Maquis du Vercors

Battle of Vercors
The route over Col de Tourniol
Date June–July 1944 Location Vercors Plateau, France Result German victory
Belligerents
French Resistance	Germany  Vichy France
Commanders and leaders
François Huet	Karl Pflaum Jacques de Bernonville Raoul Dagostini
Strength
4,000 maquisards	20,000 German soldiers, 500 Milice Franc-Gardes
Casualties and losses
639 killed (+ 201 civilians killed)	350 killed

The Maquis du Vercors was a rural group of the French Forces of the Interior resistance (maquis) that fought the 1940–1944 German occupation of France in World War II. The Maquis du Vercors used the prominent scenic plateau known as the Massif du Vercors (Vercors Plateau) as a refuge. Many members of the maquis, known as maquisards, died fighting in 1944 in the Vercors Plateau.

From 16 to 24 April 1944 the Milice (a Vichy government paramilitary militia) attacked the village of Vassieux, burning several farms and shooting or deporting some of the inhabitants. Nevertheless, the local population continued to support the Resistance movement.

On 5 June 1944 the Free French government in London called upon the people of Vercours to take up arms and tie down the German army, prior to the Allied invasion of Normandy as part of a wider series of resistance uprisings. In his BBC speech, de Gaulle pronounced the famous line "le chamois des Alpes bondit" ("the chamois of the Alps leaps forth") which signalled the 4,000 maquisards to begin the uprising.

To overcome the centre of resistance around Vassieux-en-Vercors, Luftlandgeschwader 1 landed two companies of Russian and Ukrainian troops of Fallschirm-Battalion "Jungwirth" of the Brandenburg Lehr Battalion by DFS 230 and Gotha Go 242 gliders on 23 July.

The bloody suppression of the Vercors insurrection further inflamed the Maquis in the region, but also served as a warning that they were not well enough armed or organized to directly confront the Wehrmacht until the arrival of the Allies. The Maquis returned to the more traditional style of petite guerre ("little war"), engaging in harassment and ambush of Wehrmacht units rather than large-scale tactical operations.

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Wikipedia