Background

When Henri Queuille died, in 1970, his heirs donated the house in which he lived all his life to the Corrèze département, to be turned into a museum. The main themes covered are the memory of Henri Queuille and the Résistance.

Thanks to Henri Queuille's collection, donated to the museum by his family, and to Résistance archives and donations from private people, a team made up of former Résistance members, historians and professors successfully brings together and exploits numerous objects and documents. The museum was inaugurated on 4th May 1982 by the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand.

Composition

The museum has 200 m² of exhibition rooms, divided into five rooms on three levels. They cover the 3rd and 4th Republics, the Résistance and the maquis, Nazi crimes and deportation. It consists of 80 display cases, 100 signs and frames, around 1,500 collection items, including 900 photos and 300 documents and objects.

Musée départemental de la résistance "Henri Queuille"

21 rue du Commerce

19160 Neuvic

Tél. : 33 (0)5 55 46 30 60 - Fax : 33 (0)5 55 46 30 69

Email : musee-henriqueuille@cg19.fr

www.musee-henriqueuille.com

Situé dans l’ancien couvent des Sœurs de la Providence du XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle rue Neuve Saint-Etienne, au cœur au quartier de la Cité, il propose sur 1400 m2 un parcours muséographique retraçant les faits historiques de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et particulièrement la Résistance, l’occupation et la déportation en Haute-Vienne.

Perched on a peak that culminates at 2,380 metres, the Fort de l'Infernet was built to replace the old forts whose defensive purpose progressively dwindled with advances in artillery. It is one of a group of forts and batteries constructed around Briançon from 1874 onwards, as part of the programme known as the "Séré de Rivières system". Like the Fort de la Croix de Bretagne this fort aimed to close off the border with Italy by controlling the valley from a distance.

Built between 1876 and 1878, the fort is characterised by a semi-circular arrangement of canons and an enclosure providing minimal protection. It is at the top of a summit, the artificial levelling of which caused landslides. The garrison of two hundred and ten men and officers was housed in a casemated barracks, protected from dangerous blasts by the mass of its artillery cavalier. The twelve 138 and 155 mm canons were set on the platforms of this cavalier and of the battery in the lower courtyard and directed towards le Pampinet, le Gondran and the Izoard pass.
On the 21st and 23rd June 1940, the two 280 mm Schneider mortar sections (lieutenant Miguet) set up on the slope to the south of the fort neutralised the armour-plated Italian battery that was firing on Briançon from le Chaberton. As the sound of canons resounded for the first time in two centuries, this fortified body thus effectively fulfilled its role as a deterrent.
The Fort de l'Infernet 05100 Briançon Briançon Tourist Information Office Tel. + 33 (0) 4 92 21 08 50 Fax + 33 (0) 4 92 20 56 45 E-mail : office-tourisme-briancon@wanadoo.fr

The Fort of Guentrange is located 4 km north-west of Thionville, at the top of a wooded hill overlooking the city and the left bank of the Moselle at a height of 318 m.

The Feste (or fortified group) of Guentrange was part of the Moselle fortification programme drawn up under the Schliffen-Moltke plan, between the Luxembourg border and the strategic fortifications built around Metz. It was designed to protect the rail hub at Thionville, a crucial troop transit point between Germany and France. Festen are a group of units dispersed over a large area and connected by underground galleries. Unlike the compact fort surrounded by a polygonal ditch typical of the works inspired by Séré de Rivières, a Feste often covers several dozen hectares. The whole is defended by a large garrison, armoured artillery and a network of barbed wire and defensive grating protected by trenches surrounding the work.


Construction on the Feste Obergentringen (the fortified group of Guentrange) began in 1899 and was first completed in 1905. The fortified group then included three barracks and two armoured batteries each equipped with four rotating turrets with the Schuman system, armed with short 150-mm cannons with a range of 9,700 m. Reinforced with gratings, armoured doors, mine systems and underground galleries connecting the different concrete units, while a blockhaus in the rear controlled access to the Feste with a network of barbed wire. Starting in 1912, major consolidation work was undertaken on the slopes due to land sliding down the west glacis, then a line of flanking casemates were added to reinforce protection against attackers.


