This memorial is dedicated to the Pommiès Free Corps (Corps Franc Pommiès or CFP), a prestigious detachment of the Résistance who, by sabotaging the Hispano-Suiza (Alstom) factory, spared the population the cruel consequences of aerial bombardment during the Second World War.

This army, organised by General André Pommiès turned the Magnoac region into a hard nucleus of the French Résistance. Born in 1904 in Bordeaux, Lieutenant Colonel Pommiès had trained in the information services, retaining his military contacts and a sense of organisation.

In 1940, Pommiès refused to accept the defeat. He was given the task of secretly mobilising an army in the High and Low Pyrenees, the Landes and the Gers regions.

The Free Corps was very actively involved in the liberation of the country. In fact, the Pommiès Free Corps was one of the main constituents of the Army Résistance Organisation (Organisation de Résistance de l'Armée or "ORA") in the southern zone.

On the very day the Army was disbanded, 17 November 1942, Captain André Pommiès decided to create a Free Corps on the territory of the 17th and 18th military divisions (the south west). In each département, an officer was appointed to set up a clandestine unit. For two years, "maquisards" (members of the Résistance) from the Free Corps were used in transporting weapons and equipment, parachute drops and sabotage of the principal means of transport and energy production used by the occupying forces in the region. At the end of 1943, the southern zone was 30,000 strong and the northern zone 15,000.

Alerted by messages from the BBC, on 6 June 1944 Pommiès called on all his personnel (12,000 men) to use guerrilla tactics and intensify their destructive actions. After the Allied landings in Provence on 15 August 1944, battles for liberation succeeded guerrilla warfare. The Pommiès Free Corps took Auch, Pau and Tarbes. He was then given the mission of preventing members of the Wehrmacht, the Gestapo and collaborators from crossing to Spain. Whilst one section of the forces of the Pommiès Free Corps was maintained in the Pyrenees to guard the border, the other sections headed to the northeast. After crossing France, they met up with the army of General de Lattre de Tassigny at Autun and took part in the fighting for the liberation of the town between 7 and 9 September 1944.

On 24 September, fighters from the Pommiès Free Corps were incorporated into the body of the 1st Army. Now having become regular soldiers, they took part in the Vosges campaign and then that of the Alsace, most famously taking the strategic heights of le Drumont and le Gommkopf. In February 1945, the Pommiès Free Corps became the 49th Infantry Regiment (49e Régiment d'Infanterie or 49e RI), a former regiment of Bayonne with a glorious past, adopting its flag with a black star. On 1 April, the regiment arrived in Germany and advanced towards its final objective, Stuttgart, which it took on 21 April 1945. From its foundation up until the Liberation, the C.F.P was to carry out 900 military operations. The human cost was particularly heavy: 387 killed and 156 deported.
On 6 June, former members of the network came to join in private prayer during an anniversary ceremony. In June 2003 a museum area was opened in the café "Bouges" in the centre of Castelnau-Magnoac, which served as a letter drop for the maquis (Resistance fighters).
 

Memorial and museum of the Pommiès Free Corps

Esplanade Village 65230 Castelnau-Magnoac

Tel: + 33 (0) 5 62 99 81 41

Site du musée

Tourist Information Office

Maison du Magnoac 65230 Cizos

Tel. + 33 (0) 5.62.39.86.61

Fax: + 33 (0) 5.62.39.81.60

Tourist Office

3, Cours Gambetta 65000 Tarbes

Tel.: + 33 (0) 5.62.51.30.31

Fax: + 33 (0) 5.62.44.17.63

E-mail: accueil@tarbes.com

Located in a magnificent green setting in the heart of the city, the Massey Museum was born out of the dreams and desires of a man from Tarbes, Placide Massey. Placide Massey was the manager of the Le Trianon tree nursery and the vegetable garden of the Queen at Versailles. On his retirement he decided to build a villa on land purchased in Tarbes, where he had already created a park planted with rare species. On his death in1853, he bequeathed some of his properties to the city of Tarbes: a remarkable garden and an unfinished project for a museum, an oriental style building, dominated by an observation tower looking on to the Pyrenees, the work of the architect Jean- Jacques Latour. The town has since fulfilled the gardener's dream: the rare species garden has now been given the label of "remarkable garden" and is open for everyone to enjoy and the museum has been given the label "Museum of France".

