History of the House

After the D-Day landings in June 1944, the Twelfth United States Army Group, led by the legendary general George Patton, started pushing southwards and reached the nearby town of Avranches. On the 31st of July, Allied war maps show, that German troops were amassed in the area between Pontorson and Saint James. The 79th Infantry Division of the US Army made a push further southward engaging the German troops. On the 3rd of August 1944 the American troops reached Montanel, linking up with the local resistance fighters of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI). The fighters had based themselves in Chateau de Chambres. This was no coincidence as the house was located in a strategic position, since its south-facing windows would have offered a great view of the retreating German positions.

However, the Germans were still a force to be reckoned with. The soldiers of the Third Reich fought back, returning fire to the FFI who had taken their positions on the first floor of the house. The destructive mortar fire unleashed by the German military blew an enormous hole in the side of this house, and  by the time the Germans had moved on, three members of the FFI had been killed in the fight. These three brave men are commemorated by a plaque on the front of this house which bears the words “Mort pour la France”  (“Died for France”).

This phrase is given by the French ministry of defense to soldiers and resistance fighters who fell in the liberation of France. The names engraved on it are; Pierre Barats, Edouard Francisque Alexis Goude, and Georges Joanas. They were just 38 years old. The French ministry confirms that they all died in combat, fighting from the first floor windows of the “Chateau de Chambres”.

*The photograph of the house was taken soon after the Germans were pushed back. You can see that all the remaining windows of the house are open and would have been used as a high point to fire on the retreating German troops.