Neuville-sur-Ain

Commemorative stele in memory of Bernard Gangloff, René Baril and René Chauchon. Enfants de troupe d'Autun (" children of the Autun troops" - children from the military school of Autun that have joined the Resistance) who died during the July 1944 confrontations in the Ain.

In April 1944, 56 students left the Autun Military School, which had been moved to the Thol camp since the invasion of the southern zone in 1942, to join the maquis of the Ain and the Haut-Jura. They joined the Resistance by forming the "Mazaud" company.

On july 11, 1944, the Treffenfeld operation was launched by the German against the maquis of the Ain and of the Haut-Jura. A German army was headed toward the town of Nantua, which was then considered as the center of the insurrection. The companies Mazaud, le Bugey, Girod, Mermoz and Sidi Brahim, reinforced by the Godard group and the A.S (Armée Secrète - "Secret Army") of Poncin, were in charge of intercepting the German column as it crossed the Ain river at Neuville-sur-Ain. The Resistance fighters took up position on the heights of a place called "Bosseron" near the bridge, which offered a great view on the road. The fighting lasted all morning until the Resistance fighters finally broke in the afternoon and withdrew.

Bernard Gangloff, leader of a rocket launcher team, and René Baril, serving in the same team, attempted to stop the progress of an enemy vehicle during the confrontation. René Baril died under a machine-gun fire, while Bernard Gangloff was seriously wounded. Bernard Grangloff remained hidden and without care for two days. Finally discovered by Petain's militia, he would have tried to stab himself. He was eventually transported to the hospital of the Hôtel-Dieu of Bourg-en-Bresse, he died of his wounds on july at 6:45 am, still refusing to reveal his identity.

René Chauchon was killed near the hamlet of Chenavel as his unit was retreating in successive bursts toward Poncin and Pont-de-Préau.

All three were posthumously decorated of the Croix de Guerre ("War Cross"), of the Médaille Militaire ("Military medal") and of the Médaille de la Résistance ("Resistance Medal"). An area of the Autun Military School was named "Quartier Bernard Gangloff" ("Bernard Gangloff District") on June 15, 1985.

Sources :

- Le Maitron, Notice Gangloff Bernard. https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article219170

- Le Maitron, Notice Baril René. https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article219201

- Le Maitron, Notice Chauchon René. https://maitron.fr/spip.php?article201428

- Musée de la résistance en ligne, 11 juillet 1944 Neuville-sur-Ain. http://museedelaresistanceenligne.org/media10748-StA

- Site de l'association des Anciens Enfants de Troupe, les enfants de troupe.  https://www.associationdesaet.org/association/