The Germans, having discovered the maquis, made several attacks up until May 1944 with about 3,000 men and using aviation and armoured units. The maquisards fought back fiercely.
Little information is available on the German forces. Historians have identified some units:
After several days of combat, the final German attack forced the maquisards to fall back and disperse. Out of revenge for their previous losses, the Germans pillaged several of the surrounding villages, including Clavières.
In the course of the battles, the French Forces of the Interior sustained severe losses: 238 killed and 180 wounded as well as about 100 hostages executed by the Nazis.
The Maquis were rural guerrilla bands of French and Belgian Resistance fighters, called maquisards, during World War II. Initially, they were composed of young, mostly working-class, men who had escaped into the mountains and woods to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire which provided forced labor for Germany. To avoid capture and deportation to Germany, they became increasingly organized into active resistance groups.
The French Resistance was a collection of groups that fought the Nazi occupation and the collaborationist Vichy regime in France during the Second World War. Resistance cells were small groups of armed men and women who conducted guerrilla warfare and published underground newspapers. They also provided first-hand intelligence information, and escape networks that helped Allied soldiers and airmen trapped behind Axis lines. The Resistance's men and women came from many parts of French society, including émigrés, academics, students, aristocrats, conservative Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, liberals, anarchists, communists, and some fascists. The proportion of French people who participated in organized resistance has been estimated at from one to three percent of the total population.
The Battle of Carentan was an engagement in World War II between airborne forces of the United States Army and the German Wehrmacht during the Battle of Normandy. The battle took place from 10 to 14 June 1944, on the approaches to and within the town of Carentan, France.
The Maquis des Glières was a Free French Resistance group, which fought against the 1940–1944 German occupation of France in World War II. The name is also given to the military conflict that opposed Resistance fighters to German, Vichy and Milice forces.
The Foreign Legion has had a long and unique history amongst the units of the French Army. It was historically formed of expatriate enlisted personnel led by French officers. Founded by a royal ordinance issued by King Louis Philippe of France on March 9, 1831, with the aim of bolstering the strength of the French Army while also finding a use for the influx of refugees inundating France at the time. The Foreign Legion subsequently found a permanent home in the ranks of the French military. The Foreign Legion's history spans across the Conquest of Algeria, the Franco-Prussian War, numerous colonial exploits, both World Wars, the First Indochina War, and the Algerian War.
The 1st Free French Division was one of the principal units of the Free French Forces (FFL) during World War II, renowned for having fought the Battle of Bir Hakeim.
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.
Polish 3rd Legions Infantry Division was a tactical unit of the Polish Army between the World Wars. Formed in 1919, as a third unit composed significantly of veterans of the Polish Legions in World War I, it saw extensive action during the Polish-Bolshevik War and the Invasion of Poland. In the interbellum period, the headquarters of the division was stationed in Zamość, while its regiments were garrisoned in Chelm, Lublin, Zamosc and other locations.
Mont Mouchet is a 1,497-metre-high (4,911 ft) mountain located on the border of the French départements of Cantal, Haute-Loire and Lozère. It is famous for the historical events which took place there, notably during the Second World War where it hosted a group of French resistance fighters, the Maquis du Mont Mouchet. At the summit there is a large cairn and view-point from which there is a splendid panoramic view over much of Central France from the Massif Central to the Alps.
The Battle of the Hills also known as the Battle of the Hills of Champagne and the Third Battle of Champagne, was a battle of the First World War that was fought from April–May 1917. The French Fourth Army offensive against the German 4th Army was to support the Groupe d'armées du Nord along the Chemin des Dames, in the Second Battle of the Aisne. General Anthoine, commander of the Fourth Army planned a supporting attack but this was rejected by Nivelle and Anthoine planned a frontal attack by two corps on an 11 km (6.8 mi) front, to break through the German defences on the first day and commence exploitation the following day. The battle took place east of Reims, between Prunay and Aubérive, in the province of Champagne, along the Moronvilliers Hills.
The Maquis du Haut-du-Bois, also known as the Maquis d'Éloyes, was a combat unit of the French forces of the interior within the Maquis des Vosges. The unit made a large contribution towards liberating the Éloyes region. Armed operations by the maquisards were supported by regular distributions of tracts and newspapers calling out to the resistance.
Lt. Col Frederick Henry Cardozo MC was a British soldier and SOE veteran. Cardozo was brought up in the Loire Valley between 1923 and 1933.
Émile Coulaudon, known as Colonel Gaspard, was one of the principal leaders of the French Resistance in Auvergne during the Second World War.
Adrien Pommier was a member of the French Resistance during World War II.
The Marching Regimentof the Foreign Legion (RMLE) was a French military unit that fought in World War I and World War II. Initially composed of marching regiments from the 1st Foreign Regiment of Sidi Bel Abbes and the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment of Saida, Algeria, it re-formed as the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment.
The 2nd Marching Regiment of the 1st Foreign Regiment, was a French military unit of the Legion which formed the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion (R.M.L.E) and existed ephemerally from end of 1914 to 1915.
André Hunter Alfred Hue was an Anglo-French businessman, soldier and spy best remembered for his work as an operative with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in France and Burma during World War II.
The Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division was a Wehrmacht infantry division during World War II. It was created on 1 February 1944 in Southern France. The Division was a so-called Ostlegion, which means its personnel was made up from volunteers from the Soviet Union. Specifically Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division consisted of Turkic, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Tartar, Cossack, Armenian and other Soviet volunteers, spread over five regiments. The primary purpose of the division were anti-partisan operations against the French Resistance.
The 345th Rifle Division began forming in September, 1941, as a standard Red Army rifle division, at Makhachkala on the Caspian Sea. Its first formation served exclusively in the southernmost parts of the Soviet-German front, specifically in the Caucasus and Crimea. It arrived at Sevastopol in December, and fought stubbornly in defense of the fortress-port until mid-July, 1942, when the city capitulated and the division was destroyed. In March, 1945, a new 345th was formed in the Far East, and a few months later took part in the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August, but as it was in a reserve formation it saw little, if any, actual combat.
During the Second World War, the Oisans maquis was an important center for the French Resistance, in the Oisans region between the Belledonne range and Grenoble to the north, the Grandes Rousses massif of the Alps and the Croix de Fer pass to the east, the Drac valley to the west and the Barre des Écrins and the Provencal Alps to the south.
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French Resistance 
Curt von Jesser 
