Passadoc Gazette - No 71

The Quiz!
We talk a little... a lot... passionately!
On the way to Compostela... My three grandmothers... The rich historical heritage of Grambois... With Frédéric Mistral!... When the fuel was a rare commodity... Radio London... Parachuting...
Some images from here, from there, a little further...
We sing on Passadoc too!
Passadoc library.

Denis Grison

Rando-Photo on the way to Compostelle

From Cahors to Moissac... from Moissac to Lectoure to Auvillar, one of the most beautiful villages in France... a beautiful 130 km walk
on GR 65: discovery of remarkable landscapes, architectural riches, ...

The Pont Valentré in Cahors
"Started in 1308, the last stone of the bridge will only be laid 70 years later," explains Actual ! Desperate by « that lost time »The architect asked the devil to help him complete the work, in exchange for which he would abandon his soul as a payment.

However, when the bridge is almost finished, the architect plays a clever trick by asking him to climb water at the top of the central tower in order to spoil the mortar to seal the last stone of the bridge. But, as a container, he gives him... a sieve. Thus, not succeeding in raising water, the devil cannot fulfil his commitment to complete the work. As a result, the architect saves his soul. Furious, Satan returns every night to tear the last stone from the bridge that the masons have put in place."

Click! The continuation of the hike

Claude Boyer

My three grandmothers... Ernestine, Valentine, Renée...

They are only two in this photo of the Southern October 1960 but I'm going to tell you about three ladies of Provence of the time.

They did not shine in any field except in my child's eyes, at least for two of them because there is one I didn't know, my paternal grandmother, the poor girl died very young in 1934; Unfortunately I have no picture of her.

Click! The rest is on this page...

Philippe Levieux

The rich historical heritage of Grambois

Grambois is one of the picturesque villages of Provence that have been able to preserve their character and authenticity by resisting the invasion of new buildings. Its cobbled and pleasantly flowered streets, its old houses and its carefully restored old stones will seduce you as they seduced filmmaker Yves Robert who shot here several scenes of « My father's glory« .
Grambois is indeed typical of the villages of Provence told by Marcel Pagnol and Jean Giono.

As you stroll through the village, you can discover the gate of the ramparts, the passage of templars with géminées windows and a beautiful seigneurial residence built on the foundations of an XI° castle (private property today). In XIV^e, Grambois was one of the 12 fortresses of Provence.
Do not miss the church of Notre-Dame-de-Beauvoir (XI^e-XIV^e), placed on the very pleasant square of the town hall.

Alain Cathala…

With Frédéric Mistral!

Jeanne Monin

Philippe Natalini

When fuel was a rare commodity...

During the Second World War, fuel and diesel were very rare items. Their main destination was therefore a priority for airports and the armies of all countries.

For everyday users, taking the bus, travelling by train or car was sometimes a miracle. The bike was therefore king during these six years of war.
However, a strange invention brought out bus, truck and motor vehicle hangars: gasgen. The principle was simple, replacing fuel with a gas created by burning wood or charcoal. The vehicles were fitted with a boiler, which produced the gas so recovered and then used by the engine as fuel.

It should be noted that the development of woodcuts and charcoal factories to feed these gasogens in our forests has enabled as early as 1942, the constitution of many maquis welcoming in these places, refractory to the STO and resistant to the occupant.

Radio London

The screens (smartphone, PC, TVs, tablets...) are today an integral part of our daily life and they are the main means of communication and information. In World War II, this was not the case. It was the radio that played this role and for the Resistance, there was Radio London...

In 1940, the British Broadcasting Corporation opened its airwaves to the first resistors who had fled the German occupation. Radio London was born and will become the daily meeting of the French for four years with the famous show « The French speak to the French« . Breaking with style « sterile » of the French radio, young chroniclers instill a new tone on the antenna by inventing the local radio with personal messages, sketches, songs, jokes and misguided advertisements.
[On October 30, 1943, a familiar voice appeared on the BBC: Pierre Dac, after many vicissitudes, had finally joined England and free France].
Then opens a terrible war against Radio Paris. One of BBC's hijacked advertisements, heard in the above broadcast, sang these words: « Radio Paris ment, Radio Paris is German« .

First, personal messages broadcast by the BBC allowed soldiers separated from their families and relatives to exchange news. But the BBC also used coded messages that were often of great importance:
– convey a slogan, as part of the preparation of resistance operations.
– acknowledge receipt of shipments from the field.
– communicate secret information about the action.
– thank or congratulate the agents for their action.
– allow field agents to bring proof of authenticity and sincerity to the people with whom they are in contact.
– lure the enemy.

The idea of using personal messages to transmit coded messages is due to Georges Bégué, French officer of the SOE (the British secret action service), the first agent of this parachute service in France as early as May 1941. Nearly 2,000 SOE officers were sent on missions to the continent, often by air but also by sea. Many were unmasked and executed.
Evidence of the success of these BBC broadcasts: Germans and Vichy's government ban Radio Londonconfiscate positions by punishing auditors very heavily.

Parachuting...

This happened exactly 78 years ago, a parachute operation was received by Vins-sur-Caramy resistors (83).

As early as June 1943, Arnaud Marceau formed a team to mark a field at the Plaines-de-Vins registered as the « Vermicel ». The parachuting operations are controlled by SAP and will only begin in January 1944.
In April, the first parachuting took place in the Brignolais area, then on the night of 27-28 May 1944, fifteen containers and ten packages were dropped on the Defences platter near Cabasse (83).

The following night, a second parachute of fifteen containers and ten packages took place on the ground. « Vermicel ». The team of the wine resistors recovers weapons, ammunition and various equipment to carry all on the back of men or by dragging it, in the middle of the night and without light 600 meters from there, in the cave of the « Balm of Savoy ». A thought for these men of courage...

Alain Cathala

Grabels

Inside the church...

La Couvertoirade, Templar City and Hospital

Spring flowers are winter dreams told, in the morning, at the table of angels »
Khalil Gibran

Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

… Sant Guilhèm dau Desèrt in Languedocien... It is a commune in the north of the department
de l’Hérault, traversée par le chemin d’Arles, l’un des chemins de Compostelle.

Montpellier

Au Moyen Âge : carrefour commercial dans l’occident médiéval, au même titre que certaines villes des Flandres ou d’Italie. Dans un second temps, l’évolution politique que connaît Montpellier au XIII^e siècle (Charte de 1204), en fait une cité qui se démarque progressivement du poids seigneurial, pour esquisser la mise en place d’une administration urbaine autour de bourgeois comme les Prud’hommes et Bayles.

Celleneuve