History Lupinus-Mons (1041 ), Lupemons (1047), Lovus-Mons (1049), Lovonimons (1100), Lovemont (1242), Loupvemont, (1642), Louvemont then Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre (1922) Patron saint: St-Pierre-ès-Liens: 1st August A very old village The village is located 11 km north of Verdun at the source of the Louvemont spring that winds through the countryside before flowing into the Meuse. It includes two isolated farms: Mormont and Haudromont. Located on an ancient lower order way, the site already existed in Gallo-roman times (2nd century). A church built in the 11th century was consecrated to St Peter by a Roman Bishop named Azon. In 1265, Robert de Milan, bishop of Verdun, made the village a free town. In the 17th century, the choir of a new church was built, joined by the nave and bell-tower in 1778. The village was laid out in a star shape: several roads converged on a square where the town hall-school was surrounded by the cemetery. In the 19th century, the population of the village reached its peak in 1846 (300 inhabitants), before gradually declining. 183 inhabitants in 1914 On the eve of the war, the Meuse directory listed: Owner-farmers: Beaumont E., Boulanger M., Colson E., Colson J., Louis C, Legendre E., Legendre M., Mazuet M., Mouteaux L, Siméon E. Inn-keepers: Lelorrain, Trouslard, Véry Tobacconist: Véry Baker: Colson Grocer: Trouslard. Novelties: Ligony Locksmiths: Jacquemin, Péridon, Véry Notable of private means: Geoffroy F. Forestry agent: Hargé Mayor, Cantonal Delegate and Member of the Consultative Chamber of Agriculture: Beaumont Deputy Mayor: Lefèvre A. School teacher: Bourguignon Priest: Abbé Jullot (Parish of Beaumont)

Five horrifying days of battle Following the Battle of the Borders (August 1914), the front was located 6.7km from the village, to the north of Beaumont. The future was uncertain for the inhabitants, who lived by the sound of canon fire. Movements for civilians were restricted, and a pass required to go anywhere. In October 1914, the front was pushed back a few kilometres by a French offensive, where it stabilized.
However, tension mounted again at the beginning of 1916. The Germans were about to attack, but where? When? Doubtless as soon as the first days of good weather appeared. On 12th February, the military authorities ordered the inhabitants of Louvemont to evacuate the town within 24 hours. The Prefecture for the Meuse had problems finding accommodation for the new refugees. Starting at 6.30 in the morning on 21st February 1916, Louvemont was subjected to a terrible bombardment. Following the fall of Le Bois des Caures, Beaumont and Ornes, Colonel Bourgues believed the village to be lost by the 24th. In fact the defenders of Louvemont resisted until the evening of the 25th: "The village was hell; at intervals of a few minutes, you would see the German artillery fire stretch out and an attacking wave would rush forward. The defenders would then come out with their bayonets, and everything would be lost in the smoke and the fine snow that had begun to fall. A few moments later, the same scene would begin again." Almost ten months before recapture For months, the area was the scene of fierce fighting: the Côte du Poivre was re-occupied, then lost once more. Finally, on 15th and 16th December 1916, General Mangin made a leap forward with four divisions, from Vacherauville to the Hardaumont wood; the Germans left the ruined Côte du Poivre, Louvemont and Bezonvaux for good.
1919 - After the war The happiness of peace... the desolation of homecoming With the Armistice signed, the refugees could not wait to return to their homes. Sadly, the 825 hectares of the completely destroyed village, were classified as a "red zone". It would be totally impossible for anybody to reinhabit the site, the reasons ranging from "risk of explosion" to "land poisoned". The entire commune was planted with spruce trees. The scattered inhabitants were re-housed in temporary wooden huts... until they were able to rebuild houses. In 1922, the inhabitants were at last able to go to the tax office in Bras in order to be paid for the requisitions made by the military during the war: live cows, hay, wood, etc. At that time, the town administration was still being handled by Rigny-la-Salle near Vaucouleurs. Keeping the memory alive On 9th September 1920, Louvemont was mentioned in dispatches by André Lefèvre, Minister for War. On 4th May 1930, Louvemont inaugurated a monument to its dead. Attended by Mr. Remy, Deputy Mayor of Louvemont, Mr. Colson, representing the former soldiers, Victor Schleiter, Mayor and Deputé for Verdun, Abbé Bonne, priest for Bras, and the population of Louvemont who had come from all over the region. A tribute to those who remain out of the thousands of men who lost their lives in the region, to the children of the area - Joseph Boulangé, Emile Colson, Joseph Colson, Georges Lefèvre, Jules Legendre, Ernest Siméon, Jules Simon and Trouslard -, as well as the two civilians, - Céline Jacquemin and Victor Caillas -, who refused to leave their village. On 31st July 1932, the Louvemont chapel was inaugurated. Located on the site of the demolished church, it keeps watch over the old cemetery, most of the graves from which could not be found. The chapel is adorned with two works by Lucien Lantier.
A plan to recreate aspects of the village in this verdant setting Thanks to a number of organisations, including the National Forestry Organisation, the Verdun Area local authorities, the inter-community body for the villages destroyed in 1916, the Municipal Commission of Louvemont, and the EAGGF, a number of different projects have offered visitors a chance to see what Louvemont might have been like. A double stand of limes and maples» line the route to the heart of the village from the road to Ornes, The spring with two pools, rebuilt using stone from the ruined village flows as it did before Behind the chapel wall, two lines of ash trees recall the Main Street, Stones give the outline of the Town Hall-school, Lastly the yew trees and giant Thuyas highlight the monument to the dead against a forest background.