The Feste Obergentringen did not come under fire during the First World War, and it became French after the Armistice of 1918. In the 1930s, France integrated it into the Maginot Line as a second-line logistic support unit in the fortified sector of Thionville. At this time, the short 105-mm cannons were replaced with long cannons, increasing the artillery’s range to 12,700 m. In 1940, the fort was used as a munitions depot for the German army before it was taken back by the Americans in 1944.


Nowadays, several levels of the work and the central barracks are accessible. Along with an exhibition presenting the history of the fortified group, visitors can see the north battery’s fully restored artillery turret. They can also observe how the site was supplied by huge water reserves, machinery equipped with a diesel engine providing electricity to the entire group, and a complete central heating and ventilation system. The barrack rooms, kitchens and bakery, the infirmary and the operating theatre: the different spaces and equipment highlight the extraordinary comfort that the fort provided its troops with.

Like the French soldiers who took over the site in 1918, visitors will appreciate the luxury of this unit, unimaginable in France’s fortifications at the end of the 19th century.

Fort of Guentrange

Thionville Tourism Office

16 rue du Vieux Collège 57100 Thionville

Tél. 03.82.53.33.18

Fax 03.82.53.15.55

e-mail : tourisme@thionville.net

Access to the Fort of Guentrange:
24 km from the Ouvrage Hackenberg via Buding on the D 60 highway, then Stuckange on the D 918, then take the A 31 motorway toward Thionville (exit No. 40 "Linkling, zones commerciales et artisanales, hôpital Bel-Air, Cattenom"), then the D 14.
30 km from Metz on the A 31 motorway (exit No. 40 " Linkling, zones commerciales et artisanales, hôpital Bel-Air, Cattenom ), then the D 14 highway. 85 km from Nancy via Metz.
30 km from Luxembourg on the E 25 (exit No. 43 "Longwy, Algrange, Nilvange" ), then take the D 14.

Visits: the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month starting at 3.00 pm. Group visits by appointment.

Quiz : Forts and citadels

At the end of the Second World War, the radar was in its infancy; however, some models were capable of detecting movements at sea, day and night, at a distance beyond the reach of the human eye.

The occupying forces and the allies stepped up their research into and installation of these “wizard’s ears”.

In Douvres, due to its altitude, a long-range radar was installed in late 1942 as a means to notify the military staff of any attempt to land in the region. 

However, as happens each time a weapon of war is invented… a means to neutralise it quickly follows suit. The countermeasure of fog and false echoes were extremely popular during the night of the 5^th of June 1944!

The Radar Museum

The radar station remained an entrenched camp until 17 June (10 days after the liberation of Douvres itself).

Today attached to the Memorial of Caen, the radar station is the only one of its kind on the coast.

Two remarkably preserved bunkers and original displays help visitors to understand the role of radars and their technical development.

A couple of miles from the Juno landing beaches, the German radar station in Douvres, along the Route de Basly, served as an entrenched camp for several days. An advanced surgical unit was set up near a convent in La Délivrande. 

The first bodies buried here were soldiers killed on 6 June 1944.

Later, the bodies of soldiers killed between the coast and Caen were buried here.

The British cemetery

At the entrance to the town, on the road from Caen, the entrance to the cemetery is immediately identifiable.

A square pavilion with a peaked roof covered in stone is surrounded by pergolas. In line with the porch, the Cross of Sacrifice stands at the far end of the central walkway. It is erected on a small grassy mound and surrounded by low walls.

The steles are symmetrically placed either side of the central walkway bordered by trimmed yew trees. The German plot with the various stone stele and two-sloped roof stands in the right section of the site. Curiously, the grave of the only Polish soldier is set apart.

Big lime trees and magnolias mainly planted around the edges of the site separate the cemetery from neighbouring houses. The cemetery is enclosed by trimmed hedges of hornbeams or beeches.

