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Oignies first martyr city in the countryside of France From Wikipasdecalais From May 25 to 27, 1940, the Battle of Oignies saw German invading troops and meager French and English troops clash. The Germans finally victorious, wanted to pay the town of Oignies and its inhabitants for this unexpected resistance. On May 28, SS troops perpetuate a carnage which will earn Oignies the title of the first martyr city in the French campaign. After the war, on July 13, 1947, the President of the Republic, Vincent Auriol, inaugurated the high mausoleum in the municipal cemetery to pay homage to the martyrs of the war and particularly the massacre of May 28, 1940. On this occasion, the committee of patronage of the monument published a booklet: Oignies, the first martyr city in the countryside of France. Edited by the patronage committee of the monument erected by public Booklet Cover subscription in memory of the executed and the victims of Nazi barbarism. Official inauguration of the mausoleum, July 13, 1947, by Mr. Vincent Auriol, President of the Republic and members of the Government. This 22 page booklet contains a history of the Battle of Oignies , the tragic day of May 28, and the Liberation of Oignies . It ends with the lists of victims who fell in these tragic days. It includes three illustrations (the graves of those shot on May 28, 1940 in the Oignies cemetery ; the graves of French soldiers who died in defense of Oignies; the graves of British soldiers who died in defense of Oignies ). It is the transcription of this booklet which is proposed below. Summary 1 The patronage committee of the monument 2 Foreword 3 History of the battle, the fires, the carnage and the massacre of the population 3.1 The battle of Oignies 3.2 The tragic day of May 28 3.3 The Oignies fire 3.4 At the Battery Bridge 3.5 Complaint by the Liberation Committee 4 Liberation of Oignies. September 2, 1944 5 List of those shot on May 28, 1940 The patronage committee of the monument Honorary Presidents: His Excellency Si Kadour Ben Gabrit, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Sultan of Morocco in Paris Mr. Phalempin , prefect of Pas-de-Calais Mr. Lanquetin , prefect of the North M. Pinel, Prefect of the Landes M. Pé, sub-prefect of Béthune Active members: President: Émile Vendeville-Faideau, mayor, vice-president of the local Liberation committee. Vice-president: Louis Desprez-Coasne, president of the local committee of Liberation. Secretary: Henri Delbaere, president of the union of large families. Assistant Secretary: Lucia Poulain, Protestant cult. Treasurer: Father André Bourdrel, parish priest of Oignies st nd Antony Gronier, 1 deputy; Émile Vendeville-Delfosse, 2 assistant MM. Augustin Cachera, Nestor Delecolle, Aimable Fontaine, municipal councilors MM. Louis Bouquet, Georges Defretin, René Sylvain, Maurice Parmentier, Augustin André, Lucien Périn, Auguste Boursin, D'jelloul Yagoubi, members of the local Liberation committee Alfred Courtecuisse, president of the hairy union; Louis Mastin, president of the released prisoners; Ernest Lejeune, Voix du Nord manager; Marcel Grauwin, Liberation manager; Valentine Hiolle, President of the Union of French Women; Robert Berruyer, director of the Oignies des Houillères group in the North and Pas-de-Calais basin; Paul Meunier, engineer; Gaston Bétrancourt, engineer; Planckaert, from the Henin-Liétard group; René Darre, from the Henin-Liétard group; Philogone Parent, president of the workers 'and employees' emergency fund. Doctors Gaston Horel and Alfred Boulanger; Maurice Descamps, pharmacist; Mrs. Grandclaude-Petit; Noël Wolff, director of SIAL; Victorine Thedrel-Lafléchelle; Pierre Martinet, trader; Achille Davrillon, released prisoner; Maurice Cornil; Victor Hottin, entrepreneur; Joseph Schipman, farmer; Germain Pruvost, farmer; René Hinaut, representing the victims of the carnage (severely disabled); Emma Olivier, civilian victim. Oignies, the first martyr city in the countryside of France Foreword We did not pretend, in presenting this pamphlet, to make a literary work. A writer would find, in the relation of the tragic events of which our unhappy city was the theater, the matter of an important volume. The following account is only a brief summary of the principal events which took place on the bloody day of May 28, 1940, events which, by their savagery, classified Oignies, with Oradour and Ascq, among the cities the most tested from France and who at the start of the war put Germany out of the world. The committee History of the battle, the fires, the carnage and the massacre of the population The battle of Oignies On May 16 and 17, 1940, the news was bad, the enemy was reported everywhere, it was said in particular in Douai. The first refugees began to travel the roads; some inhabitants of Oignies had already left and those who had means of locomotion were making their preparations for departure and hurrying because, intermittently, in the columns of refugees, agents whom we have known since being of the "Fifth Column" , made the most fantastic rumors run about the terror inspired by the enemy and about the almost total evacuation of all the countries they had just crossed. The information