring spire at the front, like a totem, bearing the OZO name. It opened in the spring of 1956. Following the merger of OZO and Total in 1964, the service station changed names to become the 'Relais Charles Martel'. But with the opening of the A10 Autoroute between Tours and Poitiers in 1977, the traffic along the N10 inexorably diminished, and the relais closed in 1984.

 

Plan for the service station.

Like a number of decommissioned service stations, the building found a second life as the sales office for a second-hand car dealership. The spire served as an ensign for the roadhouse next door, l'Etoile du Sud. At the end of the 1990s, after the closure of the restaurant, the surroundings deteriorated little by little but the service station stayed proudly upright on the side of the road, waiting for someone to take an interest again. That happened in 2011, when the municipality of Sainte Maure de Touraine realised what a characterful heritage building they had in their territory and decided to protect it within their local Urban Plan. Interest in the former service station grew until in 2016 the Départementale Architecture and Heritage Unit (part of the Ministry of Culture) decided to award it the label 'Patrimoine du XXième siècle' (20th century heritage), which has since become 'Architecture contemporaine remarquarble' (Notable contemporary architecture).  

 

 Front elevation plan.

Initially the work to restore the structure was to deal the deterioration brought about by the weather over the years. Following that there was the desire to restore it to its original state and make it a recognisable icon of the heritage along the former Route Nationale 10. It sits in the heart of the Touraine, mid-way between Paris and Hendaye, so ideally situated. Since 2021 the Association Nostal'10 has regularly organised classic car meets here. At the beginning of the 21st century, when mobility is resolutely oriented towards 'green energy', it is necessary to preserve this element of the previous century's heritage, just like we preserve former stage coaching inns. The Relais Charles Martel is the incarnation of the 'Trentes Glorieuses', a testament to a bygone era that should be preserved.

 

 Side elevation plan.

If you are interested in staying up to date with activities at Bellevue OZO Service Station, the Association Nostal'10 has a Facebook page. It has become a tradition to stop to take a photo of your car under the canopy and post it on the FB page. https://www.facebook.com/p/Nostal10-100057312614789/

 

The petrol pumps are being recreated in concrete. I was told that it was because it was 'less risky'. I'm not sure whether that means in terms of vintage pumps being stolen or real pumps being a safety hazard.

We have participated in this event several times.

Why not go and join the fun tomorrow? Everyone is welcome. Simon is thinking of going in Claudette. I'll be working in Chinon though.

Le Rafle de Loches

The French word 'rafle' means 'police roundup' in English. Because of its associations with the mass arrests of the Second World War, most famously the Rafle du Vel d'Hiv, it is quite a toxic term.

On 27 July 1944, at dawn, a German task force from Tours, accompanied by Gestapo agents and French members of the collaborationist parties (fascists, anti-semites or anti-Bolsheviks mostly), stormed the sub-prefectural town of Loches. 

 

Memorial plaque to the clerk of the court, one of the victims of the roundup.

They arrested everyone they encountered in the street, including the sub-prefect, and went to their homes to look for anyone suspected of being more or less active in helping the Resistance.

Among them were civilians such as Marguerite Mallet, wife of Raymond Mallet, one of the leaders of the Secret Army of Loches, Lucienne and René Tocheport, factory owners whose trucks were used by the maquisards, Odette Houlbreque, a nurse who was very close to the maquis leader Lecoze, and Ernestine Denise Charlot, a milliner in rue Quintefol whose nephew had just joined the maquis of Épernon.

 

Memorial plaque to police officers who died in concentration camps after the roundup.

 

They also arrested all the members of the police and thirty-six gendarmes present in Loches, who they reprimanded for their lack of diligence in the search for young men who had refused to join the STO (the compulsory labour service which deported those forced to join to Germany to work in the mines and factories). Since 12 June 1944, all the gendarmes of the brigades of the Loches section had, by order of their senior officers, been assembled at the chief town. So that is, in addition to the gendarmes of the brigade of Loches, those of the brigades of Preuilly-sur-Claise, Montrésor, Saint-Flovier, Boussay, Villeloin-Coulangé and Abilly were all gathered in Loches.

All those arrested, maybe as many as three hundred people, were taken to the courtyard of the girls' school for interrogation. 

 

This war memorial to police officers who lost their lives in the Second World War is in Place des Anciens d'AFN, next to the Agnes Sorel cultural centre in Loches, and the Metropolitan Police Station.

 

At the end of the day, 58 men and six women (including Mme Mallet) were sent to the Henri Martin prison in Tours before being deported to Germany.

