The Museum of the Resistance in Brittany is just outside the lovely village of St Marcel. It is on the site of a Maquis training camp from which the Second World War's only three-way operation by the resistance and allied units was successfully undertaken. Of course 'success' against the organised terrorism of the Nazi has its downside - reprisals. The whole adult and child population of the town who happened to be around were slaughtered out of hand by the Nazis. The joint operation resistance action (with participants in full military uniform) had been in support of the D-Day landings, ten days earlier.
Above, Chris sizes up a shell-proof sentry post from a railway marshalling yard.
The field gun in the foreground is an anti-tank weapon, behind which is an Atlantic Wall defences blockhouse with artillery ranging equipment still intact: built by the firm MAN.
The Swedes were very helpful during the war, to all sides. Here is a
German Bofors gun with 13 credited hits of our aircraft. We were informed that the white rings round the barrels of artillery pieces indicate credited hits.
I was hoping there'd be lots of these! Both Citroens and wireless sets! Ever since watching Maigret in the 1960s in B&W I've wanted one of those cars.
Above is the operations wireless for an Atlantic Wall blockhouse and below is one of those 'secret' radios in an attaché case issued to our brave insurgents supporting the Marquis. Bit obvious one would think. The display explained in graphic detail how the Nazis could locate clandestine radio use.
I haven't attempted to present the wealth of detailed information, displays, newsreel film, interviews with veterans, exhibits and staged street scenes that fill this vast exhibition centre. It took us many fruitful hours to go round and gave a comprehensive sense of what being occupied was like.
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