Battle of Vercors (original) (raw)

dbo:abstract

The Battle of Vercors in July and August 1944 was between a rural group of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) [maquis] and the armed forces of Nazi Germany which had occupied France since 1940 in the Second World War. The maquis used the prominent scenic plateau known as the Massif du Vercors (Vercors Plateau) as a refuge. Initially, the maquis carried out only sabotage and partisan operations against the Germans. However, after the Normandy Invasion of 6 June 1944, the leadership of an army of about 4,000 maquis declared the Free Republic of Vercors and attempted to create a conventional army to oppose the German occupation. The allies supported the maquis with parachute drops of weapons and by supplying teams of advisors and trainers but the uprising was premature. In July 1944, as many as 10,000 German soldiers invaded the massif and killed more than 600 of the maquisards and 200 civilians. It was Germany's largest anti-partisan operation in Western Europe of the war. In August 1944, shortly after the battle for the Vercors, the area was liberated from German control by the American Army and the FFI. (en)
Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le maquis du Vercors fut une importante base de la Résistance française réfugiée dans le massif du Vercors, considéré comme une véritable forteresse naturelle. (fr)

dbo:causalties

18 missing
65 killed
133 wounded

dbo:combatant

Supported by
Republic of Vercors
Vichy France

dbo:date

1944-07-21 (xsd:date)

dbo:place

dbr:Vercors_Plateau

dbo:result

German victory

dbo:strength

8,000–10,000
(36 aircraft operational)
4,000 Maquisards
500 MiliceFranc-Gardes
67 combat aircraft

dbo:thumbnail

wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Vercors_topographic_map-fr.svg?width=300

dbo:wikiPageExternalLink

dbo:wikiPageID

12419969 (xsd:integer)

dbo:wikiPageLength

24913 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger)

dbo:wikiPageRevisionID

1118208556 (xsd:integer)

dbo:wikiPageWikiLink

dbp:align

right (en)

dbp:caption

Vercors Massif (en)

dbp:casualties

18 (xsd:integer)
65 (xsd:integer)
133 (xsd:integer)
201 (xsd:integer)
500 (xsd:integer)
639 (xsd:integer)

dbp:combatant

Vichy France (en)
Supported by (en)
Republic of Vercors (en)

dbp:commander

François Huet (en)
Karl Pflaum (en)
Raoul Dagostini (en)

dbp:conflict

Battle of Vercors (en)

dbp:date

0001-07-21 (xsd:gMonthDay)

dbp:imageSize

300 (xsd:integer)

dbp:place

Vercors Plateau, France (en)

dbp:quote

The large majority of the fighters were young and inexperienced men. The few French and allied instructors tried everything to train them fully but, owing to shortage of time and ammunition, this task turned out to be too challenging. (en)
by the early months of 1943, the forest and fastnesses of places like the Vercors had become home and refuge to a polyglot collection of the elements of defeated France: its new generations, its old administrators, its competing political parties, its heterodox communities and the scattered fragments of its once proud army. (en)

dbp:result

German victory (en)

dbp:source

Paddy Ashdown, ''The Cruel Victory'.' (en)
Peter Lieb, Vercors 1944. (en)

dbp:strength

67 (xsd:integer)
500 (xsd:integer)
4000 (xsd:integer)
8000 (xsd:integer)

dbp:units

157 (xsd:integer)
Mostly local forces (en)
Other units (en)

dbp:width

35.0

dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate

dcterms:subject

georss:point

44.8961 5.3708

rdf:type

rdfs:comment

Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le maquis du Vercors fut une importante base de la Résistance française réfugiée dans le massif du Vercors, considéré comme une véritable forteresse naturelle. (fr)
The Battle of Vercors in July and August 1944 was between a rural group of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) [maquis] and the armed forces of Nazi Germany which had occupied France since 1940 in the Second World War. The maquis used the prominent scenic plateau known as the Massif du Vercors (Vercors Plateau) as a refuge. Initially, the maquis carried out only sabotage and partisan operations against the Germans. However, after the Normandy Invasion of 6 June 1944, the leadership of an army of about 4,000 maquis declared the Free Republic of Vercors and attempted to create a conventional army to oppose the German occupation. (en)

rdfs:label