By Renaud Vilafranca
Published on
May 8, 24 at 12:16
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There is History with a capital H and the small stories that make it big. Benoît Landrevie, resident of Guernes in Yvelines, strives to piece together this puzzle to better understand the past of his village and the surrounding area. Among his favorite historical periods, there is the Second World War. And in Vexin, struck in 1944 by a battle causing nearly 3,000 deaths, there is a lot to say on the subject.
“Dead for France”
This forty-year-old focused in particular on the lives of two Guernois, André Mandon and Roger Girardat, whose names are honored on commemorative plaques in the village. These resistance fighters “died for France”, according to the established formula, distinguished themselves on August 19, 1944.
The allies had already moved up Normandy. A battalion is stationed at Rosny, on the other side of the Seine, ready to cross the river to retake Paris. Opposite, a handful of German troops still hold the village. Residents fear bombing raid.
“Raymond Ledebt, the mayor’s son, will talk to the Americans to avoid this. A intelligence officer then suggested that he convince the Germans to surrender,” recalls Benoît Landrevie.
The young man complies. Very quickly, those who held a artillery piece lay down their arms. “It was a majority of Ukrainians who were forcibly conscripted. There was no need to insist much. »
Punch action
Only three Germans remain, stationed in a house transformed into ammunition depot, in what is now rue des Caillouets. While the mayor negotiates to obtain their surrender, our two men enter the scene.
Girardat, first. Accompanied by several friends, this 40-year-old man sets out to dislodge by arms. There will be an exchange of gunfire. “Roger Girardat, who did not have much military experience, enters the house and goes up the stairs. He won’t come out standing,” says the history enthusiast.
Battle around an ammunition depot
After this first failure, later in the morning, a second group of civilians decides to storm this improvised fortress. The resistance fighters are shooting wildly from a firing point below. Mandon, 21, will also pay with his life for an act that is undoubtedly a little unconscious. “He goes up the hill, facing the house. A German threw grenades which rolled down the descent and one of them exploded near him,” explains the specialist.
To avoid a new bloodbathwe will let the soldiers sneak away into the night.
He closes the debate on the spelling of the name of one of the two resistance fighters
Benoît Landrevie, who studied history, spent long hours excavating the municipal archivesconsult the civil status, read everything that had been written on the subject and survey the elders to reconstruct the story of these two men, who died tragically trying to save their village.
“The term resistant is sometimes a little overused. Some only took part in one action, at the very end of the war. »
His research helped close the debate on spelling de Mandon, written with a mistake on a street name plate in Rosny-sur-Seine. He also learned that the two men had not died instantly, contrary to what was said for a long time in the village, but a few hours later, as a result of their injuries.
This work allows us to better contextualize these war events, certainly sometimes anecdotal, but which contribute to document the past of a city or region. A sort of historian on a micro-local scale, who was called upon to solve the little mysteries of yesteryear.
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