Malleval-en-Vercors

Plaque in memory of two maquis, Antoine Sanlaville and Joseph Gervasoni, shot by the Germans on July 29, 1944, while attempting to slip out of the Vercors maquis zone.

Antoine Sanlaville was born in Villefranche-sur-Saône, and was married with two children. A sawyer in Autrans, from March to October 1941, he joined the Youth Work Groups (Group 6 in Autrans - part of Grouping 11 in Villard-de-Lans), then the civilian company in Autrans, where he was put in charge of supplies for several camps and for recovering parachute drops, until June 5, 1944. He was then sent to a "work" company, engaged in building the "Pencil-Sharpener" landing-field. On July 7, 1944, he joined the Radio company under the orders of Captain Bennes ("Bob"), where he was in charge of internal communications in Vercors.

After Vercors was occupied and the order given to pull out, he tried to break out of the encirclement by the west of Vercors with a small group. Unfortunately, the group was given away by an undercover milicien; they fell into a trap in the lower Malleval at les Belles: four were killed, only one managed by a miracle to escape. Sanlaville and Gervasoni were wounded, but managed to fall back into the heights of Malleval, between PréCoquet and the Bury spring, at Patente. On July 29, when the Wehrmacht attacked the Malleval maquis, they were taken prisoner and shot; their bodies were thrown into a hut that was then burned.

During the parade after the Liberation of Romans, the one survivor of the group recognized the milicien in the parade. The milicien  was arrested and tried by a military tribunal.

Sources:

Musée de la résistance en ligne

MémorialGenWeb