The gendarmes were first sent to the Neuengamme camp where they arrived on 1 September 1944. Some of them stayed there, the others were sent to the Wilhelmshaven Command where 29 of them died.

Denis Louis BONNAUDET: Born in 1906 in Chatonnay (Vendée), he was the Adjutant at the police station in Preuilly. Having not taken any action against the Resistance in the area he was arrested and taken to prison in Tours. He joined a convoy of prisoners from Rennes and was taken to Belfort then Neuengamme and later Wilhelmshaven. He died in April 1945 at Luneburg.

Ernestine Denise CHARLOT: Born in 1886 at Loches, she was a milliner. She was arrested for having sheltered her nephew, who was in the Resistance, following a denunciation by a woman from Loches. Imprisoned in Tours, she joined the Rennes convoy heading for Belfort. She was deported in September 1944 to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where she was gassed in April 1945.

Noel HAPPE: Born on Christmas Day in 1918 at Hellendoom in the Netherlands, he was a policeman in Preuilly. He was deported via the same route as the others, but only taken as far as Neuengamme. He survived the War and was liberated in the Flensburg Fjord. After the War he wrote a short account of his experience.

Odette HOULBREQUE: Born in 1911 at Fécamp (Seine-Maritime) she was a nurse and close friend of the notorious Resistance leader known as Lecoze (who claimed to be a doctor, but was really just a violent criminal and fraudster on the run). She was sent to Ravensbruck but luckily did not stay there. She was liberated in Hamburg in May 1945.

Marguerite MALLET: Born in 1914 at Lille, she was arrested and sent to Belfort like the others, but after that it is not known what happened to her, and her name is missing from the memorial in Loches. Evidence suggests that she died at Ravensbruck in February 1945. Her husband, a lawyer, was one of the local Resistance leaders and head of the political wing of the Loches based section of the Secret Army.

Lucienne TOUCHEPORT: Born Lucienne Métais in 1907 at Ferriere-sur-Beaulieu, near Loches. She was arrested for having sheltered Resistance members and sent to Ravensbruck by the same route as the others, but then on to another concentration camp and finally Oranienburg, where she was liberated in April 1945.

René TOUCHEPORT: Born in 1906 at Descartes, he was an industrialist, married to Lucienne and living in a charming hamlet just outside of Loches called Les Petites Maisons. He was arrested for sheltering Resistance members and sent to Germany, ending up at Wilhelmshaven and dying there in April 1945.

Paul WATEL: Born in 1914 at Lambersart (Nord), he was a policeman at Preuilly sur Claise. He was deported to Neuengamme, where he died in November 1944.

Once Upon a Time in Loches -- Exiting the War

 

"The Liberation of Loches was not synonymous with the end of the War on a national level, or even a return to normal. The restrictions, controles, and rationing continued, the black market persisted. There was also the progressive return of prisonners and those who had survived the camps.

Municipal life was reorganised bit by bit.  The old municipal council was dissolved. It was replaced by a municipal delegation made up of the great figures of the Resistance from Loches, like Raymond Mallet. The municipal elections of April-May 1945 saw the women of Loches voting for the first time. It was the Republican Union, led by Elie Rossignol, who prevailed. Many maquisards continued as combattants on the Atlantic coast or of course, on the Eastern Front.

The town of Loches received two prestigious visits in the spring of 1945 -- that of Marshal De Lattre de Tassigny on 8 March, and then that of General Leclerc some weeks later. They came to visit their troops resting in Loches before re-entering combat on the Atlantic coast. The passage through Loches of these two heroes, leaders of the Army of Liberation formed by General de Gaulle, made a great impression on the residents of Loches.

The year 1945 was also the time of judgements and cleansing. Arrested on 21 October 1944, Captain Lecoz was accused of 18 murders and assassinations. He was judged at Angers by the military tribunal in October 1945, condemned to death and shot on 14 May 1946. At the same time numerous residents of Loches accused of collaboration were taken prisonner. Some women, suspected of having helped or seduced Germans, were shaved and publically humiliated. About a hundred inhabitants of the Sud Touraine were also convicted by the Courts of Justice and the Civil Chambers, specially created to punish acts of collaboration."

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This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon A Time in Loches - the New German Occupation August 1944

 

"The evening of 20 August was taken up with negociations between the German officers and the Loches Liberation Committee. After numerous difficulties and threats to burn the town an agreement was reached in the middle of the night. Loches, occupied anew, must deliver 20 hostages who will be executed if there is the least attack against the Germans within a radius of 5 kilometres around the town. 

