La Pinouse : Julien Panchot : patriot
Yesterday we walked up to La Pinouse.
The buildings at La Pinouse commemorate the execution of Julien Panchot on the 2nd August 1944. Leader of the resistance group Henri Barbusse he was wounded, captured, tortured and shot during the events of 29th July to 3rd August 1944.
The story, briefly, is that the Resistance group raided the nearby town of Prades whereupon the occupying forces together with the local militia launched a punitive revenge attack on the village of Valmanya. The route to the village was defended by a mixed force of French Resistance and Spanish Guérilleros. Enough time was bought to enable most of the villages to escape but four were caught and shot dead. The village was then ransacked and destroyed.
The Resistance and Guérilleros were then attacked at their refuge of La Pinouse in the valley of La Rabaça on the southern foothills of the Canigou massif.
It was here that the already wounded Panchot was cruelly handled and subsequently died at the hands of his enemies. A plaque on the wall of the now ruined buildings commemorates his patriotic sacrifice some 64 years ago.
The surviving Resistance and Guérilleros then regrouped north of the Col de Jau.
At one time the buildings at La Pinouse housed upwards of 500 workers who mined iron ore from the early 1900s to the early thirties. Although they were very solidly built at the time I would guess that another twenty or so harsh winters at 1800 metres will see them bought completely to the ground which will be another case of history made and then lost.
Y
La Pinouse : Julien Panchot : patriot
Yesterday we walked up to La Pinouse.
The buildings at La Pinouse commemorate the execution of Julien Panchot on the 2nd August 1944. Leader of the resistance group Henri Barbusse he was wounded, captured, tortured and shot during the events of 29th July to 3rd August 1944.
The story, briefly, is that the Resistance group raided the nearby town of Prades whereupon the occupying forces together with the local militia launched a punitive revenge attack on the village of Valmanya. The route to the village was defended by a mixed force of French Resistance and Spanish Guérilleros. Enough time was bought to enable most of the villages to escape but four were caught and shot dead. The village was then ransacked and destroyed.
The Resistance and Guérilleros were then attacked at their refuge of La Pinouse in the valley of La Rabaça on the southern foothills of the Canigou massif.
It was here that the already wounded Panchot was cruelly handled and subsequently died at the hands of his enemies. A plaque on the wall of the now ruined buildings commemorates his patriotic sacrifice some 64 years ago.
The surviving Resistance and Guérilleros then regrouped north of the Col de Jau.
At one time the buildings at La Pinouse housed upwards of 500 workers who mined iron ore from the early 1900s to the early thirties. Although they were very solidly built at the time I would guess that another twenty or so harsh winters at 1800 metres will see them bought completely to the ground which will be another case of history made and then lost.
Y