History

Haumont près Samogneux is a very old village dating back to the first century of the Common Era. The Gauls had consecrated an altar to the Sun God there; later, the Romans established an entrenched camp on the same site. As its name indicates ("haut mont" means "high mount" in French), Haumont stands atop a relatively tall hill on the right-hand side of the Meuse that offers beautiful views. The place called "Le Soleil" ("The Sun"), which is in the village wood, is the highest point within the community's administrative boundaries. A Gallic altar dedicated to the sun once stood there. The Romans included the altar in an entrenched camp whose earthen levees are still visible. Big stones that ancient horsemen stepped on to help them mount their horses can still be seen along the Anglemont and Flauveau trails above the village. The soil has yielded up many ancient objects, including flint and iron weapons, coins, statuettes and bronze thanksgiving plaques. During the Carolingian period, the Roman camp and its surroundings took the name "Beuse" ("bad" in German) after the Germano-Gallic family of BOZON, which owned the Haumontois massif from Bezonvaux to Dun. The Thirty Years' War left Haumont in ruins. The lords of Haumont were the abbots of Saint-Vanne and the chapterhouse of Verdun

1914 

Haumont was evacuated on 25 August 1914. The village's civilian population scattered throughout the interior of France. In late September 1914, the front stabilized in this area, leaving Brabant and Haumont inside the French lines. This sector on the right bank of the Meuse was relatively quiet. The left bank was more violent, in particular near the Forges stream. Nevertheless, Haumont underwent shelling in 1915. The village church was seriously damaged on Sunday, 7 February 1915. Here's what Corporal Maurice Brassard of the 56th Light Infantry Battalion wrote (excerpt from Verdun 1914-1918 by Jacques Pericard - page 31) Sunday 7 February 1915, Haumont's church was bombarded, a sad sight, a shell blew up the pulpit, sending splinters of wood and iron flying every which way. No more stained glass windows, six pews destroyed, the front of Saint Hubert's altar shattered, the stag has lost its antlers and lies on the floor with his crook. A brass chandelier, poles, draperies, banners, metal bouquets and debris of all kinds: glass, wood, plaster. Heaps of all these things lie strewn on the pews and the floor amidst a thick coat of dust. A piece of wood is embedded in the painting of the 12th Station of the Cross, injuring the body of Christ with a sixth wound. The harmonium is flattened against the wall.
Decisive fighting began on 20 February 1916 as the Germans began preparing their fierce attack on Verdun, especially when the operations reached the Woëvre and the left bank. People could hear the incessant fire 100 km away. It sounded like uninterrupted rolling thunder and grew louder in the following months. At 7 a.m. on 21 February 1916, as the day was just breaking and heavy snow was falling, the German infantry attacked Haumont Wood at Herbebois. (Excerpts from Verdun by Jacques Pericard, first-hand accounts by Colonel Grasset and Lieutenant-Colonel Rousset's contribution to La guerre au jour le jour) The infantrymen of the 362nd IR, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bonviolle, defended the village of Haumont. The infantrymen of Haumont equalled the Chasseurs of Caures Wood. As soon as the attack began on 21 February 1916, the Germans concentrated their artillery fire on Haumont, which they suspected was one of our centres of resistance. They rained shells down with uncommon abundance on all the passages, ravines and crossroads that might be useful to us. The fire was so powerful that our forward lines gradually gave way and the Germans started overrunning Haumont Wood at around 6 p.m. The Germans attacked Haumont at 4 p.m. The equivalent of a battalion broke through in three simultaneous columns from the north, northwest and east. Those of our men who survived stiffened up to contain them and stop the outflanking manoeuvre. The machine guns that were still intact started continuously firing, mowing down the enemy's ranks.

