commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Meuse
The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in
Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administrat ...
in north-eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Couvonges massacre
In August 1944 German troops en route to
Saint-Dizier
Saint-Dizier () is a subprefecture Of the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France.
It has a population of 23,382 (2018 figure) and is a subprefecture of the department. Although Saint-Dizier is marginally the most populous commune in Haute ...
to face General
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
's
XII Corps 12th Corps, Twelfth Corps, or XII Corps may refer to:
* 12th Army Corps (France)
* XII Corps (Grande Armée), a corps of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* XII (1st Royal Saxon) Corps, a unit of the Imperial German Army
* XII ...
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...
of twenty-six randomly selected Frenchmen. About sixty other civilians were killed in the neighboring towns of
Robert-Espagne
Robert-Espagne is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
On 29 August 1944, the 3rd Panzergenadier Division of the German Wehrmacht massacred 86 inhabitants of this and the three neighboring villages of Beurey ...
,
Beurey-sur-Saulx
Beurey-sur-Saulx (, literally ''Beurey on Saulx'') is a commune in the Meuse department in the Grand Est region in northeastern France.
On 29 August 1944, the 3rd Panzergenadier Division of the German Wehrmacht massacred 86 inhabitants of ...
and
Mognéville
Mognéville () is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
On 29 August 1944, the 3rd Panzergenadier Division of the German Wehrmacht massacred 86 inhabitants of this and the three neighboring villages of Beur ...
.
The bodies were buried in a
mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...
in a field near the town, but a local resident was able to obtai a photograph of the bodies before burial. According to Koudelka's informants, at 11 am on 29 August fifty-four of the town's sixty houses were burned, although the church was left standing. A total of 329 houses were looted and burned in the three towns.
Aftermath
Koudelka gathered evidence for use in the
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies of World War II, Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II.
Between 1939 and 1945 ...
, however Major General Hecker was released in 1947 and never tried. The case was assigned to the Military Court of Metz, which identified eight German soldiers (out of about fifty who participated in atrocities). In 1950, the four officers, two warrant officers and two soldiers were convicted. The judgment was delivered on 28 May 1952 and the sentences were pronounced ''in absentia'': four received death sentences and four were sentenced to hard labor for life.
Memorial
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
participated in a memorial service on 28 July 1946.Couvonges: La seconde guerre mondiale: le 29 août 1944 (in French) A memorial was inaugurated on August 29, 1949 by General
André Zeller
André Zeller (1 January 1898 – 18 September 1979) was a French Army general. He was one of the four generals (the others being Raoul Salan, Edmond Jouhaud, and Maurice Challe) who organized the Algiers putsch of 1961.
Decorations
*Grand Offic ...