As we move on from the celebrations from D-Day, there are momentos from the event that keep reminding us that the war fought by the greatest generation has many stories. One of those stories involves a French aristocrat, Guy de Montlaur, who fought the NAZIs as they attacked his country in 1940 and then left France to join the Free French to prepare for the eventual reentry into his homeland some four years later. This year, the World War Two Museum in New Orleans is honoring him through an exhibition of his work. His life before and after the war was as a painter. The war changed his images completely.
Philippe Kiefer, leader of the Commandos
On June 6th of this year, I ran across some information about the French soldiers who participated in D Day. There was only a select, small number involved. I had posted this remembrance on Facebook that day to celebrate their efforts in what was known as the Kiefer Commandos. They were a very special group.
Guy de Montlaur had joined the Kiefer Commandos, which numbered only 177 French soldiers when they came ashore on June 6th, the main force of French men returning that day to fight alongside the British, Canadians and Americans landing on the Normandy beaches. Only a few more French paratroopers were dropped inland to secure targets behind German lines. So, on June 6th, about 200 French soldiers were returning home to start the expulsion of the Germans from their country. By August 15th a large contingent of Free French would land on the French Riviera to assault the Germans holding the Rhone Valley and continue this effort. Also, De Gaulle would land after D-Day with his forces to contribute to the liberation of Paris with the aid of these troops arriving from the Riviera.
As of D-Day, Montlaur also had another special connection to America, having married Adelaide Oates, who had come to Paris in 1936 to study art. They met in classes and began dating. The Germans first intrusion into their lives occurred when Guy suspended his studies and joined the service after the Munich Agreement in 1938. He would also be involved in the attempt by the French Army to repel the German invasion in 1940, while Adelaide returned home to the safety of the U.S.A.. Yet, her feelings for Guy pulled her back. She would return to Europe in the early 1940s, traveling via Portugal to England, where Guy had also made an earlier escape via Spain and Portugal to London after France surrendered in May of 1940. There he joined the Free French, specifically those Kiefer Commandos, which would be embedded with the English forces for the invasion of Normandy. In the nearly two years leading up the the invasion, Guy and Adelaide married.
When the Kiefer Commandos landed on June 6th, the Commandos were tasked with taking a casino inland from the beaches in Ouistreham that served as the NAZIs’ headquarters. The conflict was a bloodbath, with only forty of the French still standing after the initial push inland. By the third week, the Allies had managed to push through the hedge rows some thirty or forty miles inland and plan their chasing the Germans eastward out of Normandy. Perhaps, even, they could surround a large number of them and gain their surrender. This would help to shorten the war considerably.
The Allies were helped at this time by the information collected at Bletchley through the deciphering of the Ultra machine messages the Germans were sending. The news sent by the Germans was forwarded to the high command within a hour or so, which allowed Eisenhower and his generals to plan with foreknowledge of German movements. Also, the French citizens in Normandy were invaluable, with some of them already a part of the Resistance, having sent information about changing troop positions and whatever they could observe from the Germans in their towns. A great story during the June 6th early morning involved the Gondrée Family (found at the end of the blog)1
At this time, Montlaur, then only in his early twenties, had made a name for himself among the Allies. His exploits throughout the first three months after landing were legendary. One of his companions wrote about Guy in his own diary; According to this officer, Captain Guy Vourc’h, Montlaur’s bravery was exemplified by this comment “…wounded, he refused to be evacuated…his courage bordered on insolence… He had won 7 citations and the French ‘Legion d’Honneur’ by the age of 25.”
The family maintains a blog on the exploits of Guy and Adelaide which are most interesting and informative…
http://blog.montlaur.net/?p=1575
http://blog.montlaur.net/wp-content/uploads/RG1.jpg diary 1
http://blog.montlaur.net/wp-content/uploads/RG2.jpg
From Adelaide in writing to her grand daughter…..