1919 - After the war 

Every year on the third Sunday in September, a mass in remembrance of our forebears is celebrated in the chapel followed by a ceremony at the monument to the dead in memory of our ancestors who lived in this place, our parents who lost everything "their homes and their land" in defence of the imperilled homeland, and the valiant soldiers who fell on the field of honour and lay buried in the ruins of our village. Those heroes gave their lives so that France might live free. In 1920, Haumont and eight other villages were included in the "red zone" (some have come back to life and have inhabitants). Building in Haumont was prohibited for the following reasons: 1° - the amount of unexploded ordnance still lying buried in the soil (it is still being found today); 2° - pollution of springs caused by dead bodies rotting in the ground (men and horses); 3° - soil contaminated by mustard gas and other pollutants. In 1920, a three-member commission appointed by the prefect managed the village. They were invested with the full powers of a mayor and municipal councillors (law of 18/10/1919).

Bezonvaux stood at the foot of the hillside along the Meuse. In February 1916, caught between the main German attack aiming at Douaumont and the voluntary retreat of la Woèvre, the village could not be held. Afterwards, Bezonvaux remained in the combat zone and shelling gradually wiped the village out completely, even though it was of no strategic interest.

Bezonvaux stood at the foot of the hillside along the Meuse. In February 1916, caught between the main German attack aiming at Douaumont and the voluntary retreat of la Woèvre, the village could not be held. Afterwards, Bezonvaux remained in the combat zone and shelling gradually wiped the village out completely, even though it was of no strategic interest.
Population in 1803: 199 1851: 317 1901:173 Distances : 10 kilometres east-northeast of Charny sur Meuse 16 kilometres north-northeast of Verdun Post office: Ornes Maucourt tax office, Ornes annex Patron saint's feast day, 1st September (Saint Gilles) Bezonvaux stood on the floor of a valley surrounded by wooded hillsides and at the source of a stream called the Bezonvaux, a sub-tributary of the Orne. The community's population was much bigger once. In August 1252, La Neuveville in Besonval, along with Beaumont and Douaumont, was freed. Later, it was a sizeable seigneury owned by the dukes of Bar. Bezonvaux depended on the lord of Saulcy for a long time before coming into the possession of the lord of Etain. It was also the administrative seat of an eponymous provosty including Beaumont, Bezonvaux and Douaumont that belonged to the sovereign court of Nancy. Ca. 1750, the population included 20 heads of families. The baron of Coussey and the ladies of Juvigny were its lords then. In 1789, the abbess of Juvigny had the high seigneury and collected all the tithes. Industries: beekeeping, grains, livestock. (Excerpt from Géographie du département de la Meuse - H. LEMOINE-1909) In 1913, the directory of the Meuse gave the following information: 149 inhabitants - Land area: 923 hectares Distances: Muraucourt, a farm 600 metres away, 8 inhabitants; the mill, 150 metres away, 4 inhabitants Innkeepers: Mr. Nivromont - Widow Remoiville Beekeepers: Mssrs. Richard - Godfrin - Nivromont (mayor) - Savion Pierre. Tobacconist: Mr. Nivromont. Carpenters: Mssrs. Grenette E. - Grenette A. Bread merchant: Mr. Nivromont Grocer: Mr. Nivromont. Laundry women: Mrs. Lamorlette and Mrs. Trouslard. Pig dealer: Mr. Léonard. Sheep and cattle dealer: Mr. Féré G. Landowning farmers: Mr. Mathieu E. - Widow Trouslard-Mathieu - Trouslard E. Notables and persons of independent means: Mssrs. Gabriel N. - Lamorlette P - Savion P. - Wyns J.B. Lady of the Manor: Mrs. Trouslard (widow).
In September 1914, the 67th division held the front in this area; Ornes, Vaux and Abaucourt were behind French lines. In late 1914 and in 1915, the Germans, who occupied Ornes, shelled Bezonvaux on and off until the attack on 21 February 1916. On 24 February 1916, Ornes was still outside the battle but incessant attacks on the village began at 7 a.m. At approximately 5 p.m., the Germans massed opposite the village, straddling the road between Ornes and Chambrettes. At 6 p.m., squeezed on three sides, the garrison evacuated Ornes and reached Bezonvaux, where the 44th IR, which had dug in on the Bezonvaux front in Maucourt Wood, was located. After La Woëvre withdrew, the Germans appeared on the Bezonvaux road, Chemin de Douaumont, the artillery barrage that isolated the village facilitating their advance. The makeshift defences fell one after the other. On 25 February 1916, the 4th LIB and 44th IR desperately held out in the village. The Germans stepped up their attack and, at approximately 5 p.m., the line broke, with the battalion defending the village in hand-to-hand, house-by-house fighting. The Germans gradually tightened the noose and at dusk, after killing nearly all the defenders, took Bezonvaux. Douaumont Fort had fallen on the same day. The French troops withdrew to Fleury. From March to July the German troops, driven by an iron will, tried to cross the heights separating them from Verdun. They advanced more slowly than the general staff had expected and the line was stabilized from mid-July onward. It should be pointed out that at the same time, the Battle of the Somme was monopolising reserves of men and munitions.
