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Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis

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Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis

Mémorial et Nécropole de La Résistance Du Vercors

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Overlooking Grenoble and in front of one of the region's most impressive panoramas, the nécropole nationale de Saint-Nizier-du-Moucherotte brings together the remains of soldiers and maquisards who died for France during the combats on the Vercors plateau  in June 1944. Created in 1947, this necropolis is located on the very site of this confrontation. 98 resistance fighters and two Yugoslavian maquisardsmen are buried here. Among them lies the writer and journalistJean Prévost (1901-1944) known as "Godervilie". Co-author of the "Montagnards plan", he led his company in the fighting on June 13 and 15, 1944. He was killed on August 1, 1944 at Pont-Charvet near Sassenage. This cemetery also hosts the grave of Eugène Chavant dit "Clement ", te civil leader of the Vercors and the cenotaph of Lieutenant-Colonel François Huet dit "Hervieux ", the last military leader of the Vercors, as wished by the Association nationale des Pionniers et Combattants volontaires du Vercors.

The Vercors plateau The Vercors, peaking at over 2,300 m in altitude, is a veritable natural fortress sixty kilometers long by thirty wide. It became a place of refuge for all victims of political and racial discrimination during the Occupation. With the German invasion of the southern zone in November 1942, the Vercors also became a place of resistance for those who refused the idea of a subjugated France. The ranks of the maquis were swollen by those who refused to take part in the Obligatory Labor Service. After the armistice army was disbanded, elements of the lle régiment de cuirassiers led by Lieutenant Geyer settled in the Chambarand forest. For its part, the 6th Battalion of Alpine Chasseurs gains the maquis of Isère. These two units were to take part in the fighting in the Vercors. 

In 1942, Pierre Dalloz and Jean Prévost had a plan to turn the massif into a Trojan Horse for airborne commandos  so that the Vercors, located on the enemy's rear, would support an Allied landing expected in Provence. Accepted by Jean Moulin and General Delestraint, commander of the Secret Army, this project was approved by the France Libre and became the "Montagnards Plan". Its implementation was entrusted to Alain Le Ray and then to François Huet, military chiefs of the Vercors, in liaison with Eugène Chavant. At the beginning of 1944, the Vercors gathered nearly 500 people, often very young, supplied by a generally supportive population, supplied with weapons and medicine by Allied parachute drops. 

On June 8, 1944, as the Allies landed in Normandy, the Vercors responded to the mobilization order. Resistance fighters from all over the region enthusiastically rallied round. In just a few days, the Vercors' numbers grew considerably, posing a general problem of organization and supply, particularly of weapons. The main access routes were sealed off, and a number of skirmishes . turned out in the maquisards' favor. For the enemy, this massif became a real challenge.


The fighting on June 13 and 15, 1944

From Grenoble, the general Pflaum, known for having fought the maquis des Glières, is concerned about the strengthening of the maquis du Vercors. On the morning of June 13, he commits 400 soldiers of the Wehrmacht with a view to probing the Resistance's position and attempting to take the northern lock of the Vercors from Saint-Nizier. 

On the very site where the necropolis now stands, 200 maquisards including elements of the 6th alpine chasseur battalion, opposed the assailants. Led in particular by capitaine Costa de Beauregard (known as "Durieu "), Jean Prévost ("Capitaine Goderville"), lieutenant Bechmann ("Lescot "), the captain Bnssac and the lieutenants Chabal and Bouchier-Veyrat, they stand up to the onslaught, despite their limited weaponry and inexperience. Against battle-hardened, outnumbered and better-equipped soldiers, the defensive line does not waver. 

At the end of the day, the Germans have to return to their starting position. This success transcends the maquisards, who nevertheless have no heavy weapons at their disposal. But in the course of these skirmishes. they were able to assess their adversary's strengths and weaknesses. 

At dawn on June 15, after a brief bombardment, a new assault was launched by 3,000 Germans. The balance of power was unbalanced, all the more so as militiamen, by infiltrating the ranks of the maquis, had sought to sow confusion among the resistance fighters who were putting up heroic battles. Threatened with encirclement, they retreated further south. By 10 a.m., the village of Saint-Nizier was in enemy hands, where the enemy was waging a ferocious crackdown. 

The wounded who could not be transported were coldly finished off, while the village and neighboring hamlets were looted and set on fire. Of the 93 houses in the village, only 11 escape destruction. Once Saint-Nizier had fallen, the Germans occupied part of the plateau, where they were able to carry out a number of actions, including the decisive blow to the Vercors maquis on July 21, 1944.



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Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis
Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis.
Memoriaux

Vercors Resistance Memorial and Necropolis

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