”My grandfather Piper and your grandfather, Guy de Montlaur, appreciated each other very much. They met in 1947 after World War II. Grandaddy still had five years to live after a long and interesting succession of careers and adventures. Your grandfather had just been through the war, beginning as a French cavalry man along the German frontier in the Saar. In 1940 he fought in a reconnaissance unit, racing through western France on a motorcycle with a side-car while the German armies overran the country. The armistice between France and Germany was signed in June 1940. He was forced to stop fighting near Limoges. He left France two years later for England after three months in Lisbon helping the British track down enemy agents who were dealing severe blows to British convoys at sea. He joined a Free French Marine unit attached to the British No 4 Commando. They trained in Wales, in the Scottish Highlands and along the South coast of England learning to live off the land, climb cliffs (such as the Seven Sisters), cross a river on a suspended wire, interminable quick marches, –« the training, he declared, was worse than the war. »
On D-Day, June 6, 1944, his landing barge was sunk amidst all the clamor. He and his section made a « wet landing » with their 100pound packs on their backs under heavy fire from the big guns of Merville on ‘the heights East of them beyond the canal and the river Orne. They ran across the beach at an even pace, not one of -the ten men was injured whereas anyone who lay down flat or fell was an easy target. Later in the morning their colonel was wounded. Resting along the way to their objective, the Casino at Riva Bella, Colonel Dawson shouted a word of encouragement, « Go to it, Guy » (Vas-y, Guy) Many years later he assured me he had never seen such a brave man as Guy de Montlaur.
The legend told in « The Longest Day » by Cornelius Ryan about the Count who lost a small fortune at the Casino before the war is still quoted on anniversaries of the landings such as the 40th on June 6, 1984 when Pierre Salinger told the story on TV news to the American public. When the Commandos were shown a « mute” map (a map ‘ showing no name places) before leaving England, your grandfather recognized the place. He knew Ouistreham with the Caen canal and the river Orne alongside. He had been to the casino with young friends during summer vacations. But he had never lost any sort of fortune there. It must heve been Commandant Kieffer who stretched the story to include a small fortune when Cornelius Ryan interviewed him for his book.
After holding the .Eastern end of the Normandy beach-head until mid-August, the Commandos with the rest of the British 6th Airborne Division .finally could advance across .the ·valley of the Dives, a valley well known to William the Conqueror. He assembled his fleet of « landing barges » at Dives before taking it up along the coast to St.-Valery-sur-Somme to invade England at Hastings across the Channel.
A little more than two months later, your grandfather again saw action, this time in the Netherlands, the Low Countries. Here there was a grave problem. .While the Germans kept a stronghold on the island of Walcheren at the mouth of the Scheldt, the Allies could not use the port of Antwerp. Belgium had been liberated more or less by the end of September. On the eve of All Saints Day which we call Halloween, October 31, 1944, the British and French Commandos crossed the ScheIdt, remaining quietly in their barges until early morning. It was a long dark vigil. In the landing barge at the back there was ammunition under the bench where three men were sitting. Bombardments began, the barge was sunk, blowing up the three unfortunate men in the back. The rest scrambled toward the huge anti-tank stakes driven in along the wharfs which they escalated, climbing up to the windmill called Oranje Mollen. Then began the siege of Flushing, the house-to-house fighting, bombing by their own air forces. After much loss of men where the dikes had been blown up at Westcapelle, and much trouble in that part of the island, Walcheren was finally liberated and the port of Antwerp ready for use.
Your grandfather did not return from the wars unscathed. Apart from his wounds, he carried the memory of everything he had seen with him until he died. He was a painter. He expressed the color of pain and suffering. He knew the shape, the size and proportion of what he had seen. One cannot talk about wars without dealing with unpleasant subjects. He could paint from the inside out. As he painted .non-objective or abstract or expressionist paintings, we need not know what he was expressing. Sometimes, though, we do need to know.
Dear, Cecily, this was meant to be an account of legends but it has turned out to be a history of facts. Please forgive me for not writing fairy stories or allegories. You may take what you like and leave what you don’t like. (excerpt of letter from Adelaide to Cecily written in 1990)
The following was written in de Montlaur’s field diary on the 10th of June…a translation follows and the photocopy of the original follows the translation.