The inhabitants discovered the destructiveness of modern warfare as early as the beginning of 1916. Their homes destroyed, their only choice was to leave. Hopes of "going home one day" gave them the strength to face the heartwrenching decision to abandon their property. For these men and women were fiercely attached to their land, which was not very generous and required hard work but was nevertheless that of their roots. The prospect of going back home one day was a precious source of support for these wretched refugees. Unfortunately, the reality in 1918 was quite different. The destruction was too widespread and the threat of unexploded munitions too great to allow rebuilding. This desolate landscape could no longer be a welcoming haven. In their deep distress they had nothing left but the possibility of working for national recognition and the survival of their village if only judicially. They pressured local officials, members of parliament and ministers, even speaking to President Raymond Poincaré, who was born in the Meuse region. Their efforts were successful. In 1919, a law endowed each destroyed village with a municipal commission and a chairman who had the same powers and prerogatives as a mayor. A chapel-shelter and, as in every village, town and city in France, a monument to the dead were built between the world wars. The monument was engraved with the names of native sons who had given their lives for their country and with the text of the army citation that the government awarded by decree. Three times a day, the tolling angelus recalls that the villagers who once lived in this forested site studded with stones of remembrance were deeply Christian.
On 24 October, General Mangin launched an admirably planned attack that took back Thiaumont, the fort and village of Douaumont as well as the village and battery of Damloup. A few days later, French troops entered Vaux Fort, which the Germans had just evacuated. The success of this operation, but also its incomplete nature, led the French military leaders to contemplate repeating such an attack with a limited objective on a front approximately 10 kilometres long. The date chosen was 15 December. Communications with the rear were re-established and the work necessary for setting up a sufficient number of guns was carried out. On 10 December the French began a fierce artillery barrage to soften up the German positions. At 10 a.m. on 15 December, French troops stormed the German lines from Vacherauville to Eix. Four of the French army's best divisions took part in the assault, in this order: the 126th, 38th, 37th and 133rd. In particular, three distinguished regiments making up the infantry of the 37th division - the 2nd and 3rd Zouaves and the 3rd Algerian Tirailleurs - left Douaumont Fort in the east, advancing all day long through snow, mud and barbed wire networks towards the front. Many soldiers ended up with frostbite. The attack started again at 2 a.m. on the 16th. The goal was to take Bezonvaux. The assailants captured two key points - Liubeck's fortification and the Kaiserslautern trench - before killing many Germans. Then the Zouaves met up with the chasseurs of the 102nd battalion belonging to the 133rd division. These brave men had reached the edge of the village on the previous day; however, the sizeable number of defenders and the organisation of the ruins blocked their advance. Despite a French artillery error and fierce German shelling, the French completely rid Bezonvaux of its previous occupiers. The attack did not surpass the objective set and the front in this sector remained stable for the next two years. The chapel's stained glass windows immortalise 16 December 1916, a day marked by the presence of soldiers dressed in mustard-khaki and others in sky blue side by side. After the fighting, the chasseurs of the 102nd LIB were nicknamed the "glaziers of Bezonvaux". The line, which the Germans held until the armistice on 11 November 1918, was materialized after the war by a helmeted marker set up on the departmental road that passed through the destroyed village, which died for France.