and the rumors were confused and one could not detect through all this clutter of more or less likely news, on which side the enemy would burst into our city. On May 19, in the morning, a struggling German plane dropped its string of bombs behind the Sainte-Henriette school; in rue Henriette-Crombez and rue Jean-Jacques- Rousseau. All the windows shattered, the damage was significant and there were victims. From that moment, preparations for the population's departure intensified and a fairly large part of them sprang in tow of the ever-increasing flow of refugees. The houses, empty of their occupants, filled with fugitives, most of them Belgians, who stopped to spend the night and set out again the next day for their unknown ordeal. Their number increased constantly, congesting the roads and creating serious traffic disorders, concerted and wanted by the "Fifth Column". Faced with this ever-increasing human tide, the public authorities were overwhelmed by this influx of refugees who had to be fed; supplies began to run out and it was necessary to have recourse to the extraordinary measures necessitated by the situation. Meanwhile, the enemy was approaching. Avant-garde peaks were reported in the immediate vicinity and arrangements were made for defense, which proved to be particularly difficult. The shells coming from the direction of Hénin-Liétard began to rain, especially around the church and the square. Contrary to expectations, the enemy was trying to enter our city from the south, that is to say by the Courrières road . To do this, he had to cross the Deûle canal at the Battery bridge which was destroyed. th The defense system consisted of a British unit, a company of the 106 colonial infantry regiment composed of French elements and North African Muslims and a detachment of Moroccan spahis. Each was at their combat post when an enemy unit appeared to cross the canal by launching a temporary bridge there. Our valiant defenders pushed it back, but the enemy came back in force. After 72 hours of effort and deadly fighting, the Germans, held in check by this handful of brave and resolute men, renounced this frontal attack and crossed the Deûle upstream towards the Pont à Sault, downstream towards the Pont de Bauvin, to take the defenders of the Battery Bridge backwards and in pincers. They saw the danger, had picked up and withdrew in the direction of Carvin and the wood of Épinoy . Meanwhile, the General Staff, who considered important the position of Oignies with the North, its wooded curtain semicircle decided to hang heavily are the enemy and hurried th the 11 regiment of Zouaves then Moncheaux, Thumeries and Wahagnies to come and take a stand and organize the defense of Oignies . A memorable defense which, on 25, 26 and 27 May, under the orders of Commander Puharré, the hero of Oignies , who had built the Saint Joseph Free School into a formidable fort, made the Wehrmacht pay dearly for the capture of our cited, delaying his advance by a few days. Precious time for our armies flowing back to our port of Dunkirk. th Thus ends the battle of Oignies who with the heroic defense of the 11 Zouaves, had caused the enemy great losses including officers. The French had lost 35 dead and the British had left 18 of their own on the ground. These troops made the admiration of our whole city by their courage and their obstinacy to delay the march of the German army. These heroes sleep their last sleep in our municipal cemetery where pious hands have flowered their graves despite the occupier. The tragic day of May 28 Here begins the drama which was to make Oignies the first and one of the largest martyr cities in France. The Germans could not forgive having been kept in check, for 72 hours, by skeletal units which had inflicted heavy losses on them, in particular as officers; so they swept through Oignies like rabid dogs, foaming on their lips, taking the pretext that snipers from the population had fired and were hiding in the houses. From this moment, the fate of Oignies and Courrières was settled; these two cities would be destroyed and burned down as a reprisal. During the night of May 27-28, our valiant soldiers withdrew in the direction of Lille, covering their retreat with rearguards. At around 6 a.m., SS troops entered Oignies, placing before them civilians they had picked up at the entrance to the town; thus perished, under French bullets, our fellow citizens Auguste Leveugle and Charles Grulois. The boches brought all the inhabitants out of the cellars; they shot the men at point-blank range and pushed the women, children and old men before them to prevent the French soldiers from shooting. Two young men, as they came up from the cellars, had their children on their arms. The cynical brutes tore the children from their fathers' arms, handed them over to the mother and coldly killed the two unfortunate men with a burst of machine gun fire. On the square, other residents were mowed down by bursts of machine guns posted at the various crossroads. Their bodies gathered in the courtyard of the Castle, were sprayed with petrol and burned. These killings and this carnage took place in all the streets of the commune where scenes of indescribable horror occurred. At around 8 a.m., the