Le 10 juin, après une nuit relativement calme (si l’on ne tient pas compte des inconvénients qui sont ceux d’une « guerre de positions » – et bien que ces positions soient seulement vieilles de 3 jours) les Fusiliers-Marins Commandos étaient en train de prendre un paisible petit déjeuner à base de chocolat (des rations K) et de bon lait normand, quand le tir allemand commença. C’était toujours le même calibre : 88 mm. Un bon nombre des hommes de la troupe 5 se trouvaient dans la ferme du PLEIN. On n’avait laissé à chaque BREN gun qu’un tireur et on se relayait pour, à tour de rôle, boire son chocolat et manger ses tartines de bon pain français (fabriqué sur place, par les habitants) bien beurré. Petite note personnelle : une tuile est tombée sur ma gamelle de bon chocolat au lait (préparé par GABRIEL) pendant que je suis sorti repérer un sniper.
Il était environ 06h30. L’ennemi avait évidemment choisi la ferme comme objectif. Les tuiles des toits commençaient à descendre dans la grande cour quand les Commandos regagnèrent chacun la position qui leur avait été assignée. Le S.M. qui commandait la troupe 5 était à l’extrême droite du dispositif, en liaison avec les K.guns, quand un obus démolit le haut du clocher de l’église du PLEIN. La gauche de la position était plus étoffée en armement grâce aux deux mitrailleuses Vickers. Très vite le feu allemand devint intense. De gros éclats rouges et fumants tombaient sur les tranchées des français qui avaient été soigneusement repérés depuis le 6. Le matelot Louis BÉGOT entre autres, servant du Bren gun de droite eut le maxillaire inférieur arraché et dut être transporté jusqu’à l’église du PLEIN dans une brouette. (Il fut d’ailleurs emmené en jeep jusqu’à Arromanches, embarqué pour la Grande Bretagne. Opéré une première fois le jour même, il devait après une longue suite d’opérations avoir une mâchoire artificielle. Deux ans furent passés à l’hôpital de East Grinstead, Sussex, où il fut admirablement traité par le célèbre chirurgien Sir Archibald McIndoe… On alla jusqu’à lui greffer le bras sur la figure.)
Il y eut aussi trois tués et deux autres blessés, ce qui est peu, si l’on tient compte de ce qui se préparait.
Il était 08h00 – soit après une heure et demi de bombardement intensif – « les Allemands… attaquèrent avec deux forts bataillons dans le but de chasser la Brigade du relief de terrain dont le point stratégique était Le PLEIN » (The story of the Commandos, par Hilary St. Georges Saunders, P.272). Ces deux bataillons avaient un effectif de 1400 hommes. La troupe 5 qui tenait Le PLEIN était composée à 08h00 de 19 hommes (plus les servants des deux mitrailleuses Vickers et leur officier). La section K.guns et la troupe 8 pouvaient tirer les attaquants sur leur flanc gauche. Le N°3 Commando sur le flanc droit. Mais le point « névralgique » si l’on peut dire, Le PLEIN, était singulièrement dégarni. Deux autres Fusiliers Marins furent alors blessés ce qui réduisit la troupe à 16 officiers mariniers, Q.M. et matelots.
Le Brigadier Général Lord Lovat donna alors l’ordre au N°3 Commando de contre-attaquer. Il faut signaler qu’à ce moment les hommes de la 12ème SS Hitlerjugend avançaient lentement par bond – donnant l’impression qu’ils savaient bien utiliser le terrain et qu’ils savaient aussi que le nombre de leurs adversaires occupant Le PLEIN était assez limité.
Le N° 3 Commando était commandé par le Lieutenant Colonel Peter Young (29 ans, D.S.O., M.C., + 2 bars). En dépit de son jeune âge, il savait à quoi s’en tenir en matière de combat. La légende voulait qu’à Salerne il ait débarqué le premier de son unité suivi de son Adjudant Major… il y avait aussi Vaagso.
