MACRON REMEMBERS DARK SIDE OF FRENCH WWII HISTORY IN RESISTANCE TRIBUTE

President Emmanuel Macron is on Tuesday to pay tribute to the heroism of members of the World War II Resistance based at a remote Alpine plateau who were attacked by the Nazi army and French collaborationist forces.

Members of the resistance used the Vercors Plateau as a refuge after the occupation of France from 1940, receiving airdrops from the Allies and even occasional visits by British agents with the top-secret Special Operations Executive (SOE) unit.

With 2024 marking 80 years since the penultimate year of World War II, Macron is making a series of high-profile commemorations to remember resistance heroes but also to note the role played by native French collaborationist militia (milice) in the German occupation.

Conspicuously he has chosen to visit the village of Vassieux-en-Vercors on April 16 -- the date marking 80 years since the attack by the French milice on the Resistance holdout -- rather than July 21 when German army forces launched a full-scale assault.

Macron's choice of date is aimed at ensuring "a painful memory that endures" is not obscured, a presidential official said, asking not to be named.

"Remembering is to also show all the grey zones," added the official. It is to be the first such visit by a French president.

Resistance members began to cluster at the Vercors plateau from 1942 and would number some 4,000 people.

The attack by the French milice on April 16, 1944 did not end the activities of the resistance on the Vercors Plateau, with the Allies seeing it as potentially crucial in the landings in northern and southern France later that year.

Resistance members in early July even declared the Free Republic of Vercors, seen today as a link to the modern French republic.

But the German army attack, involving some 10,000 soldiers, in July wiped that out, with 840 resistance fighters and civilians killed and 570 houses destroyed. It was the biggest operation by the Wehrmacht against resistance fighters in western Europe during World War II.

Yet only weeks later came the Allied landings in southern France and the liberation of the area from German control. 

This year's commemorations peak in June with the 80th anniversary of the 1944 Normandy landings. A host of world leaders are expected to attend, including US President Joe Biden. 

In August, the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation will be marked.

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2024-04-16T11:26:17Z dg43tfdfdgfd