The Massey Museum is closed to the public as the building and its collections are currently undergoing a large-scale phase of reconstruction and renovation.
In 2005 the works were entrusted to the Parisian architectural firm Dubois et Associés, who have outstanding references testifying to their sound experience in redeveloping museums: the Museum of Fine Arts in Caen, Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon and the Toulouse Lautrec Museum in Albi. In 2009 the Massey Museum's collections were transferred to modern and practical stores installed on the site of the former weapons store, the 103. This completely renovated former tobacco factory is now a "centre for conservation and heritage studies" and is also home to the city's archives. Now emptied of all its objects, the Museum can at last undergo a face lift. The work that started in June 2009 will be finished at the end of 2011. The façade already offers a glimpse of the quality of the restoration work in anticipation of the interior renovations. The public will be able to visit a modern building designed to respond to the requirements for conservation of the public collections, as a record of society and respond to the expectations of as wide an audience as possible. Everyone, whether or not they are an expert, should be able to experience a moment of pleasure, conviviality or culture in this magnificent setting.
The tour covers the first two floors where the museum's two largest collections are to be displayed: the historical collection of the Hussars and the fine arts collection. The ground floor and some of the first floor will be devoted to the history of the hussars. The two large rooms on the first floor have been reserved for displaying the fine arts collections. 1 - The international Hussars collection: The Hussars collection was built up from 1955 onwards by Marcel Boulin, who was then the museum curator. This collection, which is now of international importance, links the breeding of Anglo-Arab horses with the presence of the regiments of Hussars in garrisons in Tarbes. The public displays in the new museum will present the chronological history of the Hussars from 1545 to 1945.
The major stages in the museum tour will put the emphasis on the tactical originality which gave birth to the "hussar phenomenon", to its expansion across the world from the 16th to the 20th centuries and to the continuity of its Hungarian origins in the identity and the role of Tarbes as a place where this is preserved for France. Two hundred full-sized models and busts, six hundred weapons and a hundred paintings by artists such as Horace Vernet, Ernest Meissonnier and Edouard Detaille will tell the eventful history of the hussars from thirty different countries. Epic events as well as more personal ones will be recalled through accurate text, original exhibits, specially selected illustrations and the use of new multimedia technology.
2 - The fine arts collection Achille Jubinal, a lover of art and Member of Parliament for the Hautes-Pyrénées département, was the founder in the 19th century of the Massey Museum's fine arts collection. He formed his collection of major works from the Italian school of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Dutch and Flemish schools of the 16th and 17th centuries and the French schools of the 18th and 19th centuries through an intermediary network of friends and political connections. His initiative led to further donations, such as those from the Fould family and the Academic Society of the Hautes-Pyrénées. Other important works granted by the State came to further enrich the collections. In the new rooms on the first floor the Massey Museum will display a selection of the most distinctive works. The setting up of temporary exhibitions will provide a greater insight into the works held in the stores. The public will thus be invited to discover and enjoy the masterpieces displayed on a themed tour, where mythology and the religious arts have an important place.
Massey Museum Mairie de Tarbes Massey Museum- BP 1329 65013 TARBES cedex 09 Tel.: + 33 (0)5.62.44.36.90 E-mail: musee@mairie-tarbes.fr

Mont-Valérien was a medieval hermitage and later a popular place of pilgrimage from the 17th to 19th centuries. In the middle of 19th century one of the forts forming part of the Parisian belt was built there. During the Second World War, the site was the German authorities' principal place for executions in France. From 1944 onwards, thanks to support from General de Gaulle and the work of the organisations of the families of those who were shot, it became a memorial site. The Mémorial de la France combattante was built there in 1960 and in 2010 new museum exhibition areas were opened.

