Resistance in Lassay-Les-Châteaux

Stele in memory of the Résistants of Lassay Les Châteaux and its surroundings.

Initiative of the Résistants et Citoyens association

Text from the panel:

THE RESISTANCE IN LASSAY AND ITS SURROUNDINGS

On June 18, 1940, the German army invaded La Mayenne. On the same day from LONDON, General de GAULLE issued a call to Resistance. Marshal PETAIN signed the Armistice on June 22. The shock of defeat and the refusal of occupation prompted men and women in the region to react.

In September, Albert RAVE of La Baroche-Gondouin and André LE PERSONNIC of Les Chapelles, schoolteachers and town clerks, along with Joseph BROCHARD of Mayenne, became the first links in the local resistance. They helped prisoners escape from the Meyran barracks in Mayenne by providing false identity cards. In 1941, they expanded their activities. They created escape, intelligence, and action networks—the teachers' network and the Franco-English network. They hid those evading the draft for the Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO) and civilians hunted by the Gestapo.

German repression intensified:

René GRARD—38 years old—resident of Lassay, head of the Hector network, was arrested on July 25, 1942. Deported to the Sonnenburg camp (Germany), he died of exhaustion there on October 13, 1943.

Marcel LE ROY—21 years old from Niort-la-Fontaine, was a radio operator for the Johnny network from 1941.

On February 16, 1942, he was arrested in Quimper. He escaped, but following a denunciation, his activities ceased shortly thereafter. The prisons of Angers, Fresnes, and the Fort of Romainville were places of internment. He was deported to Struthof (Vosges), then to Germany to Erzingen and Dachau, places of torture, crime, and extermination. On April 30, 1945, he was liberated from the Kommando Allach camp (a subcamp of Dachau) by the American army.

Jean TURMEAU—20 years old from Brétignolles-le-Moulin, joined the resistance in Brest in 1942. He returned to Mayenne in 1943. Appointed head of the F.T.P.F of the Manche, he was arrested on February 1, 1944, in Flers (Orne). He was imprisoned in Domfront then sentenced to death by the Feldkommandatur Tribunal of Saint-Lô. He was executed by firing squad on May 11, 1944.

The rugged terrain and bocage countryside of northern Mayenne facilitated the creation of a maquis of about a hundred men at La Baroche-Gondouin in La Fourie, L'Hommeau, La Villerie, Le Loupgard, and La Reboursière. In Niort-la-Fontaine, about twenty maquisards were grouped in a copse at Gambio.

In July 1943, despite the danger, the BRETEAU family of Le Moulineau hid two Allied pilots, John CARAH and Raymond LASCHER, for a month. They were transported to Laval by Marcel JOUSSET in his gas-powered truck. They were repatriated to Switzerland by a young resistance member, Daniel CHEVRIER, 19 years old from Montreuil, head of the Sainte-Anne maquis. He made several perilous trips to Bern (Switzerland), thus saving around twenty British and American pilots who had crashed in Mayenne and Orne.

The Normandy Landings took place on June 6, 1944: the Turtle Action Plan was activated in the region by Jacques FOCCART: the resistance carried out sabotages to delay and prevent German units from moving to the front. Following the fall of the maquis of Lignieres-Orgères, two parachute drops were made at La Parentière in La Baroche-Gondouin: the first on the night of June 14, 1944, with 2 tons of weapons and equipment. The second, on July 7, 1944, codenamed "the jug is broken," with 3 Royal Air Force planes dropping 30 containers and parachuting a group of 7 S.A.S men (Special Air Service) for a reconnaissance mission.
The reception committee consisted of Loulou PETRI head of the FFI Bretagne-Mayenne, Claude de BAISSAC, a secret agent of the Scientist network, and his sister Lise, a liaison agent. The brothers Albert and Robert RAVE, Almire VIEL, André LE PERSONNIC, Roland FLECHARD, Paul DAVOUST, Louis REBOURS, mayor, as well as about twenty resistance members and farmers were also present for the transport of weapons.

On August 4, 1944, a civilian (British agent) - under the pseudonym Gilbert Levy-Liottel was arrested in Lassay by the S.S. During his transfer to Conlie (Sarthe), he was killed in the forest of Sillé-le-Guillaume. On August 6, a Belgian refugee captured a German dispatch rider. His sidecar was hidden by the people of Lassay. This incident led to the arrest of Dr. BOEDA, mayor, and several inhabitants. They were all released by the end of the day. On Tuesday, August 8, 1944, SS soldiers of the 12th Panzer Division Das Reich set fire to the Lassay gendarmerie. The gendarmes, who participated in the resistance, were hidden in the countryside and returned on Sunday, August 13, the day Lassay was liberated.

 Let us be grateful to all these Resistance members, but also to the anonymous individuals who, through their more discreet but equally effective actions, worked for FREEDOM.

