Rédigé par Alain dans la rubrique Combat, Lieu de mémoire
Version française : Lien
At 10h on the 11th of june 1944 around 150 maquisards FTP from La Double entered Mussidan, a peaceful town on the edge of the river Isle in the Dordogne. In the process of setting up barracades with help from civilians an armoured train carrying germans from Perigueux to Montpon pulls in at the station.
The FTP attack the train and combat lasts for about an hour. During the fighting an armoured division of the Das Reich comes into the town. It is on its way to Normandy to support the fight against the Allies. During combat 9 Resistants are killed and 13 germans, 10 are taken prisoner by the FTP who at 12.30h retreat from the town.
The germans then round up all the men of the town and ransack homes and shops. At 15h, 350 men are held in front of the Mairie. At 16h anyone over 60 is released. The remaining men are locked in 3 classrooms of the school. In the early evening more germans arrive alongside some 'Bicots' (paid hands, hired by the germans, in this case North Africans) who take 50 of the hostages down a lane, Rue de Gorry. 500 metres away they came to a field and are lined up and told to face towards the meadow. They stand in 3 rows with their hands in the air with 2 machine guns facing their backs. After 2 hours they are all machine gunned down.
Version française : Lien
At 10h on the 11th of june 1944 around 150 maquisards FTP from La Double entered Mussidan, a peaceful town on the edge of the river Isle in the Dordogne. In the process of setting up barracades with help from civilians an armoured train carrying germans from Perigueux to Montpon pulls in at the station.
The FTP attack the train and combat lasts for about an hour. During the fighting an armoured division of the Das Reich comes into the town. It is on its way to Normandy to support the fight against the Allies. During combat 9 Resistants are killed and 13 germans, 10 are taken prisoner by the FTP who at 12.30h retreat from the town.
The germans then round up all the men of the town and ransack homes and shops. At 15h, 350 men are held in front of the Mairie. At 16h anyone over 60 is released. The remaining men are locked in 3 classrooms of the school. In the early evening more germans arrive alongside some 'Bicots' (paid hands, hired by the germans, in this case North Africans) who take 50 of the hostages down a lane, Rue de Gorry. 500 metres away they came to a field and are lined up and told to face towards the meadow. They stand in 3 rows with their hands in the air with 2 machine guns facing their backs. After 2 hours they are all machine gunned down.
At the same time the Maire Raoul Grassin and his secretary Antoine Villechanoux are being interrogated back at the Mairie.
They are being asked who the 'terrorists' were but know nothing. First of all the secretary is shot and after further interrogation the Maire is led away and shot.
Every year on the 11th of june at 6.30pm a commemoration is held to remember those who died and for the 9 maquisards who died in combat in front of the station.
Below is an article from 2010 in L'écho du Riberacois reporting the commémoration.
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| Intervention de Michel Gueylard |
- Paul Joseph dit Joseph Bourson (link)