On 21 August the Germans intended to reassert their presence. The 20 hostages, bargaining chips, were placed under heavy guard, at the Lasnier house, opposite the Chateau de Vauchignard. As a warning to the residents of Loches, three barracks in Place de Verdun were torched, as well as the Tivoli camp. A group of German soldiers visited the farmlet of Corbery and executed three of the four young Resistance fighters who were found there. The German lieutenant in charge of the garrison at Loches visited the hospital with the aim of capturing and shooting the maquisards wounded in the fighting the day before. The intervention of Dr Paul Martinais, who was engaged in caring for a German soldier when the officer arrived, meant that summary executions were prevented. 

In the following days the tension was palpable in the streets, felt equally by  Loches residents and the Germans. Confusion and suspicion reigned. German trucks passed through the town, heading for the Eastern Front. In the night of 30 August the German soldiers stationed in Place de Verdun fired on a German column that they mistook to be maquisards, and whose passage had not been scheduled. Around Loches fighting raged between the maquis and the German troops, who sought to rejoin their comrades further East at any price."

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This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon A Time in Loches -- Fighting August 1944

 

"After the 'Liberation' of Loches the maquisards put up road blocks on the routes coming into town, fearing German reprisals because troops were passing through, having been ordered to march to the East. The country was not yet liberated. At Loches several German columns attacked the town on 20 August from several different points of access.

*Route de Tours, at the spot called Marray a small German contingent attempted to get into town at 9 am, but an hour of fighting was enough to make them turn back.

*Route de Ligueil, at around 10:30 am nearly 500 German soldiers attacked the road block at Blanchardiere Farm. Facing them were 11 maquisards of the FTPF. After 2 hours of battle the Germans retreated, but took around a hundred inhabitants of Ligeuil hostage and positioned them around their convoy. Equipped with these human shields, they turned back towards la Blanchardiere in the early afternoon. Despite 3 hostages fatally wounded, the maquisards held their position and the Germans turned around to head for Bournan and Sainte Maure.

*Route du Perusson, at the same time a German convoy was engaged in fighting at la Cloutiere. The FTPF, installed at the Tivoli Camp, joined the men of the Maquis Lecoz who were defending the road block. Around 6 pm the German Army gave up and turned back, realising that they were too few to face these French Resistants.

*Route de Manthelan, more than 600 German soldiers crossed the Forest of Manthelan in the late morning. They extended their front line from the Mouzay road to the Chanceaux road, then progressed up to the Ligeuil road. Against the Germans, the maquisards were ill equipped and too few in number, and they could not hold the position. Around 5:30 pm the enemy fired a canon on the Donjon de Loches from Bel-Ebat. The maquisards fought even in retreat, after the loss of about 20 men during the days fighting. Loches fell..."

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This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon a Time in Loches -- 'Liberation' August 1944

 

"Following these events (the roundup and reprisals) the mistrust of the people of Loches towards the occupiers increased. At the national level, since the Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944, the Germans fell back towards the Eastern Front. As French towns were progressively liberated, Loches nutured the hope that the occupation would end on their territory.

During the night of 15-16 August 1944 the German soldiers evacuated their camp at Tivoli where they had been installed since 23 July,  after having noisily destroyed their stocks of ammunition and startling all the nearby inhabitants. The FTPF took charge the morning of 16 August and secured the former German camp. The news of the departure of the Germans was picked up by Captain Lecoz mid-afternoon. He was hanging out at Chanceaux with his men and decided to change the plan by entering triumphantly into Loches with his maquisards. Loches seemed to be liberated and the people of Loches acclaimed him as the liberator of their town.

From 16 August Lecoz's men engaged in hunting collaborators, proven or not. Those who could have helped the enemy were gathered together in Place de Verdun in front of everyone with brutality. A patriotic ceremony was organised to congratulate the Resistants. A new town organisational structure was put in place. A 'Liberation Committee' was created by the Resistance commanders, who designated Raymond Mallet as mayor and sous-préfet. The people of Loches turned towards the future and the post-War."

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This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon A Time in Loches -- the German Response July 1944

 

" The German Army did not appreciate the defiance of the people of Loches against them. They decided on reprisals against the maquisards and rapidly made more radical decisions to directly attack the inhabitants. 

