Around thirty walkers in the footsteps of the Vigan-Braquet Commando from St-Pons-la-Calm to Sabran

La dernière marche en hommage à Vigan-Braquet remonte en 2015.

The Saint-Pons Patrimoine Association is organizing the first march for the liberation of the Gard Rhodanien. The hike will take place on the night of Monday 19 to Tuesday 20 August 2024.

In Saint-Pons-la-Calm, the history of the Liberation is combined with the reconstructed past. The Saint-Pons Patrimoine Association is organizing a constitutive march in evocation of the saga of the Grand Belly maquis and its exfiltration to the Château de la Vallonnière in Sabran. The hike will take place on the night of Monday 19 to Tuesday 20 August 2024. Around thirty participants equipped with torches or headlamps and walking shoes are taking part in this night expedition. The event was awarded the Mission Libération label by the State.

The return of the resistance fighters

As a reminder, 80 years ago, on August 19, 1944 at nightfall, a column of 80 men from the Corps franc des Ardennes (1) under the orders of Commander Vigan-Braquet left the camp in the Malmont forest to join the Château de la Vallonnière in the Sabran woods. Two days after this exfiltration maneuver, which allowed the Free Corps to escape enemy pressure, the resistance fighters resumed harassment actions against the columns of the 19th German Army in full retreat.

Duty of memory

Patrick Rémusat is behind this historic commemoration. A former military aviator now retired, he explains the meaning of his commitment. “I am here for a duty of remembrance” he declares. At 76, he is not about to hand over the reins. And in a way, this march resonates as a tribute to his father Aimé Rémusat who was part of the maquis.

Place du Planas

The hikers will meet at Place du Planas (Church) in Saint-Pons-la-Calm on Monday at 6:45 p.m. The delegation of walkers will then be taken by car to the Camp du Grand Belly in the Rochefort-du-Gard forest, where the walk will start. The route map indicates a distance of 30 km. The route includes crossing Gaujac, Le Pin, Saint-Pons-la-Calm and Cavillargues.

Freedom Fighters

Arrival is scheduled in La Vallonnière on Tuesday 20 August at 7:00 am. Around 8:00 a.m. a wreath dedicated indistinctly to “the freedom fighters”, offered by the town hall of Sabran, will be laid in front of the commemorative plaque inserted in the corner wall of the Château de la Vallonnière. The village of Saint-Pons-la-Calm, for its part, has offered to lend tables, chairs and a truck to transport them. Patrick Rémusat also salutes the canteen workers who mobilized to ensure the stewardship by serving coffee and breakfast.

A foretaste of the commemorations

The Saint-Pons-la-Calm march gives a taste of the events that will punctuate the 80th anniversary of the Liberation in the Gard Rhodanien with the highlight being the commemoration day in homage to the Vigan-Braquet commando which will take place on Saturday 14 September in Bagnols-sur-Cèze.

The Gard Rhodanien liberated

From August 22 to 25, 2044, harassment actions resume in the Bruguière region and the Gaujac gorges. Corps franc patrols crisscross all the surrounding roads, taking many prisoners and recovering significant weaponry. From the 24th, they only have to deal with disorganized and demoralized elements who seek to escape by all means. The combat mission ends, the liberation mission begins. On the 26th, the Ardennes Free Corps invested the Gard Rhodanien. Detachments occupied Bagnols, Roquemaure, Uzès and Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. Upon his arrival in Bagnols, Commander Vigan-Braquet seized military and civil command of the city. At noon in front of the flag-draped town hall from Bagnols-sur-Cèze, in the middle of a cheering crowd, he welcomed the leading elements of the second spahi regiment which constituted the vanguard of the first French army which had landed eleven days earlier in Provence. The junction was made.

1. The name Corps franc des Ardennes was intended to mask the Gard origin of the recruitment in order to prevent retaliatory measures against the families. In addition to the surname, the Corps franc took as its emblem the wild boar, symbol of the Ardennes department: a rustic and courageous animal, untamable and aggressive, which well represented the life of the men of the woods of the maquisards and their fierce will to
resist.
2. Resistance Organization of the Army