Musée Franco-Allemand « Station Radar 44 » Route de Bény – CD83 – 14440 Douvres-la-Délivrande

Tél. : 07.57.48.77.32

Site internet : www.musee-radar.fr - Courriel : contact@musee-radar.fr

Choisissez votre mode de visite :

 en autonomie : en suivant les panneaux

 Avec Audiospot : en téléchargeant une application gratuite qui transforme son propre smartphone en Audioguide

 Visites Commentées (par un guide bénévole) réservation sur le site internet obligatoire

 Musée du Radar - Douvres-la-Délivrande. Michel.dehaye@avuedoiseau.com

Clinging to a rocky outcrop above Condamine-Chatelard and towering over the right bank of the Ubaye, the most impressive fort in the Ubaye valley extends over more than 77 metres of uneven ground. In 1709, the French installed an entrenched camp on the rocks around Tournoux, which was designed to defend against the Savoyards and Piedmontese. Construction of the fort was agreed in 1837 by General Haxo, the director of fortifications under the reign of Juillet. Work started in 1843, to be completed in 1866 and required the participation of some 1,500 workmen.

At the end of the 19th century, General Séré de Rivières ordered the strengthening of the defence system using higher forts culminating at an altitude of over 1,800 metres: particular examples are the construction of the batteries of Vyraisse, Mallemort and le Cuguret and the redoubt of Roche-la-Croix. Liaison tunnels were dug into the rock between the high parts of the fortress and a cable car - which has since disappeared - linked the high battery and the middle fort with the valley below. During the First World War, the fort accommodated Serb volunteers, who underwent military training before going into action and it later served as a place of imprisonment for German soldiers. In June 1940, the fort housed the command posts of the units that defended the Ubaye valley. It had a baptism of fire, as its artillery fire accompanied that of the more modern forts in order to stop the Italian troops.
In April 1945, the fort was the French base for the troops who seized back the forts of Saint-Ours and Roche-la-Croix from the Germans. The fort was used as an ammunition store until 1987. Designed like a staircase along a ridge, the fort de Tournoux is composed of an upper fort and a middle fort, linked by a winding road. The upper fort is a square-shaped building and has a tunnel leading to a double caponnier. The scarp has vaulted casemates.
Access to the middle fort is through a fortified entrance with a wooden bridge. It comprises an officers' wing and barracks on the earth platform above the bastions, and is remarkable for its barrack rooms accessed by long external walkways attached to the rock. Troglodyte premises used for logistical purposes were built inside the excavated caves. The middle fort was completed with a casemated battery in 1934. Nicknamed the "19th Century Military Versailles" and often compared to a miniature Wall of China or to a Tibetan monastery, this majestic construction clinging to a steep slope has been the nucleus of the strategic system of the Ubaye valley since the middle of the 19th century.
The fort de Tournoux and the principal forts of the Ubaye valley are open to the public. Guided tours are regularly organised in season. Access to Barcelonnette, the heart of the Ubaye 85 km from Digne-les-Bains, via the D 900. 100 km from Briançon via the N 94, and then the D 954 (via Savines-le-Lac) and the D 900. Links Tourist centre of the community of towns of the Ubaye. 4, avenue des trois frères Arnaud 04400 Barcelonnette Tel. + 33 (0) 4 92 81 03 68 Fax + 33 (0) 4 92 81 51 67 e-mail: info@ubaye.com

August 1944 in Provence.Creation of a second front after the landing June 6th 1944. August 15th 1944 the operation "Dragoon" on the coasts of Provence will take place. It aims to create a second front on the French territory. 2000 war pieces and as many planes will take part in it. The 7th American army of General Patch, including the French forces of the B army of General de Lattre de Tassagny, arrives in the night between August 14th and 15th on the French coasts. In Provence the resistance fighters are informed by Radio-London. Little after midnight, while the American Rangers reach the islands of Levant (region of the Eastern Mediterranean), the first French commandos take Cap Nègre and conquer a strategically vital localisation around Le Lavandou. During the night more then 5000 parachutists are released above the valley of Argens in order to block the access of the landing zones. Here they will get the support of the "Forces Françaises de l'intérieur".