23 July 1944, around midday, a thousand German soldiers arrived at the forest of Preuilly with the aim of surrounding the Maquis Eperon hiding there. Trapped by the Germans, who attacked from all sides, the young men beat a retreat on the orders of their commander. They escaped by crossing the thickets to the north, which were not under surveillance. The Maquis Eperon was thus dispersed. There had been more than 900 men gathered in the forest and only 6 of them were killed in this attack. This bitter partial victory for the Germans led them to install a garrison at the Tivoli Camp in Loches, in order to have better surveillance of the town.

27 July 1944 the Germans decide to undertake a hard hitting operation in order to reinforce their presence and so they went ahead with a real roundup. On this Thursday morning, agents of the Gestapo, the Milice and German soldiers swarmed through the streets and indiscriminantly arrested everyone they encountered. Also arrested, at home or at the station, were most of the Sud Touraine police, who were on a list of suspects to interrogate. Nearly 300 people were brought together in the courtyard of the girls school, to wait for their interrogations. At the end of the day 64 people were sent to the prison in Tours. Amongst these, about 40 of them were police (gendarmes). All were deported to Germany, under inhumain conditions, to the camps of Neuengamme for the men and Ravensbruck for the women. Of those 64 Loches inhabitants, only 16 returned alive."

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This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon A Time in Loches -- Resistance Attacks 1944

 

" Fighting intensified in the Touraine during 1944. Allied bombing was more frequent and Loches was welcoming a new wave of refugees. The tension, and the hatred of the German enemy, grew and the new landing of the Allies in Normandy gave hope to the population of Loches that the end of the war might be close. The maquisards (armed combattants) and Resistants saw it as an opportunity to redouble their action. 

On the night of 10-11 July 1944 a group of men led by Captain Lecoz arrived at the home of Dr Abribat in Saint Flovier to requisition one of his vehicles. Dr Abribat was a confirmed supporter of the Vichy Regime and a conviction Pétainist. He had even met Maréchal Pétain several times, making him a traitor to the Nation in the eyes of the Resistance. So when he refused their request and raised his voice a burst of machine gun fire from one of of the maquisards resulted in Abribat receiving two bullets in the head. His brutal death on this night in July, the first summary execution by the Maquis Lecoz, was perceived by the Germans as a provocation.

 During the summer of 1944 the Resistance attacks against the occupying Germans multiplied. On 14 July the young Resistants hoisted a Cross of Lorraine flag on the Donjon de Loches. Around Loches roads were blocked, railway tracks sabotaged and bridges dynamited. The Maquis Lecoz increased their provocative actions with snatching supposed collaborators and forcing the sons of Pétainists to join maquis groups. Lecoz's men frightened the local inhabitants and the Germans felt they had to respond."

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This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon A Time in Loches -- the Loches Maquis 1944

" During 1944 the Loches and Sud Touraine maquis set themselves up and prepared for resistance actions against the Germans. The following maquis (armed combattants) were the most active around Loches:

*The Maquis d'Eperon, directed by Commandant Constantini, nicknamed Eperon, in reference to the Governor of the Chateau de Loches in the 16th century. He brought together more than six hundred men, mostly those dodging the draft into the STD (German compulsory labour scheme) and former officers of the 32nd Infantry Regiment. The Maquis d'Eperon was under the command of ORA (Army Resistance Organisation) and its bases were mainly in the Forests of Preuilly and la Celle Guenand.

*The Maquis Césario, also under the command of ORA. Led by sub-Lieutenant Brétegnier, alias Césario, who gathered more than 270 men in the Forests of Manthelan and then Verneuil.

 

*The Groupe Franc-Tireurs et Partisans Francais (FTPF) was first put together in 1943 around the Loches Athletics Club Resistance hub before it was dismantled in July 1943. In 1944 it reformed under the leadership of Engineer Captain Imbert. Composed of about 150 men, it was close to the Communist Party. They operated successively from Perusson, Saint Hippolyte and then the Tivoli camp in Loches.

*The Maquis Lecoz is a specific case. It was a group of 155 men led by Captain Lecoz (real name Georges Dubosc). This fake captain and fake doctor founded his own maquis after having been rejected by Eperon. Known mainly for pillaging and summary executions, this 'black maquis' hung out initially in the Forest of Loches."

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Note: The 32nd Infantry Regiment was traditionally made up of men from the Touraine, so they were locals, who knew the geography and the people.

This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon A Time in Loches - the Resistance 1942 - 1943

 

"On 11 November 1942 the Germans crossed the Demarcation Line and entered the 'Free' Zone, without opposition from the French authorities. From then on, the whole of France was occupied.

Between 14 and 17 November 1942 the 32nd Infantry Regiment was demobilised -- a sign of the cooperation between the Vichy government and the Germans. The weapons and ammunition of the 32nd RI were supposed to be handed over to the Germans, but a portion was hidden and would come to be used by the Resistance.

