On June 20, 1944, the maquis of Saint-Mards-en-Othe in Aube was attacked by the enemy and 27 resistance fighters were killed. The maquis of Saint-Mards-en-Othe came from the BOA and specialized in receiving parachutes. The Sipo-SD of Troyes, well informed about the locations of the maquis and its forces by its French agents, prepared an operation against him. On June 20, 1944 in the morning, a German column of a thousand men, Ukrainian prisoners of war and Russian volunteers, forming the 615th Ostbataillon commanded by Major Schrade and the Sicherheitsregiment 199 of the SS Gelling went up to attack the maquis which was 237 guerrillas from the BOA and the FTPF. The maquis occupied a strong position, a hill with a large wood, meadows and fields all around the nipple. He had rifles, machine guns, machine guns, machine guns, grenades, nine bazookas and seventeen torpedoes. The fight will last from seven thirty in the morning to six in the evening. The first German elements arrived by the road from Maraye-en-Othe, surprising six maquisards who were posted as sentries and killing four. Another detachment from La Belle Fayte killed six guerrillas, including the Englishman George Mamoutoff, known as Léon, an SAS lieutenant who was killed on his Bren machine gun to cover the withdrawal. Around eight-thirty, a second motorized column coming by the road from Vosnon was greeted by heavy fire but the fight quickly became unequal, the maquisards being outnumbered. The order to withdraw was given. When the fight was over 27 resisters had been killed or wounded and finished off. A monument was erected on the Mivoie road to commemorate the attack of June 20, 1944 and was inaugurated on June 22, 1947. Surmounted by a cross of Lorraine, it bears the following inscription: "To the dead of the Maquis de Saint -Mards-en-Othe / BOA and FTPF / June 20, 1944”. the hamlet of La Lisière des Bois was decorated on 16 June 1949 with the Croix de Guerre with bronze star.
Translated by Google •
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