Maquis de l'Oisans
During the Second World War, the Oisans maquis was an important base for the French Resistance, in the Oisans, between the Belledonne range and Grenoble to the north, the "Grandes Rousses" and the Croix-de-Fer pass to the east, the Drac valley to the west and the Barre des Écrins and the Provencal Alps to the south.
Its route mainly followed the Romanche valley from its birth to its confluence with the Drac.
Situation and importance
The topography of the Romanche basin is that of a particularly deep valley. Situated between Grenoble and Italy, it is one of the few roads between the Mediterranean and Switzerland that allow traffic to flow towards Italy.Anticipating a landing of the allies in Provence, the German army will consider withdrawal through Italy; it was thus necessary to maintain these communication and transport routes open and under control. In addition to an access road, it was essential for the Germans to ensure the transportation of aluminum and magnesium stocks from the "Lower Romansh" plants to Germany. The Oisans maquis and its roads became, in two ways, strategic for German troops from the beginning of the occupation of the Southern Zone.
Moreover, "Sector 1" had a special position in the region since, from November 1943 onwards, the Resistance within the city of Grenoble was directly under the command of the Oisans. This maquis is therefore the only one in the historic region of the Dauphiné to have coordinated both its activities in the mountains and the city Resistance of the "capital of the Alps" in the plains.
Start
On 22 June 1940, the French government signed the armistice. From that moment on, certain officers or military cadres will continue fighting by forming troops and Resistance groups.This will be the case of Lieutenant André Lespiau: after having been ordered to the 9th Colonial Towed Artillery Regiment for his conduct at fire in June 1940, he joined the head office of the Colonial Troops in Fréjus, then joined the A.S. in Var. There, he was christened "Lanvin".
This name would later become famous as "captain" of the troop of about 1,500 men of the main Oisans maquis.
From the end of November 1942, the ranks of the maquis swelled after the introduction of the Service du Travail Obligatoire, which encouraged many young people to "go underground" so as not to be forced to work in Germany.
Captain André Lespiau was assigned to the Groupements Militaires d'Indigènes Coloniaux Rapatriables in Fréjus.
With the appearance of important Resistance maquis in the Alps, he was then appointed, in February 1943, to command the 14th Company of the 1st Sub-Group of the 1st GMICR in Jarrie in Isère - neighbour of the 13th Company, in Pont-de-Claix.
It was truly from this moment that the various Alpine maquis "officially" took shape, under the command of General Delestraint and then Officer Alain Le Ray. Thus, in Oisans, different groups united under the command of Lanvin, to control this area from the Grenoble metropolis to the gates of Savoy in the east and as far as Lavaldens in the south. Another maquis was responsible for the southern part of the Oisans region, which overflowed into the Trièves.
Organisation
Thanks to a leader who is himself a professional soldier, the Oisans maquis has a quasi-military organisation. Its 1,526 men and women were divided into five "action" sections of 150 men each; the rest of the group was in charge of various tasks such as supply, intelligence, surveillance, maintenance, etc.1943
On December 20, at the Alma barracks in Grenoble, Captain Lespiau was given command of "Sector 1" of the Secret Army by Commander Sylvain, who had led the Grenoble Resistance until then. At the end of November 1943, the Gestapo and the Militia had dealt a coup de grâce to the Grenoble organisation by capturing its leaders.Three months later, André Lespiau was thus declared "deserter" by army officers. His father, Captain Paul Lespiau was arrested in reprisal and deported to Buchenwald where he died. Captain "Lanvin-Lespiau" was now completely underground.
But the particularity of the Maquis de l'Oisans is also to have at its service men and women of many different nationalities and origins. Their leader, Officer "Lanvin", is of Catalan origin and served in the colonial troops with Indochinese and African riflemen under his command. Among his recruits were Poles, Russians, Tunisians, Algerians, Spaniards, and others. "Oisans" also had a Catholic chaplain and a rabbi in its ranks.
1944
F.F.I. hospital
In addition to its activities against the German and Militia forces, the Oisans maquis was responsible for the F.F.I. hospital for the entire Isère area.In 1944 there was a small chalet which was made available to the F.F.I. in early July by its owner. A surgical block was installed there by Captain Robert Tissot, a doctor and soldier, for the wounded of the maquis; this chief-doctor brought himself his 10kg of surgical equipment.
At the beginning of August, after the maquis defeats of the Vercors and Glières, the German 157th Division attempted to encircle the Oisans in order to put an end to the maquis and free an essential road towards Italy.
