France, into the Vercors, 19th April, Col de la Chau and the Mémorial du Vercors

We drove on to the second resistance site that we visited, the monument at Vassieux-en-Vercors, which is situated in a commanding position on the Col de la Chau. The town of Vassiuex, which lost 73 people during the uprising, was given the Ordre de la Libération for it's contribution to the 1944 struggle and the cemetery by the memorial gives testament to it's sacrifice.
The memorial is a concrete edifice built to contour the hill, and it looms over the surrounding countryside. The inside is stark and has a small display for which you can get an audiovisual guide (our's did not work). It was built in 1994, presumably to commemorate the 50th anniversary. Here are some monochrome infrared pictures of it.







Steps are used to get up from the car park and the meadow we passed through was filled with crocuses and scilla. With the patches of snow and low mist the surrounding hills looked bleak.




We visited the cemetery next door to the memorial. Outside are the remains of a burnt out German DFS 230 glider. These were used to drop troops into Vassieux.










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