In Eure, these two villages remember the bombing of August 1944

August 17, 1944. An unforgettable date for the villages of Ajou and La Ferrière-sur-Risle (Eure). A bombing raid destroyed part of the two town centers killing 32 civilians, “or even more,” adds Andrée Dorgère, amateur historian from Mesnil-en-Ouche. These are the names that we managed to recover. »

To mark the 80 yearsthe town hall of La Ferrière-sur-Risle offers, once again, an exhibition retracing this event in the village hall, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., on Wednesday May 8, 2024.

It will be offered in parallel with the traditional commemoration ceremony organized by the veterans’ association bringing together Ajou, La Houssaye and La Ferrière-sur-Risle on the same day.

This exhibition was unveiled, for the first time, during the anniversary of the 70th anniversary of this event and accompanied the installation of the plaque on the Ajou bridge honoring the civilians who died during this day.

For the occasion, Andrée Dorgère – who grew up in La Ferrière and worked as a town hall secretary in Ajou – had collected several testimonies, published in a book. 80 years later, she invites us to delve into the past, so as not to forget.

An American attack

Objects, archive images, videos, but above all testimonials will be discovered or rediscovered during this exhibition which retraces a significant event for the two villages. Today, the traces are minimal. The town center of La Ferrière has been rebuilt.

This bombing is not the result of the Germans, but rather Americans, recalls Andrée Dorgère. Initially, the plan was to destroy the bridge connecting the two municipalities. “We had to block the secondary roads,” recalls the local historian. Finally, they aimed wide. »

And no one expected this attack, “the inhabitants thought they would be peaceful in these villages”. As she explains, a majority of the victims were from Beaumont-le-Roger:

Beaumont residents sent their children with their grandparents to La Ferrière, because they were afraid of the significant presence of Germans in the town.

Six years, thirteen years, but also seventeen and eighteen months, the losses are terrible and very young. Which did not prevent residents celebrate the liberation of the country and the arrival of North Americans in the region a few weeks later. “There was an ambivalent feeling. Many witnesses told me that they represented freedom,” she recalls.

The last witnesses

The exhibition is also intended a written record of this event while witnesses are becoming increasingly rare. Among the thirty people interviewed for his book ten years ago, only a handful are still alive.

This duty of memory matters to the resident of Mesnil-en-Ouche. If she looked into this story, it is because she is closely linked to this event: originally from the village of La Ferrière, his father is one of the survivors of August 17, 1944.

“He spoke very little about the past. The only thing he told me was that when he had lunch, he had everything. After this lunch, he lost everything,” says Andrée.

His wife, in-laws and friends died instantly. He will subsequently remarry (and she will be born from this union) and he will even become village mayor for several years. “My father’s story is like many others,” she points out.

There is, for example, Jeannine Gousset, in a retirement home, who escaped the bombing because she went to the toilet in the garden at that time, or even Mauricette Duval who lived on a farm which took in many displaced people.

But above all there is the story of Tao, a young Jewish woman, who fled Paris with her mother and brother to La Ferrière. The only survivor, she was finally taken in by her aunt, living in the south of France. She will only return to Eure in 2014, when the plaque honoring the victims is installed.

Thus, the testimonies that Andrée Dorgère collected are even more precious now that ten years have passed. The local historian has given herself the mission of perpetuating history and is increasing her number of interventions in schools and universities to talk about it.

The exhibition will take place on Wednesday, May 8, at the village hall in La Ferrière-sur-Risle, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. FREE ENTRANCE. 31 rue Jean-Jacques Hubert. The program for the ceremony on May 8 can be found on the next page.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.