Seventy years ago today
Red On, Green On
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Join Date: May 2004
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Seventy years ago today
Nearly three months after D-Day Europe was still far from free.
German forces in France were badly distributed with many in the South of France and so they needed to move North in an attempt to slow down the move East by the Allies.
Elements of the SAS were operating in mid France with a brief to disrupt these moves, as large Panzer formations could still cause huge damage to the Allies' by now very extended supply lines - some Allied units had been forced to stop through lack of fuel.
The SAS Mars and Minerva website takes up the story:
"The battle involved a small jeep column led by Capitaine Guy de Combaud Roquebrune. Together with other groups and the Resistance they had been disrupting the enemy’s means of communication for weeks, carrying out attacks and ambushes in the area. On 3 September 1944 the order was given to block the retreat of a large German column, which was forming up in Sennecey le Grand. At dawn on 4 September 1944, the four jeeps of Guy de Combaud Roquebrune drove up the main street of Sennecey le Grand, where some 3000 Germans in convoy were formed up. With machine guns blazing at point blank range they drove through the town causing great confusion and many casualties (figures suggest 500) in the convoy. By bad luck their only escape route was blocked and they were left with no alternative but to drive back through the town. One by one the jeeps were destroyed by the now alert Germans. Only the fourth jeep, out of control with its crew seriously wounded managed to get through. By a miracle two members (Joseph Tramoni and Alexis Baude) were rescued by the Resistance, who picked them up and evacuated them through to nearby woods.
It is in honour of this engagement and to honour all those members of the SAS who gave their lives for freedom that the memorial was created. I believe that the memorial stands on the spot where the group formed up for their attack. A memorial to Guy de Combaud Roquebrune stands in the middle of the road junction at the edge of Sennecey le Grand; also five of those killed in the attack are buried in the local churchyard."
After the war a memorial was built just outside the town where the patrol formed up prior to the attack. The memorial has since been extended to recognise all those who died in SAS service in all WW2 theatres
I visited the SAS memorial in March as I cycled from London to Marseille:
German forces in France were badly distributed with many in the South of France and so they needed to move North in an attempt to slow down the move East by the Allies.
Elements of the SAS were operating in mid France with a brief to disrupt these moves, as large Panzer formations could still cause huge damage to the Allies' by now very extended supply lines - some Allied units had been forced to stop through lack of fuel.
The SAS Mars and Minerva website takes up the story:
"The battle involved a small jeep column led by Capitaine Guy de Combaud Roquebrune. Together with other groups and the Resistance they had been disrupting the enemy’s means of communication for weeks, carrying out attacks and ambushes in the area. On 3 September 1944 the order was given to block the retreat of a large German column, which was forming up in Sennecey le Grand. At dawn on 4 September 1944, the four jeeps of Guy de Combaud Roquebrune drove up the main street of Sennecey le Grand, where some 3000 Germans in convoy were formed up. With machine guns blazing at point blank range they drove through the town causing great confusion and many casualties (figures suggest 500) in the convoy. By bad luck their only escape route was blocked and they were left with no alternative but to drive back through the town. One by one the jeeps were destroyed by the now alert Germans. Only the fourth jeep, out of control with its crew seriously wounded managed to get through. By a miracle two members (Joseph Tramoni and Alexis Baude) were rescued by the Resistance, who picked them up and evacuated them through to nearby woods.
It is in honour of this engagement and to honour all those members of the SAS who gave their lives for freedom that the memorial was created. I believe that the memorial stands on the spot where the group formed up for their attack. A memorial to Guy de Combaud Roquebrune stands in the middle of the road junction at the edge of Sennecey le Grand; also five of those killed in the attack are buried in the local churchyard."
After the war a memorial was built just outside the town where the patrol formed up prior to the attack. The memorial has since been extended to recognise all those who died in SAS service in all WW2 theatres
I visited the SAS memorial in March as I cycled from London to Marseille:
