Autrans-Méaudre en Vercors

Stone marker inscribed thus: "Here lies Lieutenant Jean Ruettard, Commander of the 2nd Ski-Scouts Section, of the 153rd Alps Infantry Regiment, Officer of the FFI (French Interior Forces), who gave his life for France aged 30, shot by the Germans on March 9, 1944."

Jean Ruettard was born on December 23, 1913 in Lyon. When he joined the army, he was assigned to the 153rd Alps Infantry Regiment in Lanslebourg, Savoie. In 1939, his regiment was sent to the Maginot Line. Later, in 1941, he was garisoned in Lyon. He commanded the 2nd Ski-Scouts Section with the rank of Lieutenant. In November, 1942, when the armistice army was dissolved, he turned to the Vercors maquis and headed camp C3.

In March, 1944, Ruettard and Lieutenant Marcel Bilcke, from the nearby C5 camp, learned of an impending German attack, ordered their men to spread out and fall back into the valley, as there were not enough of them to take on the Wehrmacht. On March 8, the two commanders decided to pick up the equipment and erase evidence of the camps, to avoid reprisals against the towns of Autrans and Méaudre. They were arrested at a German check-point at Pont-en-Royans, and a pistol was found on them. They were taken with two fellows in arms from the FFI, Florantin Prian and Marc Broyer, to the Feldgendarmerie where they underwent harsh questioning. They were handed over to soldiers on the way to Romans the next morning and were shot at Beauregard-Baret, Drôme, some twenty kilometers from their starting point. The bodies were found the next day up against a barn.

Jean-Marie Ruettard was cited in the Division Orders, Croix de Guerre with one palm-leaf, the Resistance Medal and the Legion of Honor with one palm-leaf were awarded to him posthumously.

Source: Le Maitron