La Ligne de Demarcation

[Frecossais]

Went to a talk last night about the line of demarcation in France during WW2. It ran through my Departement, and cut many childtren off from their schools, farmers from their fields and animals, many people from their places of work. My battery is going.... can't do any more. I'll get back....

[Mac]

When visiting Chenonceau I was told that the line ran through the chateau-specifically the bridge. One end was in Occupied France and the other end in unoccuped France and that it was used as part of the escape line to get Airmen back to the UK.

[Furster]

The line ran right through our village, even to this day there is bitterness between families who allegedly collaborated with the Germans (and who stay away from remembrance services on May 8 and November 11) and those who helped the resistance. There is a local story about how German soldiers gave chocolate to their guard dogs in front of the children of the village.

furster

[Frecossais]

Sorry about the abrupt cut-off. Was using MacDonald's free Wifi.

I'm sure there were tensions here too, just touched on by the chap who gave the talk. He said that from very early on, there were "passeurs" who helped to smuggle messages in and out of the occupied zone. But some were good passeurs, ie they didn't expect any payment or reward, others wanted payment. As I say, he didn't make much of that subject though I reckon everyone at the time knew who was who.When the ligne was abolished in 1942, many of the passeurs went on to be resistants.

There was a film in which three witnesses of the period recalled their experiences. One was a little girl who lived in a house outside of which was a checkpoint. The soldiers issued her with an Ausweiss so she could trundle back and forth on her trike.

A man described how he became, almost unwillingly, a passeur. He never asked what he was carrying, and said he did not know why he did it, then later on in a very unassuming way, said he did it for France.He was a resistant later on and saw his father captured.

None of us (or not many now) has ever faced the kind of choices people had to make in the war. Hopefully we never will. Nevertheless it is for me a fascinating subject.

[FairyNuff]

[quote user="Frecossais"]None of us (or not many now) has ever faced the kind of choices people had to make in the war. Hopefully we never will. Nevertheless it is for me a fascinating subject.
[/quote] I completely agree with you. None of us who weren't there can imagine the dilemma faced by people placed in such situations - do you resist and risk your life and those of your family and neighbours, or do you keep your head down and survive. I am grateful to those (like my father) who fought oppression, I live in a peaceful and 'liberal' country thanks to them. FairyNuff

[RogerW]

The village of Chabris in the Indre lies on the River Cher, which formed the Demarcation Line in that area. Chabris itself lay to the south of the line in the unoccupied zone, and the neighbouring village of Gièvres, in the Loir et Cher, was on the northern side of the river in the occupied zone. The bridge in Chabris was an official crossing point guarded by a superannuated customs officer and one sentry. Both had been posted to the bridge in order to get them out of the way and minimise the damage they could do to the German war effort. The customs officer was almost spherical and had a very short temper. He had an uncanny resemblance to a certain high ranking Nazi (member of the ruling political party), and was known to all the locals as 'Hermann'. The sentry was very dim. They shared a small hut just north of the bridge and were very loath to leave it, especially in cold weather.

The locals used a simple ruse to cross the line. If they wanted, say, to cross from Chabris to Gièvres, they would knock on the door to the hut and tell Hermann a pathetic tale about how they had forgotten their Ausweiss, but needed to cross to Chabris for some pressing family reason. Hermann would promptly lose his temper, scream that nobody ever crossed his bridge without the correct documentation, and order the sentry to escort the unfortunate applicant back to Gièvres. Coming back, the story was reversed and an armed escort was provided back to Chabris.

Roger.       

[pachapapa]

[:D]

[Rabbie]

[quote user="RogerW"]The village of Chabris in the Indre lies on the River Cher, which formed the Demarcation Line in that area. Chabris itself lay to the south of the line in the unoccupied zone, and the neighbouring village of Gièvres, in the Loir et Cher, was on the northern side of the river in the occupied zone. The bridge in Chabris was an official crossing point guarded by a superannuated customs officer and one sentry. Both had been posted to the bridge in order to get them out of the way and minimise the damage they could do to the German war effort. The customs officer was almost spherical and had a very short temper. He had an uncanny resemblance to a certain high ranking Nazi (member of the ruling political party), and was known to all the locals as 'Hermann'. The sentry was very dim. They shared a small hut just north of the bridge and were very loath to leave it, especially in cold weather.
The locals used a simple ruse to cross the line. If they wanted, say, to cross from Chabris to Gièvres, they would knock on the door to the hut and tell Hermann a pathetic tale about how they had forgotten their Ausweiss, but needed to cross to Chabris for some pressing family reason. Hermann would promptly lose his temper, scream that nobody ever crossed his bridge without the correct documentation, and order the sentry to escort the unfortunate applicant back to Gièvres. Coming back, the story was reversed and an armed escort was provided back to Chabris.

Roger.       
[/quote]