War Diary: 20 July 1944. Bombing raid on Resistance camps in the Montagne Noire.

'06.45. It was scarcely daylight. The men were rubbing their eyes before getting up. A noise in the sky grew louder and then became deafening. Eight aircraft, six Junkers 88s and two reconnaissance planes, flew over La Galaube. In the tight valleys of the Montagne Noire the roar of their engines was terrifying. The planes were at around 200 metres and there was no doubt about their identity or the intentions.'

This is how Roger Mompezat remembers a battle which began on this day 78 years ago. He was commandant of an 800-strong Resistance army, the Corps Franc de la Montagne Noire. During that long day, around a thousand German troops supported by armoured cars and half-tracks helped the bombers to destroy the Resistance camps at La Galaube, Riedgé and Plo del May.

In the departmental archives in Albi, I found a report of the battle filed by the gendarmerie in Mazamet a few days later. It has little to say about casualties among the ‘dissidents’ or the German troops, but notes the deaths of two civilians. The first was an infant killed in the arms of its mother by a stray bullet near Arfons, presumed to be fired by the Resistance. The second was a 48-year old man killed by a burst fired from a German submachine gun through his window in Les Escudiès.

If you want to know more about these events, you could visit Amazon and spend around €75 on a rare copy of Mompezat’s war diary (available only in French). Alternatively you could spend €15 on a book called ‘Lauragais: Steeped in History, Soaked in Blood’ which devotes a long section to the German occupation in this part of France and helpfully translates many of Roger Mompezat’s comments into English.

Memorial stones at all the Resistance camps cited above can be found hidden in the forests of the Montagne Noire. I pass them regularly on my cycle rides and always pause to remember the dead on both sides. If you decide to look for them but cannot find them, or if you would like to read the full text of the gendarmerie’s report, please contact me.

EXPLORE BY TOPIC OR MAP