Contribution and photo credit: Eric Le Bourvellec

Stele in memory of the Résistants of Lassay Les Châteaux and its surroundings.Initiative of the Résistants et Citoyens associationText from the panel:THE RESISTANCE IN LASSAY AND ITS SURROUNDINGSOn June 18, 1940, the German army invaded La Mayenne. On the same day from LONDON, General de GAULLE issued a call to Resistance. Marshal PETAIN signed the Armistice on June 22. The shock of defeat and the refusal of occupation prompted men and women in the region to react.In September, Albert RAVE of La Baroche-Gondouin and André LE PERSONNIC of Les Chapelles, schoolteachers and town clerks, along with Joseph BROCHARD of Mayenne, became the first links in the local resistance. They helped prisoners escape from the Meyran barracks in Mayenne by providing false identity cards. In 1941, they expanded their activities. They created escape, intelligence, and action networks—the teachers' network and the Franco-English network. They hid those evading the draft for the Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO) and civilians hunted by the Gestapo.German repression intensified:René GRARD—38 years old—resident of Lassay, head of the Hector network, was arrested on July 25, 1942. Deported to the Sonnenburg camp (Germany), he died of exhaustion there on October 13, 1943.Marcel LE ROY—21 years old from Niort-la-Fontaine, was a radio operator for the Johnny network from 1941.On February 16, 1942, he was arrested in Quimper. He escaped, but following a denunciation, his activities ceased shortly thereafter. The prisons of Angers, Fresnes, and the Fort of Romainville were places of internment. He was deported to Struthof (Vosges), then to Germany to Erzingen and Dachau, places of torture, crime, and extermination. On April 30, 1945, he was liberated from the Kommando Allach camp (a subcamp of Dachau) by the American army.Jean TURMEAU—20 years old from Brétignolles-le-Moulin, joined the resistance in Brest in 1942. He returned to Mayenne in 1943. Appointed head of the F.T.P.F of the Manche, he was arrested on February 1, 1944, in Flers (Orne). He was imprisoned in Domfront then sentenced to death by the Feldkommandatur Tribunal of Saint-Lô. He was executed by firing squad on May 11, 1944.The rugged terrain and bocage countryside of northern Mayenne facilitated the creation of a maquis of about a hundred men at La Baroche-Gondouin in La Fourie, L'Hommeau, La Villerie, Le Loupgard, and La Reboursière. In Niort-la-Fontaine, about twenty maquisards were grouped in a copse at Gambio.In July 1943, despite the danger, the BRETEAU family of Le Moulineau hid two Allied pilots, John CARAH and Raymond LASCHER, for a month. They were transported to Laval by Marcel JOUSSET in his gas-powered truck. They were repatriated to Switzerland by a young resistance member, Daniel CHEVRIER, 19 years old from Montreuil, head of the Sainte-Anne maquis. He made several perilous trips to Bern (Switzerland), thus saving around twenty British and American pilots who had crashed in Mayenne and Orne.The Normandy Landings took place on June 6, 1944: the Turtle Action Plan was activated in the region by Jacques FOCCART: the resistance carried out sabotages to delay and prevent German units from moving to the front. Following the fall of the maquis of Lignieres-Orgères, two parachute drops were made at La Parentière in La Baroche-Gondouin: the first on the night of June 14, 1944, with 2 tons of weapons and equipment. The second, on July 7, 1944, codenamed the jug is broken, with 3 Royal Air Force planes dropping 30 containers and parachuting a group of 7 S.A.S men (Special Air Service) for a reconnaissance mission.The reception committee consisted of Loulou PETRI head of the FFI Bretagne-Mayenne, Claude de BAISSAC, a secret agent of the Scientist network, and his sister Lise, a liaison agent. The brothers Albert and Robert RAVE, Almire VIEL, André LE PERSONNIC, Roland FLECHARD, Paul DAVOUST, Louis REBOURS, mayor, as well as about twenty resistance members and farmers were also present for the transport of weapons.On August 4, 1944, a civilian (British agent) - under the pseudonym Gilbert Levy-Liottel was arrested in Lassay by the S.S. During his transfer to Conlie (Sarthe), he was killed in the forest of Sillé-le-Guillaume. On August 6, a Belgian refugee captured a German dispatch rider. His sidecar was hidden by the people of Lassay. This incident led to the arrest of Dr. BOEDA, mayor, and several inhabitants. They were all released by the end of the day. On Tuesday, August 8, 1944, SS soldiers of the 12th Panzer Division Das Reich set fire to the Lassay gendarmerie. The gendarmes, who participated in the resistance, were hidden in the countryside and returned on Sunday, August 13, the day Lassay was liberated. Let us be grateful to all these Resistance members, but also to the anonymous individuals who, through their more discreet but equally effective actions, worked for FREEDOM.Contribution and photo credit: Eric Le Bourvellec