After the liberation of the Rouillé camp, on the night of June 10 to 11, 1944, an FTPF maquis formed in the Saint-Sauvant forest, under the orders of Marcel Papineau (“Captain Bernard”). It is made up of those released from the camp, those who resisted the Compulsory Labor Service (STO) and escapees from the Hôtel-Dieu in Poitiers. The headquarters is established at the Branlerie farm, lost in the heart of the national forest and abandoned.
The occupying forces, worried about the threat posed by this maquis on the strategic axes for German troops heading to Normandy, launched a vast intelligence operation. The Gestapo, French police officers from the Sap (Political Affairs Section) and militiamen are carrying out an investigation among people in cafes, restaurants and hotels. They travel through villages and hamlets to discover where the resistance fighters are hiding and identify their leaders. Small light planes fly at very low altitude over the countryside and the woods to surprise any movement of groups of people.
An early morning “manhunt”
On June 27, at 6 a.m., the forest was surrounded by 2,000 men belonging to the 80e General Curt Gallenkamp’s army corps and the “rapid section 608” responsible for communications security. They are guided by members of the Gestapo and militiamen. Roads and intersections are monitored and prohibited. The houses of the villages included in the encirclement zone were searched, their inhabitants questioned and detained on site (some were deported).
The operation was launched at 7 a.m. and Captain Bernard was shot dead while trying to help his comrades. By 9 a.m. the battle was over. The Branlerie farm, abandoned by its occupants, is set on fire and the “manhunt” begins.
Five resistance fighters were killed during the fighting or died during the subsequent sweep of the forest. Twenty-five resistance fighters were captured while trying to flee or had to surrender.
The bodies of the five guerrillas killed were transported to the headquarters of the German forces at the Vauleton crossroads, as well as the twenty-five guerrillas taken prisoner. In accordance with the orders of the German command, the status of prisoner of war is not recognized for the latter; after being mistreated, they are executed at the end of the afternoon.
At the end of this tragic day, the German officer, commanding the troops, summoned the mayor of Celle-Lévescault to order him to bury the dead. He then called on the mayors of the neighboring towns of Lusignan and Saint-Sauvant to distribute the thirty bodies. The Celle-Lévescault cemetery accommodates thirteen, that of Lusignan eight and that of Saint-Sauvant nine.
In 1946, a monument was erected in Vauleton “in memory of the glorious soldiers without uniform who fell there on June 27, 1944 for peace and freedom”. On the commemorative plaque are inscribed 31 names of those killed, followed by the words “massacred by the Nazis, these patriots of six nationalities died for France and freedom”.
From June 1944 to May 1945
Professor emeritus of the University of Poitiers and member of Vienne Resistance, internment, deportation (VRID), Jean-Marie Augustin writes in our newspaper a chronicle of the events which marked the year of the Liberation of Vienne, between June 6 1944 and the end of May 1945.