enemies arrived on rue Victor-Hugo, brought out the inhabitants and shot them at point-blank range. One of them, BJ, falls at the first burst and plays dead; his wife is seriously injured in the shoulder, a third person also falls. Regardless of the victims, the fire was started at home; BJ tries to save the wounded, but the boches come back and throw grenades. Miraculously, no one was hit and he finally managed to get his wife out of the furnace; on his back, he carries her on the road to Dourges . An English soldier, touched, lying in the ditch, asks him to drink; but the enemy officer, commanding the carnage, approaches and blows his brains out. Rue Pasteur, in the courtyard of the girls' school, a poor woman, exhausted by deprivation and forced marches by evacuating, cannot obey the order of the German officer enjoining her to leave for the Drums. Her children surround her and ask to stay with her. The boche officer replied: "leave, mom ambulance". The children leave, but they have not reached the door that the boche coldly discharges its revolver into the poor mother's head. All the men who remained in the streets of Epinoy, Henriette-Crombez, Jean-Jacques- Rousseau were shot. Unprecedented scenes of carnage took place in the presence of women and children who had to let their husbands, their fathers and their brothers moaning to go to the Battery, arms in the air. A poor woman saw her husband and father shot. On the road to the Battery, she recommended her children not to say anything so as not to sow panic among the men who escaped the carnage. She had no idea that 80 of our fellow citizens had suffered the same fate. Rue de l'Égalité, members of the same family are gathered in the cellar. A six-month-old child cries; impossible to silence him. The boches are coming. Instead of going back in time, they cover the cellar door with a wardrobe and burn down the house. Fortunately a man was in the cellar; he managed to free the door and led the women and children out through the flames. In the square, 11 men are lined up, shirtless, in front of the machine guns. Among them is a father and two sons, and a large cripple from the 1914-1918 war. The women cry and beg the boches who remain impassive. A motorcyclist arrives with the order to stop the carnage, they finally save their lives. In the presbytery, women take refuge in the cellars. The boches throw grenades through the vents. A seriously injured girl. René Hinaut, today mutilated with an arm and a leg, miraculously escapes death. He shot in the courtyard of the Turby farm, in the company of his brother and his cousin, he was only injured, fell between the two corpses and played dead. Before leaving, the boches set fire to the farms and the corpses. The body in flames, he manages to free himself and put out his clothes. Still on rue de l'Égalité, at n ° 49, the members of the Deltombe Prosper family, who were admired by the population for their good understanding, took refuge in the son's cellar to die. It is made up of Father Prosper, aged 76, mother, aged 69, son Charlemagne , aged 39, his wife and two children, daughter, son-in-law Louis Poutrain, aged 45 years old, and their son Jean, 18 years old. Prosper's sister and her husband Joseph Carlier, 50, joined them. When the boches arrived, they fired by the air vents and gave the order to go up. Father Prosper comes first, walking only with a stick. The boches jostled him, glued him to the wall but without firing. Then came Poutrain Louis; he took two steps and fell under the bullets. His son Jean following him, he fell on his father, Joseph Carlier followed Jean, he suffered the same fate. Finally comes Charlemagne ; on seeing him, the boches had a moment's hesitation, not believing that there were so many men. Seeing this carnage, Charlemagne exclaimed: "Pull a bunch of cowards then." He fell riddled with bullets. The women rushed to pick up the corpses, the boches repulsed them with their butts and forced them to leave in front of them on the Route de la Batterie. At noon, Joseph Carlier, still alive, was finished with a boche. This tragedy took place between 7 a.m. 30 and 8 a.m. Unfortunately, it did not only cause these four victims in this family. Louis Poutrain's sister died on November 5, 1940. His father, November 13, 1940 and his dear mother on May 27, 1941. Poor Prosper died in excruciating agony, seeing the tragic scene he had witnessed in a frightful nightmare, stuck to the wall and helpless. Rue Henriette-Crombez, the boches come to see a widow aged 60, living with her daughter-in-law, her son being mobilized. They break in a window, the daughter-in-law takes refuge on the first floor and jumps into the garden while three of these satyrs commit heinous acts against their mother-in-law. The Poor woman preferred to sacrifice herself so that her son, wounded on a hospital bed in Bordeaux, could, on his return, find his unblemished wife. These abominable acts were repeated, but the victims preferred to remain silent. And meanwhile, under the care of their cynical executioners, the stream of inhabitants was heading for the Battery. A number of them, passing in front of the Villa les Floralies, heard terrifying cries which were not human and which could have led