The Threat in the Woods

Monday, September 18

Jules Perret writes:

"What a night!  All night long, trucks rolled by, coming from Chenebier, going towards Belverne.  Are they bringing troops from Alsace?  All day, they keep coming.  Several trucks are pulling big cannons.  And horse-drawn wagons, too.  They stable their horses everywhere.  We have four, Jacques three.  The men are polite enough and don’t take anything without asking.  We don’t recognize ourselves in this confusion.  Are we French?  Collaborators?  A soldier from Wurtemburg told us he had come up from Perpignan, that they were on the march for four weeks, fighting Americans and “terrorists.”

The stone that marks the death of two maquis on September 18, 1944, located in the woods between Etobon and Clairegoutte

"I went up to the Goutte Evotte to check on the shelters under the big rock.  What should we do with our prisoners?  Our Hindus?  The resistants of Horse’s Head, regrouped at Arthur’s Well, near Magny d’Anigon, have suffered a lot.  What a mess!"

It was a mess. German soldiers were now searching the woods. Two members of the resistance, Fabbro Libero and Jean-Paul St. Maurice, were killed in a gun battle this day on the road near La Tête de Cheval, one of the main rendez-vous points for the Etobon maquis and those they were hiding.

Tuesday, September 19

Our maquis, gone to the Valettes [a group of hamlets a few kilometers south of Etobon], play hide and seek with the Germans.  Sometimes we have an attic full while the Germans are in the kitchen asking for eggs.  To get his orders, Jacques sometimes has to go out among the Germans with a scythe and a rake.

M.P., who has his own reasons to move around had to pass near a German battery, and told an officer that he was a teacher and had a field nearby, which he wanted to get to without being questioned.  “Wait for me for two minutes.  I have to go to Belverne.  You can go with me.”  And off they went together, talking like old buddies, the German lieutenant and the lieutenant of the maquis! 

Captain Aubert, back in the woods at last, said to Jacques, “wait for orders.”

Some Germans are patrolling the forest where I’ve set up a supply tent with lots of interesting things in it.  Jacques said to me, “Are you sure there aren’t labels with our names on them on those sacks?”  Apparently, there are!  The sacks are marked.  I get chills thinking about it.  Carrying a scythe, I climb up there, pull off the labels, hide the fire buckets marked “Etobon,” all my tools, hatchet, billhook, pick, saw, Jacques and Lamboley’s FFI backpacks.  Ouf!  Now I’m back home.

Just when I was closing the doors to go to bed for the night, a boche came up to me and, in a whisper, asked “Where can I find a girl to sleep with?”  “You’ll have to look for yourself, buddy!”

Hiding in Plain Sight

Tuesday, September 19

The Germans were growing more desparate, and the men of Etobon were growing more bold. Jules Perret records:

"Our maquis, gone to the Valettes [a group of hamlets a few kilometers south of Etobon], play hide and seek with the Germans.  Sometimes we have an attic full while the Germans are in the kitchen asking for eggs.  To get his orders, Jacques sometimes has to go out among the Germans with a scythe and a rake.

"M.P., who has his own reasons to move around had to pass near a German battery, and told an officer that he was a teacher and had a field nearby, which he wanted to get to without being questioned.  “Wait for me for two minutes.  I have to go to Belverne.  You can go with me.”  And off they went together, talking like old buddies, the German lieutenant and the lieutenant of the maquis! 

"Captain Aubert, back in the woods at last, said to Jacques, “wait for orders.”

"Some Germans are patrolling the forest where I’ve set up a supply tent with lots of interesting things in it.  Jacques said to me, “Are you sure there aren’t labels with our names on them on those sacks?”  Apparently, there are!  The sacks are marked.  I get chills thinking about it.  Carrying a scythe, I climb up there, pull off the labels, hide the fire buckets marked “Etobon,” all my tools, hatchet, billhook, pick, saw, Jacques and Lamboley’s FFI backpacks.  Ouf!  Now I’m back home.

