The Journals

The names are what haunted me. Each of them must have a story, a reason why they were among the 39 that died that day. So, I started to ask anyone I could think of - what happened, who were they? And people began to talk to me - sometimes just in snippets, like, "oh, those guys in Etobon, they got too cocky."

After a while, people began to tell deeper stories, and after asking my questions for several months, began to share documents with me. Mme Jeand'heur, daughter in law of a well-known local resistance leader who was called The Old Trapper, gave me a copy of a journal kept by the vice-mayor of Etobon, Charles Perret. Then other writings started to appear, including the unpublished journal of another of the Perrets. Reading them, translating them, brought depth to my understanding of September 27, 1944.

Update on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 10:29AM by Katherine Douglass

I was eager to learn all I could about the massacre and what led up to it. M. Lods, a local reporter for one of the daily newpapers, told me that some of the men had died singing or whistling the Marseillaise. The thought gave me chills. When Mme. Jeand'heur loaned me her copy of Jules Perret's journal, I stayed up until 2 a.m. to finish it in one sitting. The story was dramatic, and filled with twists and unanswered questions.

The parsonage, church and Perret home in EtobonJules' journal was kept, according to him, on slips of paper which he hid in bottles in his barn. He wrote many of them in the local patois, or dialect, to protect himself if the Germans should ever discover his writings. In the diary, he describes everyday life in the village and the fields, and the changes brought about by the German occupation. As the end of the war neared, though, the people of Etobon and the surrounding villages were brought into that war in ways that would change them forever.

The Stage is Set

Sixty years before I began work in France, in 1944, the villages of the Franche-Comté region of eastern France were quiet. The war had been distant since 1940. After the invasion and occupation of France by the Germans in 1940, life went back to its old rhythms. Plowing and planting, tending orchards, milking cows, and hiving bees kept the farmers busy in spring. Fall was for harvesting leeks, potatoes, apples, pears and plums Every once in a while the Germans would order the farmers to provide horses or cows for their troops, or make the men register in Lure or Vesoul, the largest towns in the département of the Haute-Saône. Along with the départements of the Doubs, the Territoire de Belfort, and the Jura, the Haute-Saône forms the Franche-Comté region. The occupiers were certainly a factor in the region’s life, but most of the time the Franc-Comtois simply dreamed of the day when liberation would come and life could go back to normal.

Eastern France is often described as “heavily industrialized,” bringing visions of endless smokestacks and rail yards to the minds of would-be tourists. It’s true that there are factories there, including the world headquarters of the automaker Peugeot, a major employer, but the region has kept its essentially rural character outside of the cities. There’s a tradition among Peugeot workers, in fact, to maintain a “farmette” in one of the villages, and to be a factory worker by day and a farmer by night. In Couthenans, many of my neighbors kept chickens and tended large gardens. Others in the parish had orchards, hayfields and cattle. The Franche-Comté is not wine country, it’s cheese country. Montbéliarde dairy cattle, resembling a brown and white version of the Holstein, originated in these villages, and are still the predominate breed of cattle in the fields. They produce the milk that makes the regional cheeses, Comté, Morbier and Mont-d’Or, among others. The most well-known to Americans is La Vache Qui Rit, the Laughing Cow, made in the Jura.

The sights and sounds of the villages haven’t changed much over the centuries. The church bells still toll the hour. To see the stacks of wood stored up for winter heat and cooking, women washing their clothes in the communal fontaine-lavoire, and men working the gardens in their wooden sabots, outsiders might feel they’ve returned to France of the 19^th century. When you’re in the villages of the Franche-Comté, the idea that you’re in a “heavily industrialized” region is ludicrous. Fortunately, the term has kept tourists away for years, so the villages retain their rural character and charm.

The Prisoners from Epinal

During the early 1940’s, the Germans had established a prisoner of war camp in Epinal. The camp held hundreds of the British POWs captured around the Mediterranean, including Indian soldiers taken at Tobruk. In May 1944, as they were preparing for the invasion of Europe, the Allies bombed the prison camp. Hundreds of those held captive escaped, but having done so, found themselves wandering the French countryside, trying to make their way to Switzerland. They headed south and east from Epinal, searching for the Swiss border. The eastern border of the Franche-Comté forms the northern part of France’s frontier with Switzerland. The people of the Franche-Comté have a long history of smuggling people and goods into and out of that small nation. The prisoners who had escaped from Epinal knew that they were near the Swiss frontier, but had no idea how near or far it was. So, they began to walk, mostly in groups, hiding in the woods and making little contact with the villages they passed.