to believe in the slaughter of an animal. Several people tried to climb the steps of the steps, but they were repulsed by the Germans, bayonet cannon, who guarded the entrance. They saw, however, the atrocious and frightening spectacle of a man, who, through his heartbreaking calls, burned alive, tied to an armchair. He was an English officer. The executioners believed that the fire would have removed the traces of their crime. They had counted without the solidity of the concrete floors, which withstood the fire. Overwhelming documents were collected and all the information was, as of the Liberation, given to the British authorities. The Oignies fire When almost all the inhabitants had evacuated the city, special teams of arsonists, equipped with grenades and flame throwers, set out to fulfill their task of criminal revenge, by burning down all the houses. They set fire and created fires in all the rooms of all the houses (we say in all the rooms of all the houses). They feverishly pursued the prey they had sworn to destroy. When, in their incendiary operations, sowing ruin and death everywhere, they heard an unusual noise coming from the cellar of a dwelling (because despite everything, there had been a few poor wretches), immediately grenades were launched by the airmen. They thus made new victims. Meanwhile, the flock of the inhabitants, gathered under the care of their executioners on the banks of the Deûle, witnessed, helpless, two kilometers away, the most terrible fire they had ever seen, the destruction of all their to have, of all their goods: furniture and buildings. A large part of the inhabitants had left almost naked under the thrust of the bayonet bayonets who had not given them time to gather the few herds essential to cover themselves; others had left barefoot or wearing slippers; Finally, a large part had not even had time to take away their savings, their personal memories, and their family jewels. What unspeakable scenes then occurred among this exasperated crowd who, seeing their last hopes dashed, wanted to try to rush to try to save a few scraps of this heritage, of this woolen stocking so dear to the French people. All other than these Nazi brutes would have been touched by the immense pain of all the inhabitants. Implorations, supplications, nothing worked for the Hitlerite beast. Onignies and Courrières who, by their heroism, delayed the advance of the Wermacht by a few days were to die and be reduced to ashes. Fortunately, if the word can be used, a fortuitous incident would save a significant number of homes from the fire. Around 1 p.m., when herded like a herd under the surveillance of their torturers, our fellow citizens saw their last hopes dashed, a thunderstorm of rare violence struck the region. The lightning and the roaring of thunder was followed by a torrential rain which soaked to the bone these unfortunates without shelter and almost without clothing. This torrential rain relaxed a little the surveillance of the jailers and some inhabitants, more daring, fled across fields and arrived at their dwellings to extinguish the fires which raged. The few inhabitants who still stayed in the cellars, had also done their best to put out the fire in their homes. For its part, the stormy rain, falling heavily, neutralized part of the fire sources. At the Battery Bridge On the drums, other heartbreaking scenes took place. We had made the separation of men from women and children. We had sorted out the able-bodied men and had them cross the makeshift bridge to take them in small groups and escorted them, in the direction of Courrières , Cambrai ... Germany. This separation, coming after the fire and the carnage that we have described, made the physical and moral sufferings endured by our unfortunate population worse. But there did not end the already poignant and lamentable drama. One of the groups, taken in the direction of Courrières, stopped at the first houses. It included 17 men and young people. They were brought into the walled garden of a small house. There, the executioners made them dig their pit, beat them until they no longer had a human figure, and without any excuse than that of belonging to the population of Oignieswhom they had orders to destroy and exterminate, they shot them coldly in bursts of machine guns. Their bodies, later exhumed, were recognized by their families for their clothes and their personal objects because the sufferings they had endured, added to the terror, had left on their features a diabolical and horrifying imprint which made that no member of their family could not recognize their own, in those grinning faces, with crooked mouths, worthy of the Apocalypse. Also, what scenes impossible to describe was the recognition of these bodies. So many horrors, so many crimes cannot go unpunished. Our dead cry "Vengeance". Liberation Committee complaint The local Liberation Committee, after much research, managed to obtain precise st information on the responsible for the carnage of 28 May 1940, and has the 1 October 1944, filed the complaint against the guilty below: "The President of the local Liberation Committee, To the President of the Departmental Liberation Committee. Mister President, Through Doctor Dandois, in Auby (North), nephew of Mr. Desprez-Caron Louis, shot by the Boches at Courrières on May 28, 1940, we obtained the following detailed information on the responsible or alleged author such as the horrible carnage of Oignies on May 28, 1940 and against which we are complaining on behalf of the entire population. Here is a brief statement of the grounds for our complaint: th th On 24 May 1940, the French soldiers of the 106 Infantry Regiment, 11 Zouaves Moroccan infantry section, were ordered to resist Oignies . The population was invited to take shelter in the cellars. For three days, the soldiers accompanied by English soldiers, although very inferior in number, kept the Boches in check on the Deûle canal. During the night of May 27-28, they received orders to withdraw to Seclin and Lille. The Boches entered Oignies on May 28 around 6 a.m. These were then enormous scenes of carnage which would be too long to describe, but which could be related to the investigators. The boches, foaming on the lips, brought the inhabitants out of the cellars, shot the men at close range in the presence of women and children whom they then forced to walk in front of them to prevent the French from shooting. Eighty of our fellow citizens, of all ages, from 17 to 70 years old, were shot by them. In the Villa les Floralies, route de Courrières , they seized an English officer, bound him on a chaise-longue, sprayed him with petrol and burned him alive. The information concerning this officer was given to the British army. To hide their crime, they lit three large fire sources, but they had counted without the solidity of the building, whose floors were of reinforced cement. After this carnage, they burned down all the houses. Three hundred houses were completely destroyed and all those that remained standing bear traces of the fire. According to the information collected by Dr. Dandois from Ms. Facomprez, Grand'Rue café in Auby, the author of this carnage would be Commander Kolrep, Hauptmann und Komp chef FP 02136 C. Doctor Dandois received verbally the following testimony from Mrs. Facomprez: “I lodged from April 8 to May 22, 1941, Major Kolrep, 32 years old at that time. His troops were confined to Auby. Part of the workforce was also confined to Raimbeaucourt and Leforest . Commander Kolrep boasted in my presence of being the author responsible for the carnage of Oignies. He even cited certain facts concerning this barbarity. In front of this declaration, I thought of collecting the most information on his account and managed to get the attached label, by peeling it off from one of his sheets of letterhead. Commander Kolrep, named Orts, was born in Biarritz. His wife is a pharmacist. He has 3 daughters and 4 brothers. His father is mutilated with one arm and in 1941 he commanded an Oflag near Hamburg I believe. He would have done 9 years of war school. He showed pictures where he was in the company of Hitler, Himmler ... Which would suggest that he was one of their close friends and surely National Socialist. His prescription was called Heintz, named Altof, who lived in Chemnitz. He is the son of a druggist and at that time was the first soldier. Please accept, etc. Signed: Given this precise information, it would be possible to find all the culprits. The Oignies Liberation Committee hopes that the investigation will be opened immediately and that every effort will be made to take over the criminals if they are still alive as soon as Germany is defeated. The dearest wish of the whole population is that their dead be avenged and that the culprits be shot in the Place d ' Oignies . On his behalf, we ask the investigators to keep us posted and wish their business every success. A photo of Commander Kolrep and his order has been attached to the file. The above facts are only a small part of the atrocities committed by the Boche. We apologize for being obliged to confine ourselves to citing only generalities. We would need a book to be able to list the particular case of each shot, of each resident who lived through these tragic hours. Time and material means are lacking, but we hope that later, it will be possible for us to amplify this story, in order to make known to the world the real ordeal of the first martyr city of France. Since May 28, 1940, other cities have unfortunately also had their ordeal to climb. Larger cities have suffered war. They had their victims and their destruction, either by bombardment or by any other cause, but we believe we can affirm that apart from Oradour-sur-Glane, none of them experienced the material and moral tortures which were inflicted at Oignies on May 28, 1940. Liberation of Oignies. September 2, 1944 Resistance was clearly felt from August 15. On the night of 20 to 21, the walls are covered with inscriptions declaring the general strike for the 22. This strike becomes effective on the first day. The Boches feel the slippery ground and no longer dare to carry out mass arrests. In retaliation, the Kommandantur of Lens consigns the entire population to the houses. Ban on going out under any circumstances Bakeries and all trading houses are closed and must not distribute supplies. Patrols crisscross the streets and the inhabitants remain cloistered at home. But you have to