Il lança sa contre-attaque à 10h00 à partir du Château d’AMFREVILLE, direction plein sud. Il déploya tout ce qui lui restait de commandos (environ 300 gradés et hommes) sur une seule ligne qui allait du Château d’AMFREVILLE à l’ouest jusqu’à la ferme de LONGUEMARE à l’est. Ses troupes ne s’arrêtèrent que quand elles eurent atteint les abords de BREVILLE. ENtre le Château d’AMFREVILLE et BREVILLE il y avait eu les 1400 hommes de deux bataillons de la 12ème SS Hitlerjugend Division.
Dès le début de la contre-attaque du n° 3 Commando, il est bien évident que tout feu en provenance du PLEIN cessât. La Troupe 1 qui s’y trouvait aurait risqué de tirer sur les hommes du Colonel Young. Les deux bataillons SS interprétèrent mal ce silence. Ils crurent à un décrochage. Comme d’autre part ils étaient pris à partie sur leur flanc gauche par la Section K-guns et la troupe 8, c’est sur ces dernières qu’ils dirigèrent leur action. Ce qui explique les pertes subies par les français (3 morts : QM. FOURER, Mat CROIZER, Mat GERSEL et 6 blessés graves : S.M. LAVEZZI, S.M. MARIACCIA, QM CHAUVET, Q.M. LE BRIS, Mat. JUNG et Mat. GRINSPUN). Les allemands ignoraient l’attaque qui se préparait sur leur flanc droit. La configuration du paysage normand permet une utilisation du terrain idéale. Aussi les commandos britanniques furent-ils pratiquement sur eux, sur ce qui était devenu leur arrière, avant qu’ils aient eu le temps de se rendre compte du traquenard dans lequel ils étaient tombés. Il s’ensuivit un désordre indescriptible. Les officiers allemands, pris sous le feu des français, ne pouvaient plus donner d’ordres à leurs « arrières » qui eux étaient en contact direct avec les britanniques. Leur dispositif de combat se trouvait « à l’envers ». C’est, certainement, la raison de leurs très lourdes pertes et de leur échec final.
Dans la soirée, ce qui restait de la Troupe 5 fut replié sur le carrefour des ECARDES.
A 400 mètres plus bas, au carrefour qui joint le chemin vicinal qui va du PLEIN à la route départementale d’Houlgate à Ranville, il y avait une maison où les rescapés de la troupe 5 (16 hommes sur un effectif de 58) trouvèrent un repos qui n’était pas absolument immérité.
Toutefois, ils eurent un réveil brusque et matinal. Les deux sentinelles qui avaient été placées à l’ouest et à l’est de la route départementale dormaient peut-être. Le Second-Maître responsable de ce petit monde dormait certainement. Par contre, les gens de la 12ème HJD voulaient savoir ce qu’il se passait ce matin du 11 juin dans la région qu’on peut délimiter par les noms de Merville, Sallenelles, Le Plein et Amfréville. Comme de bons soldats qu’ils étaient, ils franchirent les lignes alliées et, parce qu’ils étaient courageux, ou que leur chef n’avait pas peur, ils continuèrent leur chemin. C’est ainsi qu’ils parvinrent au carrefour des Ecardes vers 05h00. Ils n’étaient pas plus d’une trentaine. Ils étaient appuyés par deux canons auto-tractés de 88 mm qui avaient emprunté la route de Cabourg. Cette route n’était pas défendue. L’opération fut bien menée. Les 16 Fusiliers-Marins (peut-être moins les 2 sentinelles) ne se réveillèrent que quand le toit commença de leur tomber dessus. Il est vraisemblable que c’était une erreur de faire tirer les canons de 88 mm d’abord. Il eut été préférable, en silence, de pénétrer dans la maison et de tuer tranquillement les dormeurs. Il est inutile de préciser que les dormeurs, dont il est question, tout équipés qu’ils dormaient, ne mirent pas longtemps à se retrouver sur le chemin vicinal qui, en 500 mètres, peut conduire au canal de l’Orne. L’échauffourée coûta aux français un mort (l’Infirmier Pierre VINAT) et quatre blessés graves ( Q.M. LOSSEC, Q.M. RICHEMONT, Mat. Roland GABRIEL et Q.M Félix MAGY. On ne compta pas le nombre de morts et de blessés allemands : l’ordre de rejoindre Hauger fut transmis, à peine les Hitlerjugend avaient-ils tourné les talons. Cet ordre émanait du major Mendey qui avait pris la succession