Saint-Saury

Stone marker in memory of the resistants of the Chenier landing field. 

"To the resistants of the "Chénier" landing field, here in the triangle Saint-Saury - Parlan and the Bastide du Haut-Mont, where Cantal and Lot meet, the Chénier field was officially recognized by the Parachute Drop and Landing Operations Center of the 4th Region (Toulouse), and registered in London by the Central Intelligence and Action Office as a radio beaon and recovery center. Headed by Bernard Cournil, the valiant and available monitoring team insured the field's operations until August 1944. An electric cable more than a kilometer long powered the Eureka radio; an S-Phone provided voice communications with pilots. Encoded messages at certain hours from London announced parachute drops: Pierre to Marguerite: Denise's children are behaving. Brigitte to Michael, do not move the carpet, invite the youngsters. From the owl to the black swan, it's the hot-blooded city. More than 60 agents dropped in here: arms specialists, radio-operators, sabotage instructors, etc. The Jedburgh team of Mission Quinine and the Emily American commando team landed here. More than 700 containers, containing nearly 90 tons of equipment were dropped in here without incident, to provide support and arms to the resistance nearby and in Aquitaine. The extraordinary destiny, the well-deserved pride and the history of the Chénier field are linked with those of la Luzette, Font Belle, the Timo maquis and other neighboring maquis. Its remarkable success is the result of the helpful silence of the local population.

Maquis and Cadets of the Cantal Resistance April 9, 2006."