From the beginning of 1943 opposition against Vichy grew and the Resistance was militarised. It was reinforced in February 1943 with the introduction of the Compulsory Work Service, which drafted young men born between 1920 and 1922 to be sent to Germany to work. Many man deserted and joined the Resistance. 

The Resistance took different forms. Those who wished to take up arms joined the maquis. A hub of the Secret Army was set up in Loches, around Fernand Auclert and Raymond Mallet. Of note too are more personal activities, such as André Renard, who worked for the Town Hall, and specialised in forging documents.

 The Loches Athletics Club, around its gymnastics intructor Emmanuel Marchenoir brought together a stronghold of the Resistance amongst the young sportsmen who were members. Denounced by one of the members, twelve youths and their instructor were arrested by the Gestapo during the nights of 30 June and 1 July 1943. Taken to prison in Tours, four were freed at the end of three months, but eight were deported. Five of them never returned."

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Note: The 32nd Infantry Regiment was traditionally made up of men from the Touraine, so they were locals, who knew the geography and the people.

This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

Once Upon a Time in Loches -- a 'Free' Town 1940 - 1942

 

"The town of Loches was not immediately in the 'free' zone. In fact, following an administrative error Loches found itself in the Occupied Zone from 21 June to 11 July 1940. The Germans set themselves up in Rue Picois and in the barracks on Place de Verdun for a month. From 11 July, after the error was rectified, it was the Vichy Army which were installed at both Loches and Perusson.

The daily life of the residents of Loches and the surrounding countryside in the 'Free' Zone had a routine dictated by requisitions and rationning. The ration cards and tickets were distributed by the Town Hall. They covered not only food, like bread, flour or eggs, but also supplies such as petrol, wood or even coal. Because of this, the black market and resourcefulness became the solution for many inhabitants, despite the difficulties and the illegality that it entailed.

The Vichy Regime controlled the town at different levels. A new sub-prefet and municipal council were appointed directly by the Government, who placed conviction Pétainists in charge of the town. Numerous streets were renamed, like the Manthelan road, which became Avenue Maréchal du Pétain. The local press was controlled and censored. The Ecole normale, which trained teachers, was closed. To ensure security in the area the 32nd Infantry Regiment, who were under the control of the Vichy Government, were installed in Loches, so it became a garrison town." 

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Note: The 32nd Infantry Regiment was traditionally made up of men from the Touraine, so they were locals, who knew the geography and the people.

This poster is part of an exhibition in the Chancellerie on 'Loches in 1944' https://www.ville-loches.fr/expositions-article-3-10-56.html

What is This Plaque About?

The short answer is nobody knows. But I will now proceed to write a long blog post with lots of speculation.

I've known of the existence of the plaque for some time, but only recently got to see it. Along with lots more people who will get to see it now, I paid a visit to Malcolm Motté's new joinery showroom [link]. It is off a courtyard that used to be private, which you enter from a corner of the market square in Preuilly.

Reading a thread on Facebook concerning the plaque it seems that some locals assume it is a funerary memorial. But before I read the thread that didn't occur to me. I thought it was something more joyous, celebrating a birth or a milestone for a much loved child. What is interesting is that the child in question, who clearly must have meant a great deal to whoever erected this unusual plaque, is female.

The plaque, which is carved limestone, isn't very big, and it's positioned rather high up on the wall. There is no indication if it is in its original position or has been brought here from elsewhere (for example, one suggestion is that it has come from a columbarium). But it doesn't seem to be a gravestone or marking a grave, although it is presumably a memorial of some sort.

It is not very difficult to read, but interpreting it is proving challenging for even our most informed local history sleuths. It says "Félicité Nabon Agée de 5 mois le Jour [illegible] Ap(rés/rit) sa Prem(ière) Robe 1809". Which would translate as 'Felicity Nabon Aged 5 months the Day [illegible] After/Took her First Dress 1809'.

According to Fabrice Doucet, who is my go to source for this sort of local history, Félicité Nabon was born on 18 December 1808. She was the daughter of Félicité Abraham and Mathieu Francois Xavier Nabon. Her father was from an old Preuilly family, a branch of which owned the Hotel l'Image on the other side of the market place to the house with the plaque. The young married couple had tied the knot on 15 February 1808 in Angers. The house that now has the plaque was owned at the time by Mathieu Nabon.