du Colonel Dawson, évacué la veille. Une grenade offensive allemande avait éclaté dans le pied gauche du Matelot GABRIEL. La blessure paraissait insignifiante. Chacun connait ces grenades peintes en vert dont était dotée la Wermacht. La coque est d’aluminium. La charge en poudre n’est pas importante. C’est plus un jouet (un pétard) qu’une arme de guerre. Elle fait penser à l’actuelle grenade O.F. française. Ce n’est pas une chose qu’on voudrait prendre au sérieux. Et pourtant, le matelot GABRIEL manqua mourir une semaine après son évacuation sur l’Angleterre. Les médecins qui le traitaient n’avaient pas pris plus au sérieux cette grenade que quiconque l’a jamais vue. Une nuit, GABRIEL se réveilla dans un lit trempé. Étonné, il alluma et vit que ses draps étaient rouge de sang. Il eut assez de force pour appeler une infirmière. Le garrot puis la transfusion firent le reste.
On June 10, after a relatively quiet night (if we do not take into account the disadvantages of a “war of positions” – and although these positions are only three days old), the Fusiliers-Marins Commandos were taking a peaceful breakfast of chocolate (rations K) and good Norman milk, when the German fire began. It was always the same size: 88 mm. Many of the men in Troop 5 were on FULL’s farm. Each BREN gun had only been left with a shooter, and we took turns taking turns to drink his chocolate and eat his sandwiches of good French bread (made on the spot by the inhabitants) well buttered. Small personal note: a tile fell on my bowl of good milk chocolate (prepared by GABRIEL) while I went out to locate a sniper.
It was around 6:30. The enemy had obviously chosen the farm as a goal. The roof tiles began to descend into the main yard when the Commandos regained their assigned position. The SS commanding the troop was at the extreme right of the device, in liaison with the K.guns, when a shell demolished the top of the bell tower of the FULL church. The left side of the position was larger in armament thanks to the two Vickers machine guns. Very quickly the German fire became intense. Large red and smoking flakes fell on the trenches of the French who had been carefully spotted since 6. The sailor Louis Bégot among others, serving the Bren gun on the right had the lower jaw pulled out and had to be transported to the church of FULL in a wheelbarrow. (He was taken by jeep to Arromanches, embarked for Great Britain.) Operated the first time the same day, he had after a long series of operations to have an artificial jaw.Two years were spent in the hospital from East Grinstead, Sussex, where he was admirably treated by the famous surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe … They went so far as to graft his arm on his face.)
There were also three killed and two wounded, which is small, if one takes into account what was being prepared.
It was 8:00 am – after an hour and a half of intensive bombardment – “the Germans … attacked with two strong battalions in order to drive the Brigade out of terrain whose strategic point was FULL” (The story of the Commandos, by Hilary St. Georges Saunders, P.272). These two battalions had a manpower of 1400 men. The troop 5 that held the FULL was composed at 8:00 of 19 men (plus the servants of the two machine guns Vickers and their officer). Section K.guns and Troop 8 could fire the attackers on their left flank. The No. 3 Commando on the right flank. But the “neuralgic” point, if we can say, FULL, was singularly bald. Two other Marine Fusiliers were then wounded which reduced the troop to 16 petty officers, Q.M. and sailors.
Brigadier General Lord Lovat then ordered No. 3 Commando to counter-attack. It should be noted that at this time the men of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend were slowly advancing by leap – giving the impression that they knew how to use the field well and that they also knew that the number of their adversaries occupying the FULL was quite limited. .
