Saumur

Twenty five years ago, while on vacation in France, the THC son and I visited an armored vehicle museum, the Musee des Blindes, on the outskirts of Saumur, a small town located on the south side of Loire River.  Curious as to how the museum came to be in this small town I discovered it was the site of the French military cavalry school which prior to WW2 became the locus of tank training for the army.

Today is the 83rd anniversary of the Battle of Saumur in which cadets from the school fought the German invaders.

By June 18, 1940 the Germans were sweeping through France.  Paris had fallen on the 14th.  That same day the French government, which had already fled Paris for Tours, decamped further south to Bordeaux.  On the 15th, Marshal Philippe Petain became Prime Minister, announcing by radio the next morning that he had asked Germany for a cease fire.

In the midst of large scale French surrenders, 58 year old Cavalry School commander Colonel Charles Michon mobilized 800 cadets, determined to preserve the honor of France and its army. to defend the stretch of river near Saumur.  Michon was also able to find and rally about 1200 retreating soldiers to join the cadets.  With his 2,000 men, Michon was able to delay the 10,000 German attackers for three days, before ordering a withdrawal of his surviving force at 9PM on June 20.

(Colonel Michon)

Because the battle occurred after Petain's call to end the fighting, and began on the day when General Charles De Gaulle made his first radio appeal to continue the struggle, it is considered in France to be the first act of the French Resistance.

Seventy nine of the cadets perished in the battle, along with a similar number of other French soldiers. Colonel Michon died later that year in the unoccupied zone of France.