Throughout the Second World War, Mont-Valérien was used by the Germans as a place for executing resistance fighters and hostages. The prisoners were shot in a sunken glade. Recent historical research has allowed the identification of more than a thousand of those who were shot.

On the 1st November 1944, General de Gaulle paid tribute to the dead of the Résistance by first of all engaging in private prayer in the glade at Mont-Valérien, before continuing to the fort at Vincennes, another place where shootings were carried out in Paris, and finally to the cemetery in Ivry-sur-Seine, the main burial place of those from the Île-de-France area who were shot. In 1945, Mont-Valérien was chosen by General de Gaulle as the site of the monument to those who died in the 1939-1945 war.

The bodies of fifteen servicemen, symbolising the various forms of combat carried out for the Liberation, were placed in a temporary crypt and joined in 1952 by a sixteenth body representing soldiers in Indochina who fought against the Japanese. A 17th vault was later prepared to receive the remains of the last Companion of the Liberation.

In 1954, an urn containing the ashes of deportees was placed in the crypt. Having become President of the Republic, General de Gaulle decided to create the Mémorial de la France combattante, which was designed by Félix Brunau and inaugurated on the 18th June 1960.

At the beginning of 2000, it was decided to build a monument to those who were shot at Mont-Valérien, which was designed by Pascal Convert. Engraved upon it are all the names of those shot at Mont-Valérien, along with a dedication: "To the resistance fighters and hostages shot at Mont-Valérien by Nazi troops 1940-1944 and to all those who have never been identified".

For a long time Mont-Valérien has remained just as it was, which gives it a great evocative power. Since 2006, the site has been the subject of a special drive by the remembrance, heritage and archives department of the Ministry of Defence to carry out developments to provide the general public with the written resources necessary for an understanding of this important and complex, unrecognised place of national remembrance.

Located on the esplanade of the Mémorial de la France combattante, the information centre allows visitors to consulter biographical papers, as well as digitalised letters, photographs, and archive and Ile-de-France documents about those who were shot, using interactive terminals.

A special area is devoted to the Companions of the Liberation. In addition, there are screens showing archive images of the history of the shootings and about the Mémorial de la France combattante and the ceremonies that have been held there. A permanent exhibition "Résistance and repression 1940-1944" is held in the old stable building. Dedicated to the Résistance, those who were shot and repression in the Ile-de-France area, it helps to put Mont-Valérien in a historical and geographical context.

The exhibition thus retraces the development of the policies of repression and the journey of those who were shot, from their arrest and internment up to their execution. It shows the various places of imprisonment, execution and burial in the Ile-de-France. The central part is more intimate and dedicated to the last letters of those who were shot, the last traces left for their families, which bear witness to the commitment and martyrdom of these men.
 

Le Mont Valérien

Avenue du Professeur Léon Bernard 92150 Suresnes

Tel.: + 33 (0) 1 47 28 46 35

Email: info@montvalerien.fr

Tours of Mont-Valérien are free and guided; they last an hour and thirty minutes and are at set times, every day except Monday: Low Season*: 10h00, 15h00 High season*: 9h30-11h00, 14h30-16h00 Groups of more than 10 people by appointment only

The reception and information Centre is open every day except Monday, Low season*: 9 am to 12 pm and 1pm to 5 pm High season*: 9 am to 12 pm and 1pm to 6 pm Low season: November-February, July-August High season: March-June, September-October

How to get to the Memorial BY TRAIN: The Paris Saint Lazare to Versailles line to Suresnes station BY RATP: RER line A La Défense or line no. 1 La Défense and then bus no. 360 (Mont Valérien or Hôpital Foch Cluseret stops) BY TRAMWAY: Val de Seine T2 La Défense to Issy-les-Moulineaux - Suresnes: Longchamp Station BY CAR: Porte Maillot - Pont de Suresnes The site is closed to the public on the 1st January, 15th August, 1st November and 25th and 31th December.