The No. 3 Commando was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Peter Young (29 years old, D.S.O., M.C., + 2 bars). Despite his young age, he knew what to do with combat. Legend has it that in Salerno he landed the first of his unit followed by his Warrant Officer Major … there was also Vaagso.
He launched his counter-attack at 10:00 am from the Château d’AMFREVILLE, heading south. He deployed all his remaining commandos (about 300 officers and men) on a single line from AMFREVILLE Castle in the west to the LONGUEMARE farm in the east. His troops did not stop until they reached the outskirts of BREVILLE. Between the Castle of AMFREVILLE and BREVILLE there had been the 1400 men of two battalions of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Division.
From the beginning of the counterattack of No. 3 Commando, it is obvious that all fire from FULL stopped. Troop 1 there would have risked firing at Colonel Young’s men. The two SS battalions misinterpreted this silence. They believed in a stall. As, on the other hand, they were attacked on their left flank by the Section K-guns and the troop 8, it was on these latter that they directed their action. This explains the losses suffered by the French (3 dead: QM FOURER, Mat CROIZER, Mat GERSEL and 6 serious wounded: S.M. LAVEZZI, S.M. MARIACCIA, QM CHAUVET, Q.M. LE BRIS, Mat JUNG and Mat GRINSPUN). The Germans did not know the attack on their right flank. The configuration of the Norman landscape allows an ideal use of the terrain. So the British commandos were practically on them, on what had become their rear, before they had time to realize the trapping they had fallen into. There ensued an indescribable disorder. The German officers, taken under the fire of the French, could no longer give orders to their “backs” who were in direct contact with the British. Their fighting device was “upside down”. This is certainly the reason for their very heavy losses and their ultimate failure.
In the evening, what was left of Troop 5 was folded on the crossroads of ECARDES.
At 400 meters lower, at the junction that joins the road that goes from the FLEIN to the departmental road Houlgate to Ranville, there was a house where the survivors of the troupe 5 (16 men out of a staff of 58) found a rest which was not absolutely undeserved.
However, they had an abrupt and early awakening. The two sentinels that had been placed to the west and east of the departmental road were perhaps sleeping. The Second Master responsible for this little world was certainly sleeping. On the other hand, the people of the 12th HJD wanted to know what was happening this morning of June 11 in the region that can be delimited by the names of Merville, Sallenelles, Le Plein and Amfréville. Like good soldiers they were, they crossed the allied lines and, because they were brave, or their leader was not afraid, they continued their way. This is how they reached the crossroads of Ecardes around 05:00. They were not more than thirty. They were supported by two 88 mm self-towed guns that had taken the road to Cabourg. This road was not defended. The operation was well conducted. The 16 Fusiliers-Marins (perhaps less the 2 sentinels) only woke up when the roof began to fall on them. It is likely that it was a mistake to have the guns pulled 88mm first. It would have been better, in silence, to enter the house and quietly kill the sleepers. It is useless to specify that the sleepers, which are in question, fully equipped that they slept, did not take long to find themselves on the local road which, in 500 meters, can lead to the Orne canal. The skirmish cost the French one death (the nurse Pierre VINAT) and four serious wounded (QM LOSSEC, QM RICHEMONT, Mat Roland GABRIEL and QM Felix MAGY.Not count the number of dead and wounded Germans: the Order to join Hauger was transmitted, hardly Hitlerjugend had turned their heels.This order came from Major Mendey who had taken the succession of Colonel Dawson, evacuated the day before.A German offensive grenade had burst in the left foot of the Seaman GABRIEL The wound seemed insignificant, everyone knows these grenades painted in green which was the Wermacht.The hull is aluminum.The powder charge is not important.It’s more a toy (a firecracker) than a weapon It reminds one of the current French grenade OF.This is not something that one would take seriously, and yet the sailor GABRIEL failed to die a week after his evacuation to England. The doctors who treated him had not taken this grenade more seriously than anyone who had ever seen it. One night GABRIEL woke up in a soaked bed. Surprised, he lit and saw that his sheets were red with blood. He had enough strength to call a nurse. The tourniquet then the transfusion did the rest.”
