Chemins de la Liberté – The Path to Freedom: The C3 Camp at Gève-les-Carteaux

6 points of interest

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  Gève

  The Gève plateau is very popular for Nordic skiing; it forms part of the 200 km network of cross-country ski trails in the Autrans-Méaudre area. In winter, the Gève plateau has some of the highest snowfall in the Vercors.

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  Gève Refuge – Camp 3

  Now known as the Refuge de Gève, this forest cabin once served as the winter quarters for the Camp 3 Resistance fighters. It was set up by the Franc-Tireur Resistance movement in the spring of 1943. It housed around 30 people who were refusing to undertake the Service du Travail Obligatoire – the forced enlistment of French citizens. Their days were devoted to collecting firewood and keeping watch. They later took part in the fighting in the Vercors and the Liberation of Lyon in 1944. Since Camp 3 was too easy for the enemy to reach in the summer, it moved to the Cabane des Carteaux.

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  The Glacière of Autrans

  The Autrans cooler is a cavity where snow accumulates in the winter and persists for much of the year. It has been traversed by cave explorers for a long time, since 1936 the speleo club of Paris arrives at the depth of -45 meters and it is in 1988 that the siphon terminal is explored in diving to -221 meters. Its karst network develops thanks to an enormous fault. Its resurgence is the Goule Noire (in the gorges of the bourne) distant of 18,5 km!

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  Pas de la Clé

  In 1944, following the Normandy landings, the call to arms went out in the Vercors. A watch was kept over the mountain passes across the entire massif to warn about a German attack. The Pas de La Clé was kept under surveillance by eight C3 fighters. In days gone by, the wood from the villages of Autrans and Méaudre was transported to the Pas de la Clé, where it was hurled into a purpose-built corridor before sliding down to Montaud and Veurey. The trunks were collected together on timber rafts on the Isère before being floated towards Beaucaire and the coast.

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  Les Carteaux

  Summer billeting of the C3 Resistance members in 1943 and 1944. A makeshift hut built of sheet metal and branches gave the fighters shelter. Their days were made up of physical exercise and weapons training before the first battles of June 1944. The hut fell into ruin before being renovated in 2023 by the Cabane 44 association.

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  The plane

  During the night of 2 February 1944, the Lancester aircraft of the Royal Air Force refueled the resistance of the Camp de Gève. The plane flying at low altitude is caught in a snowstorm, it crashed with its 7 men. The explosion was heard until the village of Autrans. The men still rest today in the cemetery of Autrans.