eat, the bakers, unanimous, restart their ovens, and the housewives venture to go out between two patrols. Woe betide who gets caught, the Boches shoot women and children without any warning. Cited May 28, Jules Boulinguez, 23 years old, ventures out of his house. For more than two hours his wife has gone to the baker by the devious paths, she does not return and he fears for her the worst. He had barely reached the middle of the road when he fell shot in the stomach. Dedicated neighbors transport him to the hospital where he dies in excruciating pain. On August 26, work resumes in slow motion and the situation returns to normal. The Allied armies are on the Somme. They are heading for Arras . The most contradictory news is circulating. The Germans flow back to Belgium. They requisitioned the horses and carts of farmers in the Saint-Omer region . The Wehrmacht debacle begins. Oignies is crossed by the most heterogeneous crews. The population sees there the index of the German rout. Liberation is approaching, the nerves are tense. st 1 of September. At 3 p.m., the rumor circulates that the English are at Bois-Bernard , nobody dares to believe it. At 3.30 p.m., the order to attack arrived. All the resistance groups: Liberation, National Front, Voix du Nord, Patriotic snipers were alerted. German latecomers are attacked. Resistance fighters in pit No. 9 are the first to take prisoners. Unfortunately, this operation cost the life of one of our fellow citizens: Maurice Fanion, born in CourrièresDecember 12, 1913, father of five and a resistance fighter from the start, who fell under German bullets during this operation. Night service is organized. Around midnight, a German car was attacked but managed to escape. September 2. At around 6:30 a.m., a convoy of 15 German trucks arrived from Carvin . He is lost. The German officer asked for the route to Lille at the entrance to the village. A housewife, whose husband is in resistance, sends him into an ambush at the entrance to rue Fernand- Pantigny. As soon as he arrives in rue de la Place, an advanced sentry placed at the roundabout of Jean-Jaurès and Arthur-Lamendin streets, shoots to give the alert. The resistance machine guns spit the grapeshot, the boches fire back and put in battery an anti-tank gun. The shooting lasted approximately twenty minutes. They are too numerous; the ill-armed resistance cannot pretend to attack them in the open, but it maintains its positions. Adolphe Gorriez, in position in rue Ernest-Renan with his comrade VF, was injured in the foot by an explosive bullet. His comrade shoots him in the Louisa courtyard to shield him from German bullets. The German losses amount to five dead including three officers. The officer commanding this convoy, unable to break this deadlock, gave the order to break down the doors and bring out the population. Nazi bullies drag women and children out; resistance must stop fire for fear of injuring them. After having them paraded in front of their exposed corpses in front of the Schipman farm, the boches put them on the wall. A young man, DM, knowing German, saved the situation by declaring: "You can kill us but you will not leave Oignies alive , because there are too many of them". Then the officer replied: "you are going to drive us to Lille". after making a U- turn, the Boche trucks resumed the road to Carvin, pushing in front of them about forty women and children picked up in the streets of Place and Equality. It was around 7:10 am when the column left Oignies . At 7.45 a.m., a cyclist arriving from the Battery declared that three English tanks were at the bridge and that they were awaiting orders to cross it. Nobody can believe it. 8.05 am, order is given to the Liberation Committee to occupy the town hall. All the resistance groups have resumed their activities. Isolated Germans are reported in the park, in the cemetery, in Harponlieu wood, etc. It is only in the streets of the commune that an uninterrupted parade of more or less well armed resistance fighters. 8:30 am, big alert. A German column strong from 150 to 200 men, driven out of Dourges by the resistance, withdrew on Ostricourt. She tries to descend towards Oignies , but the resistance of n ° 9 attacks her to Justice and makes her go up towards Wahagnies. The young Rolande Rémy, born in Hénin-Liétard on April 22, 1928, had left on a mission to the n ° 1 pit district. On the way back across the fields, she was attacked by this column. She managed to win a haystack and hide her mission order before dying. From 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Anxious expectation of the population. It is confirmed that the English tanks are at the Battery, but that they are not ordered to cross the bridge. The head of the Font National, after having spent a long time in parliament at the Courrières bridge with the colonel of the armored brigade, finally obtained that he order the tanks to cross the bridge to go to Wahagnies. 12:05 p.m., the first chariot arrives on the Place, opposite the church. It is covered with flags, resistance fighters. It is delirium among the population. But the joy is not complete. What has become of the hostages taken away this morning by the Boches? The English tanks continue to arrive as well as the caterpillars. It's who will flower them. There are reports of isolated Germans in the park. Two tanks detach and strafe the copses. 