A garden in the Franche-Comte in MayMay in the Franche-Comté is lush. Peonies, iris and roses are in bloom, and the trees are in full leaf. By the end of the month, the first haymaking is in progress. The woods are green, and the underbrush can provide cover. Some of the forests are managed, though, and have been for generations. In those, the underbrush has been cut away and the trees are planted in neat rows. If someone wanted to pass through these woods unseen, they would have to keep well away from the main roads to avoid passing farm wagons or German patrols. In the late spring, the days have lengthened and the nights have lost their chill. It was not a bad time of year for the escaped POWs to be sleeping rough in the forest.

These POWs had to remain hidden because their appearance was so very different from the French. Most of these men came from northwestern India, part of which became Pakistan after India’s independence from Britain. Some were Sikhs, some were Muslims and some were Hindus. All were dark-skinned. The Sikhs, mostly from the Punjab region, wore turbans to cover their long hair and beards. The remnants of their British Army uniforms were giveaways, too. It would be almost impossible for them to blend in with the local population. So the escapees took to the woods and wandered, some for weeks, trying to find Switzerland.

On the few farms they passed on their way from Epinal in May of 1944, the escaped soldiers found little to eat. The fruit trees were still in bloom – no apples or pears yet. Even though the Muslim soldiers might kill an occasional rabbit or chicken, the Hindu soldiers refused to eat meat. Eventually, their only hope for survival was to make contact with the French.

Shelter at Etobon

The escaped Indian POWs came to Etobon by two’s, three’s and sometimes more. They were dark-skinned; many were Sikhs, with turbans and long hair. They were obviously not Franc-Comtois, but the Etobonais fed them, hid them and protected them. That’s how the Franc-Comtois are. Whether you are a Sikh soldier from India or an American pastor from Pennsylvania, they care for you. When you are their friend, you will never lose their love.

The people of the Franche-Comté have a reputation among the rest of the French of being closed and cold. “The little boches of the north,” the southerners say. Whether or not they know the depth of the insult of being compared with the boches, a derogatory term for Germans, the Franc-Comtois know. Despite their undemonstrative nature, these people shed their blood for their country and for the sake of their allies.

When the families of Etobon had fed and clothed the escaped POWs, the village leaders had to decide what to do. If they stayed in Etobon, they’d be noticed right away. The Swiss border was their only chance. It’s at least a day’s walk, but the Franc-Comtois were used to smuggling across the border. Also, between Etobon and Switzerland there was a chain of maquis. They could hand the POWs off from one to the next, making sure they wouldn’t be lost or captured before they reached the frontier.

The next stop for the first group was Chagey. Two men from Etobon led the first escapees out of the village by the fields and into the woods. Dressed as French peasants, with caps pulled low, the Indians might not be noticed if they were seen. Once they had reached a trail, their guides pointed the way to Chagey, knowing that the maquis there would see the foreigners to the next town.

Update on Friday, April 2, 2010 at 10:08AM by Katherine Douglass

During the spring and summer of 1944, over 100 escaped prisoners made their way to Etobon. Those who arrived first had the best chance of reaching the Swiss border. Later arrivals were not so fortunate.

Who Were These POWs?

The POWs who arrived on foot at Etobon were British soldiers from what is now India and Pakistan. While the French called them all "Indous," an old term for Indian that is now used as "Hindu," the written accounts of the time show that, while some were Hindu, others were Muslim. At least one Canadian soldier, of native American origin, possibly Huron, was among the group. Jules Perret reports that he lived in Montreal, on the Rue de Rosemont. The written journals also say the soldiers were captured at Tobruk, but which units they served with is unclear. A few photos exist of the POWs posing in front of the parsonage at Etobon, and of some of them at the time of the liberation. One of the soldiers is buried in the Protestant cemetery at Chenebier, and his gravestone identifies his unit. The story of his death and secret burial is another intriguing part of what happened in 1944.

Update on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 at 10:49AM by Katherine Douglass

Some of the rescued POWs on the parsonage steps in Etobon. Photo from "Ceux d'Etobon," Benjamin Valloton/Jules Perret The parsonage steps in Etobon today. A plaque commemorates the dark days of 1944.