This manoeuvre forced the hospital and its patients to flee higher up, erasing all trace of their passage in the chalet and the village of Alpe d'Huez, while the para-military groups organised the counter-attack. Two groups were evacuated: on the one hand, the most able-bodied patients and some of the medical staff were hidden in the forests; on the other, the seriously wounded left with the rest of the medical staff on 11 August at 11 am. Inhabitants made a hedge of honour to this fleeing column.
The maquisards were assisted in this evacuation by 11 American soldiers, crew of a "B-24 Liberator" which had crashed a few days earlier in the Hautes-Alpes and who had been taken by the maquis to this "field hospital". Their presence will be used to carry stretchers, transport equipment, carry out reconnaissance missions and hide food and bandages.
On the evening of 11 August 1944, the most seriously-wounded soldiers of the F.F.I. settled with their caretakers at l'Alpette, a few kilometres and 300 metres from the La Fare refuge. The barns were used as treatment and restrooms. But on the 14th, while still dark, the makeshift hospital had to leave the premises because the German troops were getting dangerously close. The refuge is 300 m higher and it was impossible to transport the wounded on stretchers as the terrain is so steep. The amputees were hidden in rocks at the bottom of this promontory, each one with his or her own caregiver.
During the night of August 14 to 15, the F.F.I. fighters of "Mobile Group No. 4" arrived, under the command of Lieutenant Menton. They took up positions to the north and east of the Alpette, so that they blocked the Germans' advance on their comrades. The battle lasted five to six hours and resulted in about 20 deaths on the German side and no casualties on the French side. The "battle of Grandes Rousses" will remain as one of the rare victorious direct confrontations against the German army for the maquis, more accustomed to ambushes and isolated actions than to a face-to-face battlefield.
But, despite this victory, the pursuit by the Bavarian Alpine Hunters is not over and what remains of the German company is determined to capture or kill the hospital team.
On the morning of 15 August, the Germans spotted the wounded and the hospital staff at the La Fare hut; the group then set off again towards Lac La Fare, where they found a hut full of maquisards who had come from the north after fighting at the Glandon Pass. With German troops having occupied the Romanche valley for 4 days now, there is only one way out for the patients and their companions: to go up towards the east. Without equipment and weapons, they hid for several days in a wall on the edge of the glacier, eating "Brun" biscuits and capturing a sheep that they devoured almost raw.
For a few days, the Rajon shelter at Lac La Fare had become the highest hospital in the world, at an altitude of 2,645 metres.
Epilogue
On 22 August 1944 at 5am, the Germans having fled the city during the night, the "Groupe Franc d'Uriage" was the very first unit of armed men to enter a liberated Grenoble, a few hours before the Americans. Exceptional fact in Europe: in the South-Isère region, the Germans had to surrender to the local Resistance, not to the Free French military, nor to the allied American and British forces.On the same day, the mobile groups of the Oisans maquis joined up with the 1st battalion of the 143rd American infantry regiment in Vizille. A short and intense battle took hundreds of German prisoners at the château de Vizille.
At the end of August 1944, the Oisans and Grenoble regained their freedom, but the war was not over. Numerous Maquisards from the Oisans continued their commitment, notably by forming the 1st Colonial Infantry Battalion and the Colonial Artillery Group which distinguished themselves in the Maurienne fights.
At the end of 1944, the 1st B.I.C. became the 11th Battalion of "Oisans" Alpine Hunters and the 1st G.A.C. became the 93rd Mountain Artillery Regiment. Both of them covered themselves with glory at the Mont Froid battle. The 93rd R.A.M. keeps a faithful memory of it. Other maquisards from the Oisans chose to join and fight in the troops of the 1st French army led by General de Lattre de Tassigny.
Official recognition
In spite of its central role in the liberation of Grenoble and the Isère département, the Oisans maquis has little national and international renown, compared to the Vercors or the Savoie maquis, for example. The memory concerning it rarely goes beyond the communal or departmental scale.A monument to the dead of the Oisans maquis was built at Livet-et-Gavet, the Mémorial de l'Infernet.
A memorial plaque has been placed at the La Fare lake with the following text: Dans ce modeste refuge et alentour séjourna au cours de l’été 1944, l’Hôpital Départemental des Forces Françaises de l’Intérieur qui, sous la direction de son médecin chef le docteur Robert TISSOT couvert par un groupe de protection maquisard, aidé par 11 hommes d’un équipage de l’U.S. Air Force, dû se replier sous la pression des Alpenjager de la 157ème Division Alpine Bavaroise. Après l’arrêt brutal de l’avance allemande par le groupe mobile n°4 du maquis de l’Oisans à la bataille des Grandes Rousses le 14 août 1944, la totalité des personnels et blessés de l’Hôpital purent regagner Grenoble libéré. Translated as:
Several streets have been named "rue du Maquis de l'Oisans", notably in Vizille and Bourg d'Oisans.