Beaumont seems to have been founded in 324, at the end of the Gallo-Roman period; its first name was "super fluvium orna" ("above the River Orne"). Afterwards the village was successively called Bellusmons, Blermont, Byaumont and Beaumont.

In the early Middle Ages the Abbess of Juvigny-sur-Loison had high seigneury rights over Beaumont, whose inhabitants paid her the tithe. In August 1252, Beaumont was freed by the Count of Bar and the Abbess of Juvigny. In 1635 and 1636, during the Thirty Years' War, Hungarian, Polish and Swedish troops ravaged the area, burning down villages and massacring the inhabitants. The population of Beaumont found refuge in fortified castle at Ornes but a plague epidemic broke out, killing 430 people, including 22 from Beaumont. Around 1700, Monsignor de Béthume, bishop of Verdun, elevated Beaumont to a presbytery. The first church built in the middle of the cemetery was replaced by another in 1786-1787, which stood on the site of the present First World War monument in the village centre. The Prussians then invaded Beaumont in 1815 and the Germans in 1870, when a regiment of cuirassiers entered the village on 24 August. Beaumont is 15 km northeast of Verdun. Its land area is 787 hectares. In 1911, the census recorded 186 inhabitants. In September 1914, Beaumont's residents were evacuated to southern France. From mid-August to mid-October, Beaumont was between the two lines, a six- to seven-kilometre wide no man's land stretching from Louvemont to the woods north of the village. The German artillery destroyed the church in early October. In mid-October, French troops occupied a line from the northern crescent of Caures Wood to Ville Wood and the hamlet of Soumazannes. All the land that was administratively part of the village was in the French zone until February 1916. Attack and capture of Beaumont - 24 February 1916. The relative quiet suddenly ended on 21 February 1916. Despite the chasseurs' heroic resistance, Caures Wood fell. Colonel DRIANT wanted to retreat to Beaumont, probably by the old Flabas road, which leads to Gobi (territory of Beaumont). When the columns emerged from Champneuville Wood, they came under withering German machine-gun fire. The colonel, who was bringing up the rear, was killed, but fragments of sections managed to reach Beaumont and reinforce the garrison there. 24 February was a crucial day. The sky was grey, snow covered the ground and it was bitterly cold. The battle for Beaumont was about to begin. In the village, components of two French regiments (four companies) fought off repeated attacks. As the troops of the 18th German Corps entered the village, machine guns firing from cellar windows mowed them down. The enemy formations, which were particularly dense, advanced so quickly, with each wave passing the previous one, that the French automatic fire seemed to overwhelm them and they suffered terrible losses. The Germans started systematically shelling the village again. When they attacked again they still met with resistance but the balance of forces was too uneven. A few troops managed to break through and reach Louvemont. Beaumont fell on the afternoon of 24 February 1916.
At 6 p.m. on the same day, silent hand-to-hand fighting continued in the woods near Joli-Coeur. To the west, a company's tattered remnants struggled to contain the Germans, who were trying to reach Anglemont Ridge. Suddenly a large, cheering party of Germans left Beaumont on the Rue du Moulin and reached the national road. This time the retreat was cut off. The battalion commander rallied a few company remnants (approximately 60 men), had a still-able-bodied bugler sound the charge, and thrust himself and this handful of brave men in front of the enemy on the Anglemont. Against all odds, the Germans stopped. Surprised, they did not even fire a shot. Better yet, they fell back, unaware of how exhausted the French troops were. The Germans did not try again, enabling the French to keep the road open as an escape route. Only when they were ordered to, on 25 February at 2 a.m., did the survivors of the 2nd Battalion of the 60th RI reach the côte du Poivre (Pepper Hill) by way of the Vaux meadow, Vacherauville ravine and Grillot Woods. "Partial reconquest of Beaumont - August 1917. The 32nd Army Corps including four infantry divisions led the attack in the Beaumont sector. From 20 to 26 August, the Germans turned the village into a formidable fortress, which underwent relentless shelling. On 26 August, two regiments, the 154th RI and the 155th RI, attacked but failed to take Beaumont, which remained in German hands. On 2 September, a final French offensive failed to retake the Beaumont sector. The US Army occupied Beaumont in the earliest days of November 1918.