As the next weeks moved into August, the Allies were still in Normandy. The tensions between Churchill, Montgomery and Eisenhower, and the politics around what to do with De Gaulle influenced decisions made at the time. Too, the long suspension of Patton after the slapping incident involving two soldiers on medical leave in Sicily finally ended when Patton was given command of the XV Corps. His rapid movement inland and to the south of the main German units left him an opportunity to cut off the German retreat, surround them and force them into surrender and shorten the war. This battle is known as the Falaise Gap and remains controversial to this day. Why was Patton delayed and who gave the order?
After the war, Guy and Adelaide settled into married life. He returned to painting, but often it was also therapeutic.
Many paintings were attempts to deal with the horrible memories from this time in 1944 when he saw death and destruction and lost many friends. His work was known among the elite painters of the time and he gained success as an artist. His work was shown in Europe and in small smatterings in America. This year a large show has been mounted in New Orleans at the World War Two Museum entitled, In Memory of What I Cannot Say
When he died in 1972, he was laid to rest in a cemetery with his wife and fallen commandos in Normandy. It is fitting that we take a moment to engage in his work and his life and the time he spent in the Kiefer Commandos service.
Following are many interesting links about this time period and the Montlaurs. The story of the Gondrée family the night of June5th/6th is at the end.
http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/ike-vs-monty-command-failure-at-the-falaise-gap/
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/SCAEF-Report/AEF-Report-5.html
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/frames.htm
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/war_3cdo1.htm
http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/frames.htm Gondrée family
http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/ike-vs-monty-command-failure-at-the-falaise-gap/
https://montlaur.net/en/biography/
https://montlaur.net/en/paintings/
1 The Gondrée Family
Georges Gondrée was born in 1898 at Trouville sur mer. His parents worked in the construction industry and built hotels and domestic properties, a form of work that greatly influenced their son. Georges, a good natured and intelligent man, was educated in Trouville and thereafter pursued a career in banking. He spent many years as an employee of Lloyds Bank, and his frequent dealings with British finance led to him becoming a fluent speaker of English. He also worked for the casino in Deauville, on the opposite bank of the River Touques, and his work here resulted in frequent travel to the company’s casino in Cannes. It was while in Cannes that Georges met his wife-to-be, Thérèse. She was born in Alsace on the 4th August 1904, and her family were farmers and owned a considerable property. She trained as a nurse at the famous school in Strasbourg and later worked in the American Hospital in Paris. Her work, as a nurse to the highest aristocracy, involved a great deal of travel, particularly to the south of France, thus leading her to Cannes. Georges and Thérèse settled in Bénouville, owning and living in the small café next to the Bénouville Bridge. By the time of the Invasion they had three daughters, Georgette and Arlette, and the newly born Françoise.
The family had always been distinctly anti-German as a consequence of Adolf Hitler’s policies and the occupation of their country. Their defiance began humbly, by denying the use of their home as a billet for soldiers by ensuring that they and their young children unnecessarily occupied every bedroom. Their revulsion at how the Germans were treating their countrymen increased and encouraged them to more daring activities. Thérèse, having been raised in Alsace, could speak German fluently. Traces of a Germanic accent in her tone led to several of the locals treating her with modest suspicion, but she never allowed her knowledge of German to become known, and so was able to eavesdrop on the soldiers’ conversations, which she and Georges duly passed on to their contacts in the resistance.
The information collected by the Gondrée family did much to give Major Howard and his Coup de Main force a thorough understanding of the defences around the bridges. Amongst the details that Thérèse discovered was the precise location, in a pillbox housing machine-guns, for the trigger mechanism for the explosives which were to demolish Bénouville Bridge in the event of an attack. Georges Gondrée was known to British Intelligence, and even Major Howard had heard his name during the planning stages of the Invasion. The great contribution that the family made to the success of the operations around Bénouville is perhaps best demonstrated by the example of early May, when Generalfeldmarschall Rommel inspected the bridges and ordered that an anti-tank gun emplacement be established next to Bénouville Bridge. Within two days, Major Howard had been warned that some new structure was being built next to the Bridge, and within a week Georges Gondrée’s observations had confirmed both its purpose and the completion of the position.
