Vercors

Vercors. This 900 m. (3,000 ft.) plateau, 48 km. (30 mi.) long by 19 km. (12 mi.) wide, is situated south-west of Grenoble in France. It is screened by a formidable rock barrier and the Free French wanted to make it a National Redoubt, an impenetrable fortress for the maquis gathering there, to give them a safe base from which to harass German supply routes after the French Riviera landings of August 1944. The local maquis leaders, expecting a plan of flying in reinforcements and heavy weapons to be implemented immediately after the Normandy landings (see OVERLORD), closed the passes into the Vercors on 10 June 1944, flew a tricolour from the heights in full view of the Germans at Grenoble, and created a Free Republic of the Vercors. But large-scale reinforcements for the 3,500 lightly-armed maquis never arrived, though supplies were dropped and both SOE and the Office of Strategic Services sent missions. Fighting escalated with German patrols and the local Milice until, on 19 July, the Germans launched a full-scale attack on the plateau with 10,000 men. Three days later 200 SS troops landed there in gliders, forcing the surviving maquis to disperse and hide. In overrunning the area the Germans committed many atrocities.

Bibliography

Pearson, M. , Tears of Glory (London, 1978).