1919 - The postwar period Beaumont was declared a "red zone", meaning that it was forbidden to rebuild the village and return the land to farming. In 1920, the prefect appointed a municipal commission. In 1925, a monument was built to the memory of the children of Beaumont who died for France. Afterwards, to honour the ancestors' memory and pay another tribute to the native sons who died on the battlefield, the interior of the cemetery was levelled, the walls raised and a monument erected engraved with the text of the army's citation to the village and the names of its war dead. The chapel was built in 1932-1933. In 1932, the decision was taken that on the fourth Sunday in September, the patron saint's feast day (Saint Maurice), "the former inhabitants and their families would gather to honour their dead and breathe the air of the land where they were born", a tradition that carries on today.

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

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

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

Château de La Hille in Montégut-Plantaurel, near Pailhès, preserves the memory of one of the darkest episodes in the history of Ariège; a hundred Jewish children, aged between 5 and 16, were the victims of the Vichy administration. Having become orphans following the Crystal Night and the wave of anti-Semitic operations that spread across Nazi Germany, a number of Jewish German children fled to England, Belgium and France where they were taken in by charitable organisations.

Chased out of Belgium by the Wehrmacht offensive in May 1940, a hundred of them, after a six-day journey in animal lorries, reached Villefranche de Lauragais and then Seyre. On their arrival, they were taken in by the mayor, the château owner and the French Red Cross. The lack of food and the harsh winter of 1940-1941 forced the group to go to Château de La Hille in Montégut-Plantaurel, half way between Toulouse and the principality of Andorra.

In the summer of 1941, due to the intervention of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers), 20 of the youngest were taken to the United States and two others were saved by relatives in America.

In August 1942, the forty-five oldest were arrested by French police and interned in the Le Vernet camp. The Swiss government intervened and secured their release from Vichy. The children then tried to flee to Switzerland with the help of the headmistress and Anne-Marie Piguet (the head of an escape network to Switzerland).

Those who were held back by border guards and returned to La Hille tried to reach Spain over the Pyrenees. Those less fortunate were sold by people-smugglers to the Germans and Franco before being deported. Others ended up joining the French maquis (resistance fighters). A commemorative stele was erected on 17 September 2000 and a museum relating the history has been set up in the château.

As a reminder of the role of a safe haven, a monument to the Rights of Man was erected on common land in 1993.

A commemorative plaque in the château

The wording on the commemorative plaque mounted near Château de La Hille tells of the journey taken by the German Jewish children persecuted by the Nazi regime who became victims of the Vichy administration, many of whom survived thanks to the support of the Red Cross and local residents. Jacques Roth, a former resident and now a writer, was the author:

"In the darkest hours of the 20th century, the five hundred year old Château de la Hille provided a haven of peace for a hundred Jewish refugee children from Germany, fleeing from the terror and racial hatred which was spreading in waves across Holland, Belgium and a large part of France. Having arrived at the château in 1941, they lived there surrounded by the benevolence of the local residents and in the good care of a group of young Swiss Red Cross workers, Aid to Children: Maurice and Eléonore Dubois, Rösli Näf, Eugen Lyrer and Emma Ott. Their only too brief respite ended with the raids of August 1942, when the forty or so over sixteen years old were arrested by the police and taken to the le Vernet Camp in Ariège, the first stage of their journey to the death camps to which they were destined. Alerted to the fact, Mister Dubois, the director of the organisation, came immediately to Vichy where he managed to break down the door of the highest State police officer and succeeded in rescuing "his children", as well as the adults accompanying them, from deportation. The "Hillois" were able to return to their château. However, the feeling of security never returned. In November 1942, with the arrival of German troops across the whole country and sensing the threat once again, the older ones started to disperse. Twenty-five of them tried to reach Switzerland. Twenty succeeded but five were arrested. Ten sought their salvation by taking the shortest route over the Pyrenees but five did not make it. Others were taken in by local farmers. Some of the young girls found sanctuary in a convent. Some joined the maquis and one of them was killed by enemy bullets. Of the ten "Hillois" deported to Auschwitz, just one survived. Throughout its history, the château has never been the setting for an armed battle, but in this last episode it was witness to the victory of humanity over barbarity. The elders of la Hille say thank you to it, as well as to the residents of Montégut Plantaurel and its surrounding area."

