Bessillon
| Bessillon | ||
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 The two Bessillon hills seen from the north |
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| height | 813 m | |
| location | FR-83 | |
| Coordinates | 43 ° 32 '3 " N , 6 ° 3' 50" E | |
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| rock | Lower Cretaceous | |
| Age of the rock | 113-131 Ma | |
Bessillon is the name of a mountain with a low mountain character in Provence . Politically, it belongs to the municipality of Pontevès in the geographic center of the Var department in France . Its rock layers come from the Lower Cretaceous Period . The mountain lies in a large area between the south-western foothills of the Vauclus Pre-Alps, designated by SOIUSA as 3.IV, in the north and the Massif des Maures, which borders the Mediterranean Sea . Based on the 400 meter height line , the Bessillon is completely uninhabited. All around the mountain is surrounded by the villages of Pontevès in the northwest, Cotignac in the east, Correns in the south and Barjols in the west. The mountain is named for the Monastère Saint-Joseph du Bessillon monastery , which is located on its eastern flank.
topography
The Bessillon is part of the hill country in the central Provence and a highly visible landmark . With the exception of the 982 m high L'Aigle des Cugulons , 18 km away, there are no higher elevations to the Bessillon within a radius of 25 kilometers. It consists of an elongated, 10 km long mountain ridge in east-west extension and forms two peaks about two and a half kilometers apart, which are referred to as Gros Bessillon and Petit Bessillon . The highest point is 813 meters above sea level, the second highest peak 669 meters high; the saddle in between is at 485 meters. While the foot of the mountain is well below 400 meters to the south, it drops slightly to the west in the north in the broad valley of the Ruisseau de Pontevès at around 400 meters. The 12.2 km long Ruisseau de Pontevès is also the most important stream that has its source on the Bessillion.
history
During the German occupation of France during the Second World War, the rugged mountain landscape was a refuge for resistance fighters of the Francs-tireurs et partisans (FTP), Batallon "Battaglia". Eight of them aged 19 to 33 years and ten hostages (aged 20 to 72 years) of the German occupiers of the Brandenburg Division were on July 27, 1944 her life just before three weeks later with the Operation Dragoon , this region of the American 45th Infantry Division could be liberated. A memorial on the D 560 between Barjols and Cotignac commemorates the victims , for which Victor Nicolas (1906–1979) created a stone sculpture. Another stele was erected about two kilometers from here on one of the ascent routes to the summit. In Pontevès, the central square between the Saints-Gervais-et-Protais church and the oil mill was named after the martyrs.
vegetation
The mountain is mostly forested. Black pine is predominant. The northern foothills are also used for agriculture, especially viticulture . The southern slopes are only covered with loose brush, especially the protected gorse (Genista lobelii), because these sun-exposed locations are too barren and dry for larger plants.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ruisseau de Pontevès at SANDRE (French)
- ↑ Stèles, monuments, Resistance dans le Var et en Provence. Private homepage randojp.free.fr , 2009
- ↑ La montagne du Grand Bessillon (French)
- ↑ Musée de la resistance , Monument de Bessillon (VAR) (French)
- ↑ List of the espèces déterminantes de l'inventaire ZNIEFF Région: provence-alpes-cote-d-azur from the Inventaire national du patrimoine naturel