At daybreak, an air and naval raid crushes the German batteries. At 8 a.m. the 3rd, 36th and 45th American infantry division (A.I.D.) reaches the coastal beaches between Cavalaire and Saint-Raphaël. The 16th the French forces start to land. While the American forces march up towards Durance and the valley of the Rhone, the B army must take Toulon and Marseille. These harbours are vital for the the allied strategy. August 20th Toulon starts to be surrounded. The Commandos and the Strike forces seize the batteries of the enemy, "Français Libres", Algerians, "Marsouins" of the Colonian Army and Senegalese try to take the city. The 9th Division of the Colonial Infantry (D.C.I.) will release Toulon from the occupying forces. On August 28th, the German garrison will surrender. At the same time de Lattre launches its troupes towards Marseille. The Moroccans take Aubagne. The 3rd Algerian Infantry Division (A.I.D.) of General Monsabert takes position at the suburbs of Marseille where the insurrection broke out. The 23rd of August, riflemen and cuirassiers join the resistant fighters. Five violent days of combats will be necessary to weaken the German defences. The two harbours were conquered one month in advance. From now on the French Armies will march towards the Rhone valley to contribute to push back the enemy.

The Mount Faron, dominates Toulon with its imposing silhouette. Therefore the town is also known as "The harbour of the Mountain". From the top of this 530m high mountain you can discover a vast maritime panorama, which extends from the islands of Hyères to the Bec d'Aigle de La Ciotat. Thus the visit of the memorial offers a beautiful touristic walk. The "Faron" can be reached either by cable car or by foot. The departure station of the cable car is located near the Hotzl "Altéa la Tour Blanche". It connects the public transports to the centre of the city. This overhead trip is prolonged on approximately 1 500m. From here you can discover the entire coast. This trip is a one-way street: from the west you reach the top of the hill and from the east you descend. Among the interesting tourist attractions, it is necessary to mention the zoo and the "chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Faron".

With the installation of a memorial, President Charles de Gaulle wanted to pay tribute to the soldiers of the B army (which became thereafter the first French Army) and commemorate the landing of the allies of 1944 in which the French troops took part. To locate this memorial, the Minister of "Veterans" proposes Toulon, since its seizure had a vital importance for the release of the Provence. Even if the location of the "Mount Faron" is isolated, it seduces anyone with its prestigious panorama. It's also a location of memory. Many combats took place here, in particular the fight of the battalion of the Strike Forces, August 21st and 22nd 1944. On the mount, which faces the great Basin viewing the sea, a little fort, intended to observe the Beaumont tower was once situated there. The architect Pascalet used its premises and added several buildings in order to create the memorial. This architectural piece was unveiled August 15th 1964 by General de Gaulle. During this ceremony an attack against the President of the Republic was fomented; the bomb, placed in a jar didn't explode.

Two main parts make up the memorial: the first is dedicated to the historical evocation. In many showrooms, pictures, models, arms and military uniforms recall the course of the different episodes of the landings. In an audiovisual room a 15 m large animated Diorama illustrates the coast of the Provence, from Anthéor to Marseille. Here it is possible to admire the most important operations, since the night of August 14th and 15th 1944 until the release of Marseille. A film concerning the landing is shown on a movie screen. The second part focuses more on the memory. The visitor has the possibility to remember all people who participated to the release: chiefs of government, allied soldiers, and resistance fighters... Many personal objects give an emotional touch to this exhibition. An anti-tank device, an anti-aircraft canon as well as a Sherman tank are symbolically positioned outside the building. On the low wall, which follows the hill towards the memorial, several commemorative plaques have been placed in memory to the combatants. Further, towards Croix-Faron a stele has been placed to commemorate the commanding officer of the Croix-Faron battery, who was killed during the combat of May 1940.

Memorial of the landings in the Provence Mont Faron

83200 TOULON

Tél. : 04 94 88 08 09 - Fax : 04.94.88.10.47

Le mémorial est ouvert tous les jours sauf le lundi

• Du 1er octobre au 30 avril ouverture du mardi au dimanche

de 10 heures à 13 heures et de 14 heures à 17 heures 30

• Du 1er mai au 30 juin ouverture du mardi au dimanche

de 10 heures à 13 heures et de 14 heures à 18 heures 30

• Du 1er juillet au 31 août ouverture 7 jours sur 7

de 10 heures à 13 heures et de 14 heures à 18 heures 30

• Du 1er au 30 septembre ouverture du mardi au dimanche

de 10 heures à 13 heures et de 14 heures à 18 heures 30

Toute l'année la caisse est fermée une heure avant les heures de fermeture.

visitvar

Natura 2000

Despite the many restoration projects, the former Château of the Counts Deux-Ponts was in ruins when Louis XIV took Bitche in 1680. Aware of the strategic importance of the rocky crag overlooking the city and the region, Louis XIV decided to have a first citadel built, entrusting the work to Vauban, who completed it in 1683.