At 00:16 on the 6th June, the first glider of the Coup de Main force landed next to Bénouville Bridge. The Gondrée Family were asleep in their beds at this time, but were soon rudely awakened by the sound of explosions and a great deal of small-arms outside their home. Georges crawled to the window to see what was happening, a perfectly understandable reaction but a most unwise one in the midst of a battle taking place in darkness. He discovered this fact very soon after he dared to peer over the window ledge; his protruding head was spotted by Lieutenant Richard Smith who immediately fired several rounds from his Sten gun at the shape, fortunately Smith’s aim was a little high and Georges was not hurt. Taking this very clear hint, Georges made no further attempt to see what was going on outside, but instead gathered his family together and headed for the shelter of the cellar.
Very soon the fighting began to die down and then ceased altogether. Thérèse urged Georges to go upstairs and discover what was happening. He later said “I am not a brave man, and I did not want to be shot, so I went upstairs on all fours and crawled to the first-floor window. There I heard talk outside but could not distinguish the words, so I pushed open the window and peeped out cautiously. I saw in front of the café two soldiers sitting near my petrol pump with a corpse between them.” These were believed to be men of the 7th Parachute Battalion, who had arrived to take over the defence of the western bank of the Caen Canal. One of them asked Georges, in French, if he was a civilian. He assured him that he was, but as the soldier knew little French beyond this single question it was difficult for Georges to find out who they were. He could have spoken to them in English, but as he could not be sure that they were not Germans, it would have been most inadvisable to attempt it. Having made little progress, Georges decided to return to the cellar and wait until it was light.
At dawn the family were listening to the sounds of various voices outside. Georges was most encouraged to realise that the voices bore no similarity to and none of the authoritativeness that he associated with the German garrison, and he thought that he could detect some English amongst it. Thérèse listened to the voices and could not identity any German words. Very soon there came a knock at the door, and Georges immediately rushed to answer it, not wanting the soldiers to separate the door from its hinges if he did not arrive promptly. When he opened the door he found himself confronted by two paratroopers, wearing their distinctive Dennison smocks, their faces blackened with camouflage cream, and each holding Sten guns, still hot from firing. They spoke to him in French and asked if there were any Germans in the house. He said that there were not and led them inside to show him his wife and children in the cellar. When the two men spoke in English and used the phrase denoting the successful capture of the bridges, “Ham and Jam“, Georges was at last certain that the day of liberation had come and he burst into tears of joy, whilst Thérèse embraced and kissed the paratroopers. She greeted all soldiers in a similar fashion for several days, resulting in her face being blackened with the camouflage cream, but she was too proud of her British liberators to clean it off.
Very soon the café was taken by the 7th Battalion to serve as their Headquarters and Regimental Aid Post. Georges disappeared into the garden to dig up no fewer than ninety-eight bottles of champagne that he had buried in June 1940, and very soon the scene was one of great celebration as free drinks were handed out to all and sundry. Upon hearing of this, Major Howard ordered all of his men to report sick at the Aid Post so that they could get their share of the drink. Georges continued to serve complimentary drinks to the 7th Battalion, the Coup de Main force and the arriving Commandos throughout the day. The kind hospitality offered to the British soldiers by the Gondrée Family continues to this day. Ever since, when veterans have returned to Normandy to mark the anniversary of the battle, no man of the 6th Airborne Division has had to pay for a drink at the café.
Georges Gondrée died on the 5th April 1969, Thérèse on the 2nd July 1984. A most distinguished couple, they were held in the highest regard by French civilians and British veterans. The ownership of the café and its close links with the British Airborne Forces have been maintained by their family.
Maine Musing 