1:10 pm A car of the resistance by on Carvin in search of the hostages kidnapped in the morning. 1:30 p.m., the car is back. She brings back three of these women. They tell their odyssey in the following way: “While the boches were breaking down the doors, the men managed to hide. The boches entered the houses and did not give them time to dress. They dragged them into the streets, and after presenting their dead to them saying: "French correct, eh? They placed them on the wall. Following the intervention of young Davanture, the officer commanding the detachment understood that he had taken the wrong route and that he was leaving for Douai instead of Lille. This is what saved them. The Boches placed women and children, arms in the air in front of the trucks, and sent them on foot to "Brûlard". There, they got them into the first truck in the column with orders to raise their arms and shout: "Do not shoot" at each crossroads. The women who could not find a place in the truck were placed on the mud flaps and the column started up again. Without this precaution, the column would never have crossedCarvin . The resistance, ambushed at each crossroads, in the church, could not intervene for fear of killing the civilians. At Seclin, the column joined the bulk of the German forces entrenched to fight. The three women were released and after finding dresses and slippers in the homes of charitable people, returned to Carvin on foot. They were placed on the mudguards and hood of the last truck and could not give any indication of the other hostages. " 15 hours. The Local Liberation Committee holds its first meeting at the town hall. It is composed as follows: Louis Desprez, alias Barthé, Liberation group; Émile Vendeville -Faideau, alias Napoléon, Liberation group; Georges Defretin, alias Lebucheur, secret agent of Colonel Joly; Maurice Parmentier, alias Pater, CGT; René Sylvain, alias Sylvicus, Socialist Party; Auguste Boursin, alias Barcus; Djelloul Yagoubi, alias JB, Front National; Augustin André, alias André, Liberation group; Lucien Périn, alias Cherbourg, communist party; Jean De Neef, alias Verdun, illegal CGT; Louis Bouquet, alias Bagio, Voix du Nord; Pierre Vendeville, Christian Syndicate; Rose Danel, Union of French Women; Pierre Jombert, Patriotic Youth. Sergeant Defretin, aka Lebucheur, said that the order to occupy the town hall was given by Colonel Troy, aka Joly, and invited the assembly to appoint a president and a vice- president. Unanimously, the committee appoints Louis Desprez, alias Barthé, as president and Emile Vendeville-Faideau, alias Napoleon, as vice-president. The committee immediately took care of supplying the commune with flour and meat, and, at the end of its meeting, issued the following proclamation to the population: “The local Liberation Committee is happy to greet, on behalf of the population, our valiant defenders. He congratulates all the patriots and in particular those of the pit 9. He assures the population of all his devotion. He will work for the good of all, without any party spirit or belief. He calls for calm and discipline. Measures are now being taken against looting and robbery. Armed patriots patrols will circulate in the streets at night under the direction of the gendarmerie and the local police, who are resuming all their powers. Refueling is provided under ordinary conditions. The Committee will try to improve it to the extent possible. The black market is completely prohibited, it will be repressed with the greatest force. Our nation is in great need of rising from its ruins. We must all be committed to getting back to work with more ardor than ever to rebuild a free and independent France. Long live France ! Long live the Republic ! Vice General de Gaulle! " 17 hours. The majority of the population is gathered on the Place. Some voluntary musicians have grouped and it is with the accents of a vibrant Marseillaise that the population marches through the streets. The English avant-gardes continue to arrive, they are now in Wahagnies and Phalempin but the boches still hold Seclin. 7:30 p.m., the joy is great among the population. Unfortunately many families cannot wholeheartedly join in the festivities and in our joy the memory of those shot, political deportees, prisoners and those required for compulsory labor slips. Part of the hostages this morning returned on foot, coming from Lille where the boches took them. They reassure us about the fate of others. One of them, a former furry boy from 1914-1918, on his way to Seclin, spotted the mines, the cannons, the German troops. As soon as he arrived, he communicated this information to the English staff. Most of the hostages will return on September 3 and 4, but in good health. 