Mairie of Montégut-Plantaurel

09120 Montégut-Plantaurel

Tel.: + 33 (0) 5 61 05 35 83

e-mail: mairie.montegut-plantaurel@wanadoo.fr

Varilhes Tourist Information Office

3 avenue Louis-Siret

09120 VARILHES

Tel.: + 33 (0) 5.61.60.55.54

Fax: + 33 (0) 5.61.60.55.54

e-mail: office-tourisme.varilhes@wanadoo.fr

This vast building behind a glass front is nestled in greenery and overlooks the valley below. It towers skyward a stone's throw from Schirmeck. And it casts light on one of history's rambling episodes, and on the suffering and self-sacrifice that episode brought upon thousands of men, women and children. The amazing architecture and setting convey the oft-misconstrued story of an area that jolted from one country to another as the border it skirts shifted. The 3000 sq m museum casts light on this hazy period between 1870 and the aftermath of WWII, which weighs upon this region's identity. And, as efforts to reconcile France and Germany were born from efforts to root peace across Europe, this memorial also showcases the foundations of European construction.

When you leave the glass-walled hall, you get the feeling you are descending into history's depths. At the foot of the sombre steps, you will find a staggering, cathedral-sized room. The 12-metre-high walls on either side bear 148 portraits of men and women from Alsace and Moselle, spanning every generation and every walk of life. They all have names. It might be someone's piercing gaze, engaging hairdo or original dress, but something will no doubt catch your eye. But this room, first and foremost, will put a face on textbook history. The stories this memorial tells, in other words, are not about statistics and remote people in a remote land. They are about children, grandparents, young women. About the children, grandparents and young women in that room. They will speak to you over the audio guide. They speak French, German and Alsatian. They tell you what happened over those 70 dissonant years. They tell you their story.
Hitler's shuddering voice rings out as you step into a rebuilt village station. Posters luring you to tourist destinations hang alongside evacuation orders. You take a seat in a train packed with luggage and personal belongings. A film on the wagon wall shows how 430,000 of Alsace's and Moselle's people were transferred to Southwest France. On the opposite wall, a corridor leads to a fort on the Maginot Line. The white walls strewn with electric wires, floor tracks, dormitories and armoured doors explain are chilling. The instructions aimed at drafted soldiers, speech excerpts and images from the front exude this peculiar war's atmosphere.
After the documents stating the terms of the occupation and de-facto annexation under the Third Reich, you will walk into a circling corridor displaying street name boards. The first ones are in French first, the last ones in German. The flags parading overhead surreptitiously transmute from France's red, white and blue to swastikas.
Then you reach a forward-tilting typically Germanic building. The only way forward is through this oppressive, half-prison, half-bureaucratic universe. Desks on either side show the population brought to heel and enlisted by force. Struthof Camp bodes ill at a distance.
The barbed wire, army camps, pale lights and watchtowers in the next room will give you a glimpse of what concentration camps felt like. Photos, papers and audiovisual documents in this bleak universe also speak of the resistance and of escaping into France.
You walk across this vast room on a 3.5-metre-high footbridge. The Vosges forest pines underfoot are a reminder that people crossing the border over the neighbouring heights were doing so illicitly. The scenery is scarred by war. Bombs have disfigured the land. Everything is littered with disfigured bicycles and car wrecks, strewn petrol drums, and such like debris. Bombers tear through the sky. A house crumbles. And images on the wall speak of the German retreat and the Landings. Liberation nears.
The next room is much more soothing. The floor is even. Towering columns mirror the return of justice and truth. This room tells the story of the Oradour massacre trials in Bordeaux. The red walls seem lined with drawers holding the hundreds of files under review. A well of images shows the process and purge.
The room before last is white and bathed in light. It is a breath of fresh air. Lit blocks show French- German reconciliation and European construction. This soothing and cheerful room leads to a projection room screening a film by Alain Jérôme. Then, you walk back into the vast transparent hall and esplanade, whence you can look out onto stunning views over the Vosges massif. And, across the valley, see Struthof camp and the European Centre on Resistance and Deportation (Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté).
Opening hours The Alsace Moselle Memorial is open from 10.00 am to 6.30 pm in winter and from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm in summer. Tickets are on sale until one hour before closing time. Admission Full fare: €10 Reduced fare: €8 Families (two adults and children): €23 Tours with audio guides Disabled-visitor access Shop Bar / Tearoom Educational Office - Workshops The Educational Office caters for school groups (with an educational director and assigned professor).