at the Pic de Doully in the Haute Pyrenées

From the website of the Bordeaux & S.W. France Branch

Every year the ex-French Resistance fighters and the local population of the Nistos valley commemorate the crash, on the Pic du Douly in the Haute-Pyrenees, of the Halifax that belonged to the RAF 624 Special Duties Squadron . This year marks the 60^th anniversary of the crash and the death of the Canadian pilot and six RAF crewmen. They died attempting to resupply the 3201 eme Company of Nistos and Esparros who were in a life or death battle against a Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the 12^th SS Panzer Division.

The 175 members of 3201 were mainly former Spanish Republican fighters who had fled Spain when Franco and the Nazis won the civil war. They had suffered terrible losses against the SS and were hiding in the mountains, coming down at night to ambush the Germans. Their directive from SOE in London was to prevent the SS division from leaving for Normandy for as long as possible.

The SS, as was their custom, rounded up all the civilians in the valley to find out who the “terrorists” were. Women were raped, men tortured and killed but nobody talked. The resistance cell leader asked his liaison agent, a young Frenchman called Monsieur Bordes, to go to the house in St Laurent de Neste where the local SOE agent was operating. He asked the agent to contact London for desperately needed food, ammunition, clothing, medicine and money. It was as a result of this call that SOE in Algiers arranged for the Halifax , commanded by Pilot Officer Peers.

Monsieur Bordes still lives in the valley and this is his story, narrated to Alain Gaudet, a local Canadian who organized this year’s commemoration.

On the night of 13/14^th July 1944, after the flight across the Mediterranean , Peers was forced to circle  over the area of Nistos because of low cloud cover. The Resistance had positioned their DZ on the other side of a mountain pass and the Halifax was flying a little too far south and too low. On Peer’s last pass his aircraft first clipped some beech trees and then slammed head on into the Pic de Douly at an altitude of 1400 metres. Most of the villagers heard the thunderous roar of the aircraft crashing into the mountain but the resistance at the DZ were too far away. That afternoon the villagers found the crash site and recovered what they could of the cargo. The following day they returned to the aircraft, dug 7 graves and laid the bodies to rest in empty weapons containers. For the next 50 years the graves were never without flowers. In 1994 the villagers built a permanent cemetery for the crew, some 40 minutes walk from the nearest road.

  The Ceremony - 3 July 2004

The commemoration was in three parts, an evening ceremony at the Resistance Monument in Lannemezan, an early morning wreath laying ceremony at the Pic du Douly cemetery and a civic ceremony and wreath laying at the war memorial in Lannemezan. These functions were followed by a vin d’honneur and an excellent five-course, three-hour lunch.

The Commonwealth contingent consisted of the Consul General, the Canadian Consul General, the British and Canadian Defence attachés from Paris, an RAF honour guard from Brizenorton, veterans of 624 Squadron, an RAF piper in full regalia, and relatives of the crew. The evening ceremony was long with several speeches, the Song of the Partisans, a tribute to the RAF from the Resistance and the three national anthems.

 Even after 60 years the memories of those dreadful times were very short on reconciliation. In a choking voice the surviving resistance leader finished his speech with an impassioned “We will never forget, never!”

The next morning saw an early start and we drove in convoy up the mist-filled valley, parking some 3 kms from the cemetery, which is the highest war grave site in Europe . The veterans all made it to the graves, which are beautifully maintained in a natural amphitheatre in the forest. The sun broke through the mist as we arrived. A new plaque to the crew had been erected and wreaths were laid in a very moving ceremony.

The French paras provided an honour guard along with the RAF guard. We then moved down to Lannemezan for a civil ceremony and more wreath laying at the town’s war memorial. This time the speeches were more conciliatory, the Mayor approving the fact that the Germans had attended the Normandy celebrations.

In all it was a wonderful weekend, excellently organized by Al Gaudet and the French authorities.

The Bordeaux Branch existed in 1935, and maybe before but there is no proof.  It was re-born in 1946, and activities for the next 18 years were essentially centred in Bordeaux . Apart from attending the usual Remembrance ceremonies the outstanding event for that period was having the names of the Bordeaux British residents lost during WW2 engraved on the Cenotaph that stood at the door of St Nicholas Church.  After the Church was sold it was transferred to the Allied Military Cemetery in Talence. 

After 1964, due to lack of support, there were no further meetings, but parades were held for the annual Remembrance Service.  In the early 1980s a trend, which had become apparent in the 70s, was confirmed, with an increase in the number of British residents moving out to the Dordogne, Lot et Garonne and other rural areas.  In order to keep in touch with Members, several newsletters were published each year. Now contact is by modern methods, such as the Internet.