Fabrice can't find any record of little Félicité dying in 1809 though. He had done a bit of research because he'd been asked by my friend Christiane, who is a descendant of the Nabon family. She doesn't know the background to the plaque but was curious. However, Claudette, who grew up in our house, has been doing some rummaging in the archives and found a young woman named as Félicie Nabon, the daughter of Mathieu Nabon and Marie Abraham who died at the age of 17 at the Convent de la Grand Maison in Poitiers on 5 December in 1825. Could this be 'our' Félicité we all wonder? As Fabrice pointed out, she would have been very nearly 17 at that date. He added that this boarding school for young women in Poitiers, being close to Preuilly, may well have been popular with the local bourgeoisie. He'd like to see a bit more evidence, but thinks it is an interesting idea. He's not too bothered by the differences in the first names, as errors of transcription were very common at the time.

A Normandy Invasion Survivor

Several years ago we had the opportunity at Chateauroux to see and get on board the last French DC3 that is still airworthy. Like 70 others of its kind at the time in the mid-20th century, this plane crisscrossed the skies, wearing the livery of Air France.

 

The Douglas DC-3 (Dakota) that took part in the Normandy invasion, then saw service with Air France.

It was built in 1943 and participated in the Normandy Invasion of June 1944. Its job was to tow gliders and carry parachutists. Then in August 1944 it was down south, for the Allied landings in Provence. After the War and with Germany partitioned, it was one of the planes in the famous Berlin airlift (in French the name for this operation translates as the 'aerial bridge'.) Afterwards it carried celebrities and government officials, including President de Gaulle, and future President Mitterand, when he was a Minister of State.

 

  The plane has both a perspex dome (for celestial navigation using a sextant) and modern GPS based navigation.

Air France retired the plane in the 1970s and it became the Central African Republic President Bokassa's private plane, before being refitted as a cargo plane. Today it is a sort of flying historic monument, sponsored by Air France, making appearances at airshows around the country and legendary amongst aviation enthusiasts.

I've no doubt, as a Normandy Invasion survivor, this plane will be extra busy this year of the 80th anniversary of the famous Allied landings that signalled the beginning of the end of the Second World War in Europe. So if you are up in Normandy, do keep an eye out for it, and if you are as lucky as we were, you might even get the chance to hop onboard and get a feel for what it was like to fly.

 

A Longtime Reader Is No More

Regular and longtime readers of the blog will no doubt be familiar with comments from someone calling themselves 'chm'. This is our old friend Charles Henry Michel, resident in the US since the seventies, but French born and raised. I learnt yesterday that he died on Friday. He was 99 years old, and had been bedridden, living in an aged care home (and complaining about the food) for several years.

 

A gathering of 10 different nationalities of bloggers at our place in June 2012. Charles Henry is fourth from the left, standing in the back row, next to Simon and behind me.

He had been reading the blog, and adding his thoughts, insights, anecdotes and opinions on a frequent basis since 2007, so almost from the start. He found us through his friend Ken's blog Living the Life in Saint-Aignan. Saint-Aignan sur Cher is not that far from us, and it was Ken who introduced us in person when Charles Henry came to visit.

He was a tall, charming, elegant and handsome man, even in his 80s when we first knew him, always dressed in white, with a good head of white hair and a beard. He had grown up in a family of artists and doctors from what I understood from his stories, and every year until his health prevented it he would spend the summer in France.

 

Charles Henry, centre, with Ken on the left and me with my back to the camera, in Saint Savin in June 2009.

I knew I could count on him if I had a question about mid-20th century French life, or the proper way to prepare some delicacy, or for a steer towards extra information about some historical object or place. There wasn't much about French culture he didn't know about or wasn't interested in, and he was always willing to share his knowledge and experience.

Curious and generous minds like his are always a loss, and the blog and our lives are richer for having him involved, and will be poorer having lost him.

Demarcation Line Exhibition

The original Demarcation Line sign from Azay sur Cher. The mayor pointed out to me that there is a spelling mistake in the French on the bottom line.

Recently Preuilly hosted a really interesting locally curated exhibition on the Ligne de la demarcation, the border between 'Free' France and Occupied France in the first couple of years of the Second World War. Our area, the Sud Touraine, was divided by this border and so experienced it up close and personally. 

A sign pointing to German headquarters.

 

The following text is my translation of the introduction to the exhibition catalogue.

September 3 1939 was when the so called 'Phoney War' started for the French armed forces, most of which was restricted to the fortifications on the Maginot Line. On May 10 1940 the Wehrmacht descended on the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and the north-east of France.

