Chemins de la Liberté – The Path to Freedom: Grange Vauneyre

4 points of interest

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  Font Rousse camp

  Shacks were built here to house young men as part of the paramilitary youth workcamps – Chantiers de Jeunesse – belonging to the Monestier-de-Clermont group, which were set up during the summer of 1940. The task was to instil a sense of discipline and duty together with respect for authority, since military service was no longer permitted under the conditions imposed by the Armistice (June 22, 1940). Working in the forest kept the young men busy, while festivals were held to glorify the commitment to the homeland. The group's workcamps closed in early October 1943. A short while later, members of the Resistance from Camp 2 (initially set up at Puit des Ravières in Corrençon) dropped down through the highland areas of the Vercors to the sheepfold near the sawmill before moving on to the premises deserted by the Chantiers de Jeunesse. Louis Kalck (André) took over command of the Font Rousse camp before handing it over to Jean Beschet in the spring. The latter orchestrated the ambush against the German convoy that was crossing the Allimas pass on July 3, 1944.

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  Cotte sawmill

  A sawmill here belonging to Paul Cotte, aged 43 in 1944, worked the wood from the surrounding forests. On July 3 Paul received a phone call around noon warning him that a German convoy was about to arrive by road from St Michel-les-Portes. He lost no time passing on the news to his Maquis neighbours in Font Rousse. Jean Beschet, head of the camp, decided to set up an ambush immediately at the Col de l’Allimas pass. At dawn on July 21, 1944, during the widespread German offensive against the Vercors, the Cotte sawmill was occupied and used as shelter for a command post. The owner of the sawmill was taken hostage together with 10 other men from the surrounding area. They were forced to carry heavy loads for the enemy during the assault on the Pas de la Selle. The owner was set free on July 24 at the same time as two other hostages.

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  Freydier and Maurice houses

  On July 4, 1944, two houses in the hamlet owned by Madame Freydier were destroyed by the occupying forces following the ambush carried out the previous day by the Font Rousse Resistance at the Allimas pass. The first, here on the side of the road, had recently been repaired in 1938. It was clad in corrugated iron and consisted of four rooms, cellar and barn. The second, which was very close by, had a thatched roof and two rooms, a cellar, barn and stables with all the agricultural tools used at the time.
  
  On July 21, 1944, the sheepfold belonging to Léon Maurice was burned down during the attack in the south-east of the Vercors as part of the general offensive by the 157th Reserve Division under the command of General Pflaum.

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  La Bâtie

  The hamlet of La Bâtie between Mont Aiguille and Grand Veymont is lodged at an altitude of over 1,100 m. Only a handful of residents lived here all year round, grouped together around the chapel. Until 1858, when it was attached to Gresse-en-Vercors, La Bâtie was a parish in its own right. The hamlet was home to 22 families – around 100 inhabitants – in the 17th century. The chapel, which was rebuilt in the late 1800s, faces south-east. With its thick walls, half-buried porch and small openings, it is a typical example of a mountain chapel.