Par
Lisa Farou
Published on
June 27, 2024 at 5:38 p.m.
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THE June 27 and 28, 194416 resistance fighters were killed in a hamlet of Briec (Finistère) and two farms of Quimper.
Thursday June 27, 2024, elected officials, veterans and loved ones gathered to pay tribute to them. The pilgrimage began in the hamlet of Guelen, then continued to Penhoat (Stangala) and Kergrenn (route de Bénodet).
On the occasion of the 80e anniversary, look back at this tragic episode in the history of Quimper.
“The carnage of grenades” in Briec
The year is 1944. Following the Landings, the resistance received orders to increase sabotage actions against the occupier. It is a question of slowing down the departure of the Germans towards Normandy. This involves sabotaging the railways and means of communication.
It was precisely after a night spent cutting telephone cables that around fifteen resistance fighters took refuge in a house near the Guelen farm in Briec. Whereas they they restthey are surprised by the Germans:
“Suddenly, there’s madness, grapeshot crackling, the carnage of grenades thundering between the walls. […] On the ground, near him, the bodies, as if asleep, are lifeless. »
Five people were killed during the attack: Ange Menou, Emile Lastennet, Raymond Lamour, Jean Queau, Guy Rolland. The others manage to escape.
Their location has been denounced
The same day, German troops surrendered farms of Penhoatconsidered the command post of the French Interior Forces (fusion of different resistance groups).
Gabriel Nicolas, sector manager of the Vengeance resistance movement, says:
“It was the hamlet of Penhoat to the north-east of Quimper which was invaded and destroyed by fire. Captain Pézennec, commanding all sectors, was killed as were the volunteers present. »
The five resistance fighters killed in Penhoat are: the accountant Hervé Gestin (32 years old), the marble worker Hervé Julien (25 years old), the student Alain Le Bras (20 years old), the student Jacques Maillet (19 years old) as well as their captain Marcel Pézennec (32 years old). Their biographies are to be read on the Fusillés 1940-1944 website.
Their location has been denounced by Charles Baal, a man of Alsatian origin followed by the Quimper psychiatric hospital. His execution was ordered the same year by the Germans, due to his repeated demands for money. He was killed on Beg-Meil beach in Fouesnant.
The hamlet of Kergrenn is set on fire
On June 28, about fifty soldiers went to the Kergrenn farm, where six resistance fighters were. They were captured then executed two hours later.
“The volunteers present are captured with the sector chief. They will be executed with a bullet in the back of the neck while the hamlet is set on fire.”
These young men were Roger Dréanno (32 years old), Pierre Sousset (29 years old), Marcel Chocat (27 years old), Hervé Pénarun (20 years old), Jean Grannec (20 years old) and Pierre Le Berre (22 years old).
In his text, Gabriel Nicolas reports that 80 resistance fighters were engaged in “this sabotage action around Quimper”.
Despite the “fairly heavy” toll, he judges it “very effective by the disturbances caused to the occupant cbetween railway and telephone means of communication.
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