The courage of the invaded countries' armies was not enough to stop the larger and better equipped enemy. There were numerous dead, wounded and prisoners from this Blitzkrieg. One month after this action, on June 14 1940, the victorious soldiers of the Third Reich marched in Paris, which had been declared an open city.

In France, the armistice was signed on June 22 1940 at Rethondes (Oises) in the railway carriage that symbolised victory in 1918 for the French and defeat for the Germans. The Hexagon* found itself parcelled up into zones and Article 2 of the Armistice agreement brought into being on June 25 a Demarcation Line between an Occupied Zone and a Zone known as  'Free' or 'nono' ('non occupée). The Government of the 'Free' Zone was installed at Vichy (Allier) with Marshall Pétain at its head. He took the title of French Chief of State on July 11.

La Demarkationslinie or green line owed its name to the colour of the line on the joint map from the Armistice agreement. The Germans had wanted that because in 1918 the territories on their soil which were occupied by the Allies were delineated by a green line. The text referring to this interior border delineated 43 occupied counties in the north and west, 34 in the 'nono' Zone and 13 cut in two. Indre et Loire belongs to this last group. A village could be crossed by this artificial boundary, like Cussay, and a number of farms woke up with their buildings on one side of the line and their land on the other. The first line didn't satisfy the occupying authorities and they decided to modify it to suit their aims. This took place in the night of December 14-15 1940, and a new definitive line was imposed on everyone.

This separation line was simultaneously political, military and economic.

 Key dates in Preuilly sur Claise during World War II. 

• June 1940 Preuilly was bombed and several days later the Germans entered the town and occupied it.
• July 1940 Preuilly was transferred to the 'Free' Zone.
• November 1942 the Germans invaded the 'Free Zone and by March 1943 they occupied all of France.
• July 1944 Resistance fighters in the forest were betrayed and ambushed by 1000 German troops with tanks in an action known as the Battle of Pechoire.
• August 1944 the Resistance and the Germans held a meeting with a view to brokering an agreement to ensure peaceful passage of retreating German troops. Preuilly's mayor acted as personal guarantor that the Germans would not be attacked (and was prepared to pay with his life if the Germans were not given safe passage by the Resistance).
  
• September 1944 Allied aircraft attacked the Germans hiding in the forests around Preuilly. The next week 180 000 retreating German troops passed through Preuilly.
• October 1944 the mayor was confirmed in his position and a new Liberation council was put in place.
  

Ration cards.

Forged identification papers.

Further reading: The Etudes sur la Résistance en Indre et Loire (Studies on the Resistance in Indre et Loire) website http://eril37etcentrecom.wifeo.com.

In Memory of a Soldier From 1914-18

"A victim amongst all those others, but not officially recognised as 'Mort Pour la France'."

Plaque on the grave of Valentin Paillet in the cemetery of Boussay, mentioning "died in his family from his war wounds" at the age of 31 years.

This is a guest post, written by Fabrice Doucet, who is an amateur local historian with a particular interest in the First World War and Preuilly. With his permission, and some AI help, I've translated a post he wrote for Armistice Day last year on a Facebook group that we both belong to, and used his photos.

On this November 11, 2022, let us recall the tragic destiny of a soldier from Boussay during the First World War. Valentin PAILLET, born on September 1, 1888 in Martizay, is the son of Silvain Paillet (farmer) and Virginie (Rose) Vignault. He was mobilized in the 90th Infantry Regiment of Châteauroux and joined his posting on August 3, 1914. He was wounded for the first time by a piece of shrapnel on April 25, 1916 at "Hill 304" near Verdun. After his convalescence, he was posted in July 1916 to the 54th Infantry Regiment, originally based in Compiègne. 

He was evacuated from the front seriously wounded during the battle of the Somme, on September 25, 1916 at Bouchavesnes, because of a "wound in the right temporal region caused by shrapnel". He was awarded the Military Medal and the Croix de Guerre in October 1916. It tells us a little more about the circumstances: "very brave soldier telephonist, absolutely dedicated. Repeatedly volunteered to go and repair the lines under violent shelling. He was seriously wounded during one of his dangerous missions". He was then hospitalised in Bordeaux where surgeons specialising in complex operations on the faces of the "gueules cassées" were stationed. The disfigured faces of these thousands of soldiers will be one of the symbols of the horror of this war. Valentin Paillet went before the special discharge commission of Bordeaux on April 7, 1917 for "complete loss of bone substance in the right parieto-temporal region and left hemiplegia". Discharged category n°1 with a bonus, he was "struck off the rolls" and sent back to his home in Boussay on November 30, 1917, 14 months after his injury. 