This chapel, now fully restored, was erected in 1927. It is unique in the annals of aviation. It renders homage to the pioneers of aviation who have died between 1912 and the present day.

In 1908, the village of Lescar hosted the first flying school ran by the Wright Brothers. It was there on 9 January 1909 that they succeeded the first 7 minutes flights, then 4 minutes. This was also the school that trained the first three French pilots: Paul Tissandier, Count de Lambert and Captain Lucas Girardville.

The 100 acres of the Pont-Long airstrip prefigured the current school of airborne troops (ETAP). The site is maintained by the Aviation Memorial Chapel Friendly Society and the Guynemer Hangar.

Aviation Memorial Chapel

Route d'Uzein 64230 Lescar

Tel: +33 (0)5 59 77 83 32

Open Thursday 10.00 am to 12.00 pm and 2-6 pm

Visits by appointment

Admission: Free

Mobile: +33 (0)6 13 69 21 67

Website: www.aviation-memorial.com

Fort du Portalet, in the Pyrénées-Atlantique, was designed to defend the road from le Somport (Aspe Valley) and is famous for having been used as a prison for Léon Blum, Edouard Daladier, Georges Mandel and Paul Reynaud in 1941 and 1942 and later for Marshal Pétain. It was built following an order given by Louis-Philippe on the 22nd July 1842 to protect the Pyrenees border from a possible Spanish invasion.

The structure was built at an altitude of 765 metres on a cliff on the right bank of the Gave d'Aspe, downriver from Urdos. It takes its name from the former medieval commercial toll bridge, le "Portalet", of La Porte d'Aspe, situated 100 metres further down. The accommodation comprises a barracks for the troops and officers' lodge, both built on two levels. A small upper fort of three bastions equipped with batteries, protects the lanes from the le Rouglan plateau and la Mâture. The road and the Urdos were covered by the creation of crenulated galleries carved into the rock. Equipped with around ten canons, the stronghold could accommodate more than 400 men and seal off access for a siege lasting at least a week.
The 18th Infantry Regiment of Pau was stationed there from 1871; it remained there until 1925. From there, it saw action from 1875 to 1876 against Spanish Carlist soldiers. On the eve of the First World War, the fort was left in civilian hands and remained so until 1940, when the Vichy regime interned those people deemed to be "responsible for the defeat" following the Riom trial. Amongst them were Léon Blum, Edouard Daladier, Georges Mandel, Paul Reynaud and Maurice Gamelin. When, in November 1942, the Free Zone was invaded, the sector was used as a position for German troops. The fort was liberated on the 24th August 1944 by Resistance fighters from Aspe and Spanish Guerillas. Following the liberation, between August and November 1945, le Portalet was used as a place of internment for Marshal Pétain before he was transferred to the island of Yeu.
Aspe Valley Tourist Information Office Place Sarraillé 64490 Bedous Tel.: + 33 (0) 5 59 34 57 57 Email: aspe.tourisme@wanadoo.fr

The capital of the Basse-Navarre and an important crossing route over the Pyrenees, Saint Jean Pied de Port, known in Basque as Donibane Garazi, was founded at the end of the 12th Century under the reign of the last kings of Navarre to protect the course of the river and access to the Roncevaux and Bentarte passes. Built on the site of the former fortified château of the kings of Navarre, the Citadel, which has recently been restored, looks over the walled town. It is a fine example of the defensive system of "Vauban-style" fortifications, with a glacis, moats, walls flanked by bastions with arrow loops, firearms, swing bridges, draw bridges and portcullis.