"Just when I was closing the doors to go to bed for the night, a boche came up to me and, in a whisper, asked “Where can I find a girl to sleep with?”  “You’ll have to look for yourself, buddy!”"

The Prisoners: Found and Lost

As the battle for the liberation of France drew nearer to Etobon, those who had been active in sheltering escaped British POWs and captured German soldiers grew anxious. On September 20, the blacksmith and journal writer Jules Perret slipped into the woods to make contact with those who were hiding there. He found some ... others were missing.

Wednesday, September 20

We woke up amazed at how well we had slept.  The big German guns are thundering, firing shells twelve kilometers away … At the forge, I have to work for them, shoe their horses.  I sabotage what I can … I’m thinking about a more secure hiding-place than the one I had.  I’ll work on it – it’s time.

We’ve heard that the gendarme Gendre and his prisoners are wandering in the woods, followed everywhere by hunger.  I leave with Jacques to take them some food.  We look like woodsmen, with our hatchets, hooks and gear.  It’s raining.  Too bad.  We hear gunshots here and there, reminding us to be careful.  After lots of turns and u-turns, we got to the Moulin des Battants, completely abandoned, then to the Sarrazin Rock.  “Look, Papa!”  What a surprise!  Under the Rock, several of our Hindu friends, Cham Dram, the man with the blue eyes, the old sergeant, the one with the Turkish-style moustache, and others.  They are not fat.  We leave them the provisions and some cigarettes.  The prisoners?  They haven’t seen them.  We leave them, all of us very moved.  Will we ever see each other again?  Near la Tâle, by the side of the road, the German engineers have cut the oaks and the big trees halfway through.  All they need is a firecracker to make them fall in front of the American tanks.  Another stop at our hiding-tent, below the Chateau, where everything is in order … bursts of machine-gun fire, planes, the sound of cannons.  We come home exhausted, without having learned anything of the prisoners. 

How Will It All End?

Thursday, September 21 

There were German troops and German deserters in the woods all around Etobon. The cannons could be heard from about 20 miles away. Accusations were being made. Jules Perret wondered how it would end ...

"Bauer from “L’Amérique” [a farm in the woods near Etobon is named “America”] has been denounced to the Germans for having had the P.C. of the Resistance at his home.  Investigation, search.  Bauer, who speaks German, knew how to get himself out of the situation.  He gave them schnapps.  While they were drinking, the boches named the one who had denounced him.  What an imbecile!  He has almost certainly furnished the list of all the resisters at the same time, and now the boches know as much as we do.  How will it all end?

"At six, a “disbanded” band of soldiers passed by on foot.  Those of 1940 are dead and buried … One of the was humming the “Internationale.”  Another one, very young, had such a big smile that I said to him, “You’re smiling?”  “Oh, yes,” he said.  And another: “Krieg fertig!” … The end of the war, that’s all they’re thinking of.  But before that, they’ll do more evil, out of spite or just natural cruelty.

"Jacques is on another expedition, to la Fontaine qui Saute, looking for the prisoners.  The soup was ready and on the table, but no one was there to eat it.  They must have had to leave in a hurry.  Why?  Where?"

Food for the Occupiers

Friday, September 22

The German troops, being pushed back towards the Rhine river by the Allied advance, were in desparate need of food and supplies. Cattle and hogs were requisitioned from the villages, but the process was far from orderly. The farmers of Etobon began to think they would have nothing left after they were liberated. The delivery of their precious cows was only the first blow the people of Etobon would suffer at the end of September, 1944. Jules Perret writes,

"Tomorrow, Etobon has to deliver fifty cows to Belfort.  Only that.  We discuss, we argue.  Finally, the mayor has found forty-two cows.  I’ll give my second heifer.  They wanted two right away, and they killed them near our smokehouse, leaving the hides right there.  I salted them and nailed tem up in the barn.  The tails, left on the hides, will make us a rich soup.  To spice up their menu, the boches stole an enormous pig from the mayor and one from Hélène Tournier. 

"Cossack patrols in a scrap with our FFI.  Young Voisin, from Frahier, was gravely wounded at the Vallettes."