Bois des Chassis Massacre Monument
Details:
On the south side of the road.
Monument
A white stele bearing a commemorative plaque inscribed in French text. The monument was erected in memory of the victims of the massacre. This tragic event began on August 31, 1944. While Soissons had been liberated three days earlier and an attempt was being made to regroup the patriots of the Vicois region in the quarries of Ressons-le-Long by taking a safe route west of the Vache-Noire, John Callifus, an American soldier venturing on the RN 31, was captured by the Germans lying in ambush in the Bois des Chassis. He is then stripped naked and executed, and the Assistants at Le Devoir National (A.D.N.) found his corpse naked and more or less crushed by the tracks of a tank. Then, a series of killings happened that day. The names of the victims are listed on the monument.
Source of information: railetmemoire.blog4ever.com
Source of photos: www.memorialgenweb.org, www.findagrave.com
Monument Text:
Les ADN de Soissons
Les communes
de Ressons-le-Long et Vic-sur-Aisne
en souvenir
des brancardier et fusillés
tombés pour la France
au cours de la libération
le 1er septembre 1944
LE MAO Jérôme, brancardier
CALIFF John
Lieutenant MULLER
Lieutenant DEVILLERS
BLIN Jacques
DAMY Georges
ROGER Pierre Jean
ZUNINO Jean
PERDRINI Charles
DÉMARET Florentin Désiré
MAILLIER René
RICARD Édouard
ROUSSEAUX Yvette
English translation:
Soissons DNA
The communes
of Ressons-le-Long and Vic-sur-Aisne
in memory
of the stretcher-bearers and riflemen
who fell for France
during the liberation
September 1, 1944
LE MAO Jérôme, stretcher-bearer
CALIFF John
Lieutenant MULLER
Lieutenant DEVILLERS
BLIN Jacques
DAMY Georges
ROGER Pierre Jean
ZUNINO Jean
PERDRINI Charles
DÉMARET Florentin Désiré
MAILLIER René
RICARD Édouard
ROUSSEAUX Yvette
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
1st Infantry Division
United States Army
Wars:
WWII
Other images :
