Ron Brown

Whilst writing an article on Channel Islands mail to and from both occupied and unoccupied Vichy France, I wanted to know where Chasselay was located.  Chasselay is a village 15km to the north of Lyon which witnessed one of the worst atrocities in France during the war.

Postcard from Jersey to Chasselay date stamped 15 April 1944 with correct postage of 15pf. In addition, occupation issued stamps have been added which were unnecessary.

As French forces collapsed in late May and early June, French Colonial Sénégalese soldiers were deployed in and around the village of Chasselay to delay the German advance south towards Lyon.  The massacre of these soldiers took place on June 19-20 at the time Marshal Pétain had announced his intention to seek an armistice with Germany, but no actual surrender had been made, and in some cases French troops continued to fight on.                 

Heavy and violent fighting between the German and French troops resulted in 51 deaths on the French side and more than 40 wounded for the Germans.

When the Sénégalese had run out of ammunition in Chasselay and surrendered they were ordered to a nearby field.  The French officers were led aside and told to lie face down. Then they were ordered to assemble in front of two German tanks and told to run away. As they ran the tanks opened fire with machine guns and then drove over the dead and wounded.   A German soldier then walked over to one of the white French officers and shot and wounded him; but otherwise they were left unharmed. 

German officers specifically ordered French civilians living nearby not to bury the murdered soldiers, but instead to let them rot in the open.  However, the civilians, who also sheltered a handful of Sénégalese who managed to escape, buried the bodies in a mass grave overnight.

After the armistice, Chasselay was in unoccupied France (Vichy).  Accordingly it was not subject to the general rule in occupied France that no memorial might be erected to black soldiers.  Jean Marchiani, who held the position of General Secretary of the Departmental Office of disabled ex-servicemen, veterans and victim of war heard about the massacre.  He decided to bring together the bodies of African soldiers, some of whom were buried at local cemeteries while others were often simply left to lay in ditches in the middle of the countryside. Jean Marchiani bought a plot of land in Chasselay and raised funds for the erection of the cemetery known in French as the ‘Tata Sénégalese de Chasselay’. The cemetery was constructed in a West African style and dedicated by a Muslim Sénégalese Imam on November 8, 1942, three days before Vichy France was occupied by the Germans.

Postcard from Chasselay to Jersey dated 3 May 1944.Printed postcard at internal rate of 1f 20 instead of foreign rate of 2f 40 surcharged 2d on arrival in Jersey. Paris transit cachet ‘A.x.’ and  rare Frankfurt censor cachet ‘25’.

I recently submitted an article as at heading above to our Society Editor only to be advised that I had been beaten to the post by Barrie Mudie with his article ‘The Commando who came back a Spy’ which was published in the March Journal on page 29 onwards. I am sure this must be a rare such occasion as my own article followed the acquisition of a Prisoner of War postcard shown below similar to those illustrated in Barrie’s article.

When Lieut’s Nicolle and Symes, both Guernseymen, went into hiding they were helped by friends and relatives. During this time Major Ambrose Shervill, Guernsey Attorney General and President of the Controlling Committee was informed of the situation and reached agreement with the Germans that any personnel of the British Armed Forces in hiding on the Island should surrender and would be treated as prisoners of war and no measures would be taken against any of their relatives.

They surrendered in uniform on the 21st October. Unfortunately on the date of surrender the German Commandant, Major Bandelow, was on leave and Nicolle, Symes and thirteen* relatives were imprisoned in Cherche Midi Prison in Paris. Lieuts’ Nicolle and Symes were sentenced to death by firing squad. Major Bandelow and the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief Co. Graf von Schmettow successfully argued the case for keeping their promise in the name of military honour. Nicole and Symes were sent to POW camps and their relatives returned to Guernsey. Both men eventually returned to live in Guernsey at the end of the war.

A second definitive raid, code named Operation Basalt, took place on the 3rd October 1942 on the Island of Sark.

The Führer was furious that this successful raid resulted in the deaths of German soldiers who had surrendered and had their hands bound and were later shot whilst trying to break free. This led to the issue of the Commando Order (Kommandobefehl) on the 18th October 1942. Hitler stated “From now on all men operating against German troops in so called Commando raids in Europe or in Africa, are to be annihilated to the last man.” This applied to Commandos in or out of uniform. Some German officers, most notably Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, ignored the Order. This Order was signed by Colonel General Alfred Jodl, Chief of Operations Staff at the German Armed Forces High Command throughout the war. His signing of the Commando Order and also the Commissar Order sealed his fate at the Nuremberg Trials and he was hanged on the 16th October 1946.

*Depends on printed source.