Constructed by Chevalier Deville in 1628 under the reign of Richelieu, during a time of religious wars and Franco-Spanish conflicts, it was later modified by Vauban. Vauban improved the defensive system, which consisted of four bastions, and planned outlying forts such as the redoubts, as well as the fortification of the whole of the town - only the first part of the project would be carried out. It is accessed by a ramp. In the western demi-lune there is a view over the town and the Cize basin. Around the internal courtyard and against the ramparts constructed above the underground vaulted casemates, are huddled the barracks, the governor's quarters and chapel, the powder stores and the well.
It was from this military position that in 1793 and 1794 all the expeditions against Spain were carried out, during which the Volunteers and later, the 10 companies of Basque Chasseurs distinguished themselves under the command of the would-be Marshal Harispe. In 1814, the Citadel did not succumb under pressure from Anglo-Hispanic-Portuguese troops and the war ended before it surrendered. During the 1914-18 war, German prisoners and French disciplinarians were held there. The premises would be used as a barracks until 1923.
Between 1936 and 1939, having become council property, the Citadel accommodated 500 Basque refugee children fleeing from the Spanish Civil War. The fortress is now home to a secondary education college.
Mairie de Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port 13 place Charles de Gaulle 64220 Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port Tél. : 05.59.37.00.92 Fax : 05.59.37.99.78 E-mail : mairie.stjeanpieddeport@wanadoo.fr Horaires d'ouverture du lundi au vendredi de 08h30 à 12h00 et de 14h00 à 17h30 Tourist Information Office 14, Place Charles de Gaulle 64220 Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port Tel. +33 (0) 5 59 37 03 57 Fax: +33 (0) 5 59 37 34 91 E-mail:saint.jean.pied.de.port@wanadoo.fr

Fort de Socoa in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques is a fine example of the combination of medieval military architecture and the Vauban-style system of fortifications. The border with the empire of Charles Quint became a concern for the kings of France from the 16th century onwards. The Basque region, a natural route towards Spain, was visited by several engineers. Henri IV wanted to build a fortress to protect Saint-Jean-de-Luz and the surrounding towns from Spanish invasion. However, a conflict of interests between the communities delayed the project, which was finally carried out by Louis XIII. In 1636, the Spanish invaded the coast, carried out building work and renamed the citadel "Fort de Castille". As a result of military reversals, the region returned to French sovereignty. The fort was finished and took the name Socoa. In 1686, Vauban, on an inspection visit in the Pyrenees, visited the Basque Country. He then suggested strengthening the Fort de Socoa by using the ruins left by the Spanish following the Thirty Years War. The engineer planned to construct a security jetty to improve access to the fort.

Construction work, which began shortly afterwards, lasted until 1698. It was managed by Fleury. As far as alterations were concerned, the tower was raised in height to two floors, which he crowned with parapets and a machicolation. The site also had a barracks and a chapel. The main enclosure, which was subsequently altered, would take on its present form under the Regency (1723). Besieged once more by the Spanish in 1793, the fort was occupied by British troops in 1814 who used it as a sort of defensive support for the bay, a place for supplying the men stationed inland. Once peace was restored, Fort de Socoa was repaired between 1816 and 1817.
Municipal Tourist Information Place Royale Telephone: +33 (0) 5 59 27 27 08 Fax: + 33 (0) 5 59 27 03 21 e-mail:omt@ville-pau.fr

Biarritz, a little whaling village, quickly became a popular holiday destination under the influence of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie.

In 1854, Napoleon III bought 20 hectares (50 acres) of land near the village of Biarritz and built the Villa Eugenie, the present-day Hôtel Impérial. The imperial chapel was built on the imperial domain in Biarritz by the architect Boeswillwald in 1865, at the imperial request of Eugenie de Montijo. It combines Romanesque-Byzantine and Hispano-Moorish styles. It is dedicated to the Mexican Black Madonna, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and was classified as a historic monument in 1981.

Built in brick, it comprises a single nave preceded by a porch and terminating in a semicircular apse. The interior is particularly remarkable: it combines different historicist styles and uses a variety of techniques and materials: azulejos, murals and enamel medallions. The painting by Steinheil in the semi-dome is the high point of the décor.