7:45 p.m., bad news bursts like a bomb among the joy of the population. The armored lieutenant-commander receives an order by wireless telephone to make the combat arrangements. A German armored column surrounded around Nœux-les-Mines attacks and descends on Loos-en-Gohelle . The lieutenant orders the population to return home. He puts his tanks at the crossroads of the Place. The English staff sits permanently at the Villa les Floralies, route de Courrières , and the main body of the troops lines up in battle at a place called Pré Wilmet. Some hostages of the streets of Place and Equality no longer wanting to relive the tragic hours of the morning, went to bed, but the night was only disturbed by a few cannon shots that burst into the distance. September 3. At dawn, the population regained confidence. The English avant-gardes continue their road towards Wahagnies, Pont-à-Marcq, Orchies and Belgium, while the main body of the army arrives. For two days, it was just an unbroken parade of tanks, trucks and equipment of all kinds. To see past all this complicated material that we did not know during the 1914-1918 war, we finally understand why our allies took four years to come to free us from the German yoke. These four years were long and interminable for us, cut by alternatives of hope and discouragement. But we have proof that they were well used by our English and American friends. The Total Liberation of Oigniesis completed, but in the surroundings the boches still resist. The English army passes and leaves to the resistance the task of cleaning the remote corners. Around 9 a.m., the resistance group of Tourmegnies, fighting with the boches in the forest, called for reinforcements. Our resistant, tireless, parent in a truck, but around 1 p.m. bad news arrives. One of ours fell in front of the enemy under the following conditions: “as soon as they arrive in Tourmignies, the boches being in a wood, our resistance fighters deploy in skirmishers and advance crawling. At the edge of the wood are two German soldiers, their arms in the air. Paul Delattre, born in Cérences on December 20, 1920, married, father of two children, rushes to take them prisoners, but at fifty meters, a tank is unmasked and mows it down with a burst of machine-gun fire. In turn, Lillers resistance calls for reinforcement, volunteers leave immediately. The matter is settled in two days, our resistance fighters return with prisoners. Many of them do not want to lay down their arms. Their hatred of the boche is too strong to stop so soon. Leaving women and children there, they joined the regular army. Among them is Sergeant Narcisse Duquenne, furry from the 1914-1918 war, decorated with the war cross, military medal. He left for the Flanders front, participated in the liberation of Berck , and continued the fight with the Canadians and the Czechoslovaks. But on December 13, during a patrol, he did not return and was missing. The news reached Oignies threw consternation among the population. For more than three months, we did not know what had become of him. But on April 29, like a wildfire, the news spread in Oignies : Narcisse, prisoner in Dunkirk, is part of a convoy of prisoners exchanged with German prisoners. It was a real relief for everyone. Onions finally released, will courageously get back to work. We apologize for not being able to relate all the acts of bravery, all the brilliant actions carried out by our resistance fighters of Liberation, of the Voice of the North, of the National Front, and those of the Resistance, and Maverick Patriots. All have done their duty and have shown themselves worthy of Oignies: the first martyr city of France. With all our heart, we thank them. List of those shot on May 28, 1940 Julie Beignot Albert Dumont Stefan Mortka Charles Bessand Emile Dupriez Georges Mullem Louis Birlouez Trophim Dutko Léonard Nuttin Cecile Boigelot Gustave Dreux Aristide Olivier Jules Boigelot Alexandre Druelle Albin Orlowski Jean Borowki Albin Erjavec Wojciech Plonka Léon Boulanger Raymond Gripont Stanislaw Pokrzywka Jean Cambier Charles Grulois Jean Poutrain Julien Carlier Rodolphe Gucek Louis Poutrain Eugene Caron Antoine Haremza Louisa Quittelier Amedee knight André Henocq Louis Sarazin Attilio Chiarcossi Louis Hinaut Julien Sorbaj Jean Chodura François Kasza Alfred Stanczyk Georges Coquelaert Slimane Ben Mohamed Kechid Boleslaw Stanczyk Maurice Creteur Franciszek Kempka François Tartare Jean-Baptiste Debock Antoine Kolacek Julien Tartare Jean-Baptiste Degognies François Krol Alfred Urbanek Turenne Defief Georges Lafay Sylvain Vandepontseele Sidoine Delbecque Juliette Lefebvre André Walkowiak Arthur Delhaye Auguste Leveugle Eugène Wasson Charlemagne deltombe Mieczyslaw Lucinski Joseph Zelina Louis Desprez (1866-1940) François Misiarczyk Civilian Martyrs of the Deceased in Resistance fighters dead on the victims Resistance deportation field of honor Catherine Edouard Coignet Fernand Bacrot Jules Boulinguez Bezak Liliane Alfred Diévart Antoine Bonge Paul Delattre delbaere Desire Leroy Eugène Dournel Roger Cappi Maurice Pennant Jean Liszyk Voltaire Dournel François Delhaye René Herchuelz Célestine Leon Szklarek Élise Dournel Rolande Remy Liszyk Fernande Edmond Pantigny Janowski Adalbert Ptak Henri Nortier Maciej André Pantigny Strzeszewski Maria Maurice Sarazin Vendeville Henri Segers Récupérée de « http://www.wikipasdecalais.fr/index.php? title=Oignies_première_cité_martyre_de_la_campagne_de_France&oldid=112271 » Category : Pas-de-Calais archive and document Last edit of this page on July 9, 2013 at 8:00 PM. 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