He stayed in Boussay with his parents in the hamlet of  Roux and died of his war wounds on May 18, 1920. In spite of his eloquent military citation, he was not recognized as "Mort pour la France", the deadline for recognition being October 24, 1919. In spite of this, the municipality of Boussay decided at the time to inscribe his name on the Monument aux Morts located in the cemetery. Steps taken jointly in recent years with his great niece Jacqueline Paillet have not allowed the official attribution of the mention "Mort pour la France", for lack of being able to demonstrate by a document of the time the cause of death... However, the soldier's career, the plaque on his grave and the family memory leave no room for doubt.  

NB : his brother-in-law Martial Hélias (husband of Marie Louise Paillet) was a cabinetmaker in Preuilly.

War memorial in the cemetery of Boussay (37) where the name of Valentin Paillet is inscribed with the date "1920".

Postcard of soldiers of 14-18 wounded in the face, called the "broken heads" (Versailles June 28, 1919). The writing on the card says "Congress of Peace, Versailles, 28 June 1919, Delegation of the Mutilated -- French."

Grave of Valentin Paillet in the cemetery of Boussay.

Portrait of Valentin PAILLET soldier in the 90th IR of Châteauroux (family archives).

Ruth Mold Walter 31.12.1930 to 19.10.2023

My mother died yesterday. She was 92 years old, virtually blind, deaf and suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. After discussions with her doctors she had been taken off all medication apart from pain control and put into end of life care a few days earlier. She died in the excellent Aged Care facility where she has lived since 2016. My father was there at the end, holding her hand.

A family photo from 1986. My mother is seated, I'm on the left. My sister is in the middle, Dad on the right. And the dog.

Throughout all of this my sister has been everyone's pillar of strength. She made sure Dad was prepared, it was her who met with all the medical staff, and kept me fully informed. Everything has been organised and she has made it extremely easy for me. Considering how many people my age I come across with completely uncooperative siblings, I am aware of how lucky I am. The death of a parent is one of the most difficult things to deal with for those of us who live far away.

My mother presenting me to my great-grandmother in 1960. The other family members are an uncle, a great-aunt and an aunt.

My mother was short, clever, hard working and energetic, a bit bolshie, a bit loud, creative and with the confidence to turn her hand to anything. She liked to cook, garden, sew, paint a bit, go botanising, camping and do puzzles. She met my father in New Zealand when they were both taking a sort of gap year. She was working as a waitress, he was working as a shearer. It was more or less love at first sight and she supported him in everything. My sister sent me all her diaries, so we know.

Mum birdwatching on Iluka Beach, New South Wales, in 2003.

She was the daughter of English immigrants, born in Melbourne, Australia. Her father was a builder and joiner, her mother was a housewife, and she had a younger brother, who became a dairy farmer. When she left school she had a choice of careers -- she could have gone to work for her father, or train as a nurse or a teacher. She chose nursing, getting qualifications in general nursing, surgery and midwifery. All her married life she managed a career and our family, keeping us fed in clean comfortable surroundings. For the last half of her career, after I and my sister had left home, she specialised in geriatric and end of life care, working as a domicilary nurse.

Mum heading off to golf in 2002. The golf cart wasn't road legal, but the golf course was only a block away. This method of getting to and fro continued until the local police sergeant noticed and had a word.

I wanted to tell an anecdote that gave a flavour of how she was, and the one which springs to mind is from when she visited us in London. We were travelling on the Underground, no doubt going to some museum or other, and she was seated next to a tall handsome black man wearing a pair of beautiful distressed leather trousers, a complete stranger, of course. She turned to him with a friendly smile, patted him on the leg and said 'I like your trousers. Where did you get them?' The rest of us were open mouthed with horror -- not only had she spoken to a stranger on the Underground, she had manhandled them!! Luckily the cool dude in the leather must have had a rather wonderful embarrassing provinicial Mum who chatted with everyone too, and he smiled back and answered her question. 

My mother in 2006, at Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia. A couple of days after I took this photo, Simon emailed me a photo from Loches market and we had started the process of buying a house in the Touraine Loire Valley in France.

Now she has died she will be cremated and we will have a memorial service when everyone can be together. Her ashes will be scattered in a nature reserve that she and my father help to establish.

Mum seated right, Dad on the left, me behind Mum, my sister behind Dad. This is 2018, the last time I saw my Mum.

My family is very grateful to everyone at the Aged Care facility. They have all been so kind and respectful. My father, my sister and I are very touched.