www.voicesofwar.co.uk
Marcel Bergamasco lives now in rural France with his 97 year old wife Annette however tis quiet life
hides an dangerous past in the defence of his country. He was just 15 in 1940 when France fell to the
Germans. From the start he did not take this lightly, and his first acts or resistance were to slash
German tyres with a shiv he carried in his pocket. From this he moved on to more coherent acts of
Resistance. His position as truck driver in his father's construction company meant he often made
deliveries to Nazi locations, particularly fortifications that were being built. He was recruited to collect
and report back information on the fortifications to the Resistance, and the intel he gathered was later
put together with hand-drawn maps and smuggled out to London. This bundle was known as the
Cherry Basket. His driving skills were later employed by the Marquis and he became part of their truck
squad, collecting agents that were parachuted into France and collecting supply drops. At one point he
was captured and tortured which led to internal injuries but he was able to escape after a door was left
open. He recounts in an interview with the New York Times - I see the front door opened. Oh! What
more could one ask for? I hurtle down the stairs and I am off. In preparation for the Allied invasion of
Normandy on 6th June 1944, the BBC sent out coded messages encouraging local resistance fighters
to gather and assist the invasion. French army commandos were parachuted in to block reinforcements
being sent to the beaches and local maquis groups massed to play their part. One such group was the
Saint-Marcel marquis some 170 miles from the beaches, and Bergamasco was a member of this
network. In rural Brittany they took over farm buildings to make their headquarters and made
preparations. French paratroopers had joined them and seeing the men were largely untrained, they
stayed to assist. There were around 200 Free French SAS men and 3000 fighters at the camp and
After the initial D-Day parachute drops, airborne operations took place over Brittany every night from
June 9, 1944. Teams of twelve to twenty S.A.S. troops were dropped each time, and these operations
were bound to be spotted by the Germans eventually. The locals had also joined in by this stage, for
the first time seeing some hope of the end of occupation and they helped set up a field hospital, bakery,
mechanics and a kitchen to supply the men there. However, this was to end in disaster as the camp
was discovered by Nazi spies that had infiltrated the group and on 18th June 1944 it was destroyed.
Many of the fighters were killed and it didn't stop there. Those who escaped were hunted down and
retribution was also taken on the local population with neighbouring buildings also being burnt down
and locals executed. The Saint-Marcel massacre is something that has recently been recognised in
French history and has formed part of the country's commemorations for D-Day 80. Although
Bergamasco was able to escape he can still recall the sounds of his friends and comrades being killed
and his feeling of helplessness at being unable to save them. Their sacrifice was not in vain as German
troops from the Brittany area did not make it to the Normandy area as reinforcements.
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