Evosges

The Ternant farms served as hide-outs for Compulsory Work Service evaders and for on of the first maquis in Ain. From 1943, the upper farm was occupied by five STO evaders, four of whom eventually left to join the external Resistance through Spain. From July 1, 1943, the lower farm housed twenty-some men under the command of Jean Vaudun, aka Verduraz. After harboring local Resistance leaders (including Captain "Roman", the head of the maquis in Ain and Lucien Bonnet (Dunoir) and René Bousquet (Chabert), two regional Resistance chiefs) to celebrate Bastille Day July 14, 1943, the farm became a target and was burned down by the Germans on August 17, 1943.

After having moved from one place to another several times, the Verduraz company moved into the upper farm on January 20, 1944. The farm, along with the neighboring house, was attacked by a German column on February 7, 1944. The maquis, who had decamped the day before, waited for the enemy to leave and came back to recover supplies hidden among the ruins. Two maquis, Bellamy and Bernachot, stayed on for a month, as Bernachot had a frozen foot. A hold-up was organized at the German railworkers' commissary in Ambérieu and provided supplies for the maquis, who left for good at the end of March 1944.

Source: Musée de la résistance en ligne