FRENCH CIVILISATION

BANDITS & MAQUIS IN THE AVANT-MONTS

Guy Whitmarsh, Member, on 18 June 2001

Maps and colour slides indicated physical and human geography of upper Languedoc in general, and the valley of the upper Orb and its encompassing high hills in particular. These were the locations of the events to be described and analysed. (see map) The speaker then reviewed published and personal source material, including information from local people. The bandits were Téjédor and his compagnon de route Alfonso, both immigrant Spanish day labourers. After falling foul of the law they had taken to the woods hunting game but also stealing food and small items of property from isolated farms and from the cabins of the (usually Italian) charcoal burners. They were tolerated by the peasantry who shared with them the woods, used the same trackways and chasseurs paths. The gendarmerie had no chance of defeating the téléphone arabe (bush telegraph) but they succeeded in capturing Alfonso in May 1928, when a charcoal burner betrayed the location of the outlaws' hideout. Téjédor escaped, and was able to continue his way of life unmolested until September 1931, when an official of the mairie in the village of Cessenon recognised him in the general store, trying on shoes. He was arrested and because of his persistent lawbreaking was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. He was transported to Devil's Island where he died in November 1939, aged 44.

Around Téjédor a heritage legend has grown up which sees him as an exemplar of a tradition of peasant rebellion, a perspective which is also applied to the maquis who coincidentally operated in the same locations and interacted with the same peasant communities just over a decade later. The legend cites among other revolts the Albigensian Crusade, the 100 Years War, the Wars of Religion and the partisan warfare conducted by the Camisards after 1702. It is an article of faith among some historians, both French and English, that the tradition remains still an active mentalite This is so in spite of the facts that poverty, want, fear of famine rather than political intent have characterised peasant revolts, which anyway have been short-run phenomena. Moreover, the necessary degree of historical continuity has been compromised by episodes of over-population and depopulation. Téjédor has also been characterised as a `voleur de charme' making possible a fanciful link with the benevolent treatment accorded to the pilgrims to the shrine of St. James of Compostella. One of the four routes passed through the upper Orb valley.

The speaker then characterised the local rural economy, pointing out that it was in depression in the 1930s with depopulation on the one hand and Italian and Spanish immigration on the other. At the time it felt as though "nous sommes à la sortie du moyen âge" therefore "on fuit toujours ces campagnes endormies". Paris was very distant and so was the Second World War until the end of 1942 when the Germans occupied Vichy France. Small garrisons were installed in the local towns, among them Lodève, Bédarieux and Lamalou les Bains. The latter, where troops were sent for recuperation, was also distinguished by the presence of a Gestapo unit. The Vichy regime was under pressure to honour the promise to supply labour to the German economy, so it introduced in February 1943 a revised scheme of conscription called `Service du Travail Obligatoire' It is normally agreed that it was this that generated the resistance movement of the maquis. However it needs to be born in mind that agriculturists' sons were initially exempt, that those who evaded the STO (réfractaires) whether from town or country, infrequently became maquisards. The special police units Groups Mobile de Réserve and the Milice had particular surveillance targets: Spanish republicans (a significant number of whom were employed in the Todt managed bauxite mines near Bédarieux), Communists, `anti-nationalists', Jews and Gaullists These were also likely to be found in the early maquis groups, one of which, `Bir Hakeim', was holed up at the remote small mountain village of Douch. Information was eventually passed to the German authorities in Lamalou les Bains and an assault took place on 10th.September. The maquis lost 6 men but about 30 escaped; as a reprisal the church was set on fire, some of the older villagers shot and the young men deported to Germany (oral evidence).

Over the next six months there was a gradual and necessarily cautious evolution of some ten maquis groups in the area. Most of the population remained attentiste, but others chose to be active. A step change came after `D' Day, 6th.June, and the unwise orders to the "fils de France" from de Gaulle :"combattre l'enemi par tous les moyens dont ils disposent". Twenty three volunteers intending to find and join the Orb valley maquis were intercepted on the road near St. Chinian. Five were killed immediately and all the rest were executed in Béziers the following day. The counter-measures of the occupying forces and the GMR and the Milice were stepped up, but so was the supply of arms by means of parachute drops, and the gendarmerie, now aware of the possibility of an imminent German defeat, became opportunistic or passive. The maquis were therefore able to move around like fish in water.

When, following the Allied landing in the south of France on 15th. August, a German column was ordered to withdraw eastwards via the upper Orb valley, maquisard groups queued up to harrass them. On 25th. August the column was approaching Colombieres sur Orb, but a planned ambush was aborted because a wedding was in process. The mayor and the maquisard group in question reached an agreement; the ambush would be set up beyond the exit to the village. Meanwhile the bride, groom (a réfractaire) and guests made themselves scarce up the hillside. In the skirmish that followed 5 maquis were killed, German casualties were estimated at 20 and there were some 12 deserters. The stele later erected to commemorate the action ignores the maquisard role and conveys a different message. It records the actions of 100 volunteers "épaulés par les paysannes". The Vichy regime had totally collapsed in this region by 27th. August; a new Departmental prefect was in place as early as 25th. August. The regular army under General Lattre de Tassigny took over from the Resistance when he visited Béziers on 3rd. September. The `volunteers' went home to the vendange.

The speaker suggested that the judgement that the maquis and Téjédor exemplified a tradition of revolt or social `inversion' seems implausible. They were the products of their time, accorded later but not uniquely, the accolade of historical heritage treatment. A review of the most recently published histories of the Cathars, denounces "the commoditised fiction of tourist driven heritage rather than history" and notes that there are 6000 web pages on Cathar history.

In discussion after the talk, the topics included the Cathars, the importance of BBC broadcasts, the composition of the gendarmerie, the recruitment of réfractaires into the maquis, and the effect of wartime conditions on the local wine trade.

Anne Whitmarsh