Raoul Audrerie "Le Crapaud"

Rédigé par Alain dans la rubrique Brigade Rac, Portrait

On the 29th of may 1940 during combat against the germans Raoul was shot and a bullet was lodged in his right lung and he was taken to Germany as a prisoner of war. In the beginning of 1941 he was released on the grounds of ill health and returned to Payzac where his family lived. The bullet was never extracted and he would say that it was like a barometer that would tell him of any change in the weather.

Fernand Devaud & Raoul Audrerie

During the first few days of 1943 young people in France started to receive orders to leave for Germany to work for the S.T.O. (Service du Travail Obligatoire). Raymond Pivert, Raouls nephew decided to follow Raoul and leave instead for the woods and create the Maquis de Payzac. At the beginning there were nine of them, one of whom was Jean Delage 'Jeantou' who, a year later was Chief of one of the two sections of La Bataillon Violette trapped at a disused mill at Le Pont-Lasveyras by 300 Germans soldiers on the 16th of february 1944. Thirty four maquisards were shot, some during combat but most in cold blood. Two managed to escape, one had been left for dead but survived and thirteen were deported to Auschwitz, only seven of them would return, sadly 'Jeantou' was so badly injured during interogation that he died during deportation.

Le massacre du Pont-Lasveyras is a subject I shall return to in more detail later.

Thiviers 13th August 1944

During the summer of 1943 Raoul took the name 'Le Crapaud'. By june of 1944 the Maquis de Payzac would number two hundred and on the 5th of june were part of La Bataillon Violette at the combat des Pilles where four of the Bataillon lost their lives : Denis, Roger Peyramaure, Leyssnot 'Rumeau' and Camille Laymarie.

Raoul and Rac at Thiviers 13th august 1944

The groupe 'Crapaud' as part of La Brigade Rac now took the name GM1 (groupe Maquis no. 1) and on the 13th of august 1944 at Thiviers in front of the three Bataillons of La Brigade Rac, Rac presented la medaille militaire to the brave Raoul.

Shown here are some photos from Capitaine Fred's books 'La Brigade Rac' and 'Bataillon Violette' taken that day at Thiviers.

The photos below are from 'Bataillon Violette' and were taken on the 6th june 1944 at Payzac. 

In the photo above Raymond Pivert is the chap 3rd from the left

The following is an excellent first hand account of the maquis de Payzac lead by Raoul Audrerie.

It was the speach made by Raymond Pivert on the 26th of october 1986 in front of la mairie at La Chapelle and in my view one of the most well written accounts of the maquis from the region that I have read.

Related post :

•  The book's of Capitaine  Fred (link)