The building is undergoing a restoration campaign carried out by the Ministry of Culture’s Historic Monuments Service.

The Imperial Chapel

Rue Pellot 64200 Biarritz

Tel.: +33 (0)5 59 22 37 10

Opening Hours

Closed in January and February

March – November – December: Saturdays from 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm

April – May – October: Saturdays from 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm

June – July – August – September: Thursdays and Saturdays from 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm

Biarritz Town Hall

64200 Biarritz

Tel.: +33 (0)5 59 41 59 41

Castrum de Lapurdum, whose ruins can still be seen around the cathedral in Bayonne, already demonstrated its military purpose in Roman times. Over the centuries the town, a strategic crossing point towards Spain and a control point for river communications between the seafront and the inland region, was provided with significant defensive fortifications. The ramparts, as well as three fortified structures - the Château Vieux, the Château Neuf and the Citadel, all of which have for the most part been preserved - bear witness to this.

From the 15th century onwards, when Dunois' armies seized Bayonne on behalf of the King of France, Charles VII, the position of Bayonne became strategic. François 1st therefore equipped the town with a fort. Vauban modernised it from 1680 onwards. His arrival in the Pyrenees led to the redesigning of the system of defence for the Spanish border, in which Bayonne became the linchpin, supported by the citadels of Navarrenx and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. He supervised the construction and strengthening of the ramparts and gates. He also built and consolidated the buildings of the Château Vieux. The town's surrounding wall was also repaired and the old dungeon inside was demolished. Of particular note is the citadel he created on the right bank of the Adour, the Château Neuf. His accomplice, Ferry, oversaw the works. The citadel was in use in the 18th century and, in 1750, a garrison of 2,000 men was stationed there. In order to support the citadel, subsequent engineers built redoubts in the surrounding area to defend the town's Southern flanks. The Bayonne citadel saw its last military action in 1814 during confrontations between the Anglo-Hispanic-Portuguese troops led by Wellington and those of Marshal Soult. The premises are currently occupied by the 1st Marine Parachute Infantry Regiment (1er RPIMa). The citadel can be visited during open houses.
Office du tourisme Place des Basques - BP 819 64108 Bayonne cedex - France Tel. 05 59 46 09 00 E-mail : info@visitbayonne.com

The town of Seyre near Nailloux preserves the memory of some one hundred German Jewish children who stayed here. They stayed from the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1941 and left lively drawings on the walls of the Château’s outbuildings.

Having become orphans after Kristallnacht and the wave of anti-Semitic actions that swept over Nazi Germany, many German Jewish children sought refuge in England, Belgium and France, where they were taken care of by charitable organisations.

Driven out of Belgium by the Wehrmacht’s offensive of May 1940, one hundred of them between the ages of 3 and 15 travelled for six days in cattle cars to Villefranche de Lauragais and then Seyre (10 km south of Villefranche de Lauragais and 4 km from Nailloux).

Upon their arrival, the mayor of Seyre and the owner of the Château and its outbuildings, Mr Capèle, took charge of them; at the time the latter held a high position in the French Red Cross.

The refugees’ living conditions were very modest for the eighty-five people (children and their caregivers): two rooms, a kitchen and toilets in the courtyard, no water and no heating.

Finding supplies was the main problem. The Swiss Red Cross, with which Mr Capel d'Hautpoul had contacts, sent sugar and powdered milk, but most of the food had to be found on site, which was very difficult. The basic foodstuff was boiled maize, called milla. The harsh winter of 1940-1941 led the Swiss Red Cross to find more comfortable lodgings for them.

The Château de La Hille in Ariège was chosen. On the walls of the village and the building, which is still called “the orphanage” to this day, the children left several colour drawings, such a the “Little Pigs”, a cat with a violin, the church and a watermill.

Town Hall

31560 Seyre

Tel.: +33 (0)5.62.71.26.25