Maquis de Bir Hacheim
The Maquis de Bir Hacheim was a resistance group of the Resistance founded in 1943 by Claude Bonnier in the Charente department . The name pays homage to the battle of Bir Hakeim .
Start time
After an unsuccessful parachute jump near Taponnat , which killed more than thirty resistance fighters, several arrests were made in western France, including André Grandclément , the head of Zone B ( Bordeaux ). As a result, André Chabanne , Guy Pascaud and Hélène Nebout (called chef Luc ) founded a first resistance group in the Chasseneuil area .
René Chabasse , who returned to Charente as head of air operations, organized a landing zone in a bend in the Charente river between Vibrac and Angeac-Charente and received the weapons required for the Maquis in Chasseneuil and in Saint-André near Cognac on April 1, 1943 . Chabasse was arrested in Angoulême on February 21, 1944 and shot by a German soldier on the street after trying to escape.
Foundation and membership in the Armée Secrète
Claude Bonnier took over the reorganization of Region B and in October 1943 united the various Maquis from Charente under the name Maquis de Bir Hacheim . As a member of the Armée Secrète , the Maquis received aid funds and was able to finance itself a little later through so-called “liberation bonds”.
In March 1944, Guy Pascaud (known as You ) was arrested and deported, boss Luc was able to escape, and André Chabanne (known as Blanqui ) continued to organize the operations.
Record of operations
In addition to the information provided, which made the bombing of Angoulêm train station and the Cognac-Châteaubernard airport possible, there were various actions of his own: Raymond Troussard counts more than 100 destroyed vehicles, a thousand Germans incapacitated and several blocked roads and railway lines, the one Prevented part of the German army from reaching the front in Normandy .
At the end of August 1944 the maquis reached Angoulême and took part in the liberation of the city on the night of August 31st to September 1st.
Then 1,800 men of the Maquis de Bir Hacheim joined the army under the command of General Larminat and fought until the surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945 with the liberation of the cities of Royan and La Rochelle . Between 100 and 500 men survived the fighting.
In honor of the Maquis de Bir Hacheim and in memory of the liberation of Charente, the Mémorial de la Résistance was created in the municipality of Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure . Many of the fallen are buried there.
literature
- Jacques Mordal: Bir Hacheim , Amiot + Dumont, Paris 1952.
- Raymond Troussard: Le maquis charentais Bir Hacheim . SAJIC Angoulême, dépôt légal n ° 1455, 1981.