The citadel was razed by French troops in 1697, when the Treaty of Ryswick handed Lorraine over to Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine. Louis XV took possession of Lorraine on 21 March 1737 and ordered the reconstruction of the citadel using plans by the engineer Cormontaigne based on Vauban’s construction. The end of the work was marked by the installation of a marble plaque above the main entrance that we can still see today: “Louis XV, Roy de France, auguste, victorieux et pacifique, en réédifiant cette forteresse de fond en comble, a voulu qu'elle fermât les Vosges et la Lorraine à ses ennemis, qu'elle défendit la frontière de l'Alsace et qu'au pied de ses murs les camps des armées françaises trouvassent une puissante protection. Année 1754” (Louis XV, King of France, august, victorious and pacific, by fully rebuilding this fortress, desired that it should close off the Vosges and Lorraine from their enemies, that is should defend the Alsace border and that at the foot of its walls the French army camps might find powerful protection. Year 1754). From 1846 to 1852, the citadel was reinforced with the construction of a fortified perimeter wall, defended to the north by Fort St Sébastien.


During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, German troops laid siege to Bitche and carried out deadly bombardments targeting first the citadel, and then the city. The Bitche garrison resisted gloriously for six long months before opening the doors of the fortress on 27 March 1871, not before receiving Battle Honours. Now German, the citadel was once again refurbished to house a garrison: the perimeter walls were destroyed, the chapel was used to house troops and two barracks were built. When Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France, the city received the Legion of Honour from the hands of President Poincaré in testimonial to the suffering endured during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.
During the Second World War, Bitche was the theatre of fighting starting in the winter of 1944, during which the population took refuge in the underground galleries of the citadel. Liberated by American troops, the city received the War Cross in 1949, and was commended in the Army Order.


The citadel still bears the scars of its close ties to the history of France. Some buildings of the bastioned central plateau central have miraculously escaped the many bombardments that have tried to conquer the legendarily invulnerable fortress. The chapel can still be admired – it is only vestige of the château built under Vauban – as well as the former bakery and the arsenal. Visitors to the site can notably admire the two bastions placed at the ends of the citadel, protecting the long south curtain wall, the “Grosse Tête” and “Petite Tête” walls, which defend the short curtain walls, and the wealth of the fortress’s underground network built by Louis XV’s engineers. A first museum is located on two levels in the chapel and presents a collection of weapons as well as a relief map of the citadel in the 18th century. In the former bakery, the second permanent exhibition houses a museographical area dedicated to Bitche during the Second Empire.

Visitors to the citadel can enjoy a unique feature: infrared transmitters placed along the itinerary provide commentaries in several languages through audio headphones, while olfactory effects give visitors a realistic perception of life at the citadel over the centuries.


Citadel of Bitche
Tel.: +33 (0)3 87 96 18 82
Fax: +33 (0)3 87 06 11 78

Opens the last Saturday of the month of March and closes the first Sunday of November. Every day from 10 am to 5 pm. Sundays, bank holidays and the months of July and August: 10 am – 6 pm.

Visits take 2 hours. Group visits by appointment

Access: From Strasbourg (65 km): Take the A4 motorway in the Strasbourg-Paris direction, and take the Haguenau Nord exit. Before reaching Haguenau, take the Sarreguemines exit and continue on toward Bitche. From Metz (110 km): Take the A4 motorway in the Paris-Strasbourg direction, take the Sarreguemines exit and continue on toward Bitche.

http://www.siegebitche.com

Website of the Pays de Bitche Tourism Office

Quizz : Forts and citadels