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Rats!


val

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Hello Val,

Brilliant link, but a terrible time all soldiers suffered through rats...especially by them eating you alive as such when wounded and had no energy or suffering from serious wounds and were unable to fend them off...Horrific!

I feel very sad for all the soldiers that suffered from this terrible plague...many soldiers have mentioned that some rats gorged themselves on human remains in as much they became as fat a young cats.

Thank for the link and story....all of us should read this, as it wasn't just the shelling, bullets but the filth (sewerage) in their own trenches they had to suffer and endure.

Best to you...Desert Rat/ Ian

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Hello Val,

Yes I have hears of the Rat Bomb and seen it in ( I think) H. Keith Meltons book of SOE/ OSS sabotage weapons, but despite my meeting two SOE agents - George Millar and Pearl Witherington (Corniolley) some years ago they had not heard or seen these items as for use in clandestine operations, guess they may have missed this type of warfare. But what a great pleasure to meet them and some French Resistance Leaders during my travels across France years ago, sadly I missed a meeting with two of the Agents - Francis Cammerts ( F section) as I knew where he lived) and Nancy Wake/ both SOE.

But a very ingenious ideas as well as the exploding block of coal....mmmmmm, the bloody ideas that the top brass os SOE/ OSS cane up with!

Thanks and Very Best to You for a Safe and Peaceful 2019.....Ian/ Desert Rat

 

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Here is an image of me some years ago in Vielly France, with a great friend of George Millar (SOE) and his French Resistance leader - Georges Molles and his wife, he showed me his 45 colt, hidden under the seat of his car....which was dropped in a Parachutage in 1944....super condition but all the bullets corroded since 70 odd years.

It was wonderful to meet him and his wife, he even pinned on his chest the Croix de Guerre, and other medals for me to take a photo......Great Memories, Brave and Courageous men!

Charles de Gaulle came down to Besanson to meet Georges Molle and his Resistance friends and awarded the medals to each man, and in the village of Vielly, a street was named after de Gaulle.

Best to you...Desert Rat/ Ian

1/ Georges Molles, his wife and me

2/ Parachutage Drop Zone

3/ An old French Resistance Fighter that fought with both Georges (I have forgotten his name)

4/ "Nono" who was shot when he and George Millar rode there bikes on the way to Recce Besacon station, ambushed in a cornfield by German troops, they shot Nono who fell from his bike, George Millar rode on and escaped, but on this spot the Germans beat Nono until nearly dead so he would confess who the other Resistance members were, he gave nothing away, then they executed him by firing squad...20 years old!!!

Such Heroes for France & Freedom!

Vive La Maquis....!!!

ALL IMAGES SOLE COPYRIGHT OF.....IAN ROBERTSON BRIDLE...... www.edenbridgetown.com

Ian/ Desert Rat

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Edited by Desert Rat
correction to text
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Here are some images of the Mountain retreat - The Vercours - where about 2, 000 Maquis took on over 12, 000 Fallschimjager, SS, and Werhmacht troops- just to say many were executed on the spot, but others like a Father & Son were hung by their necks on the same branch of the tree back to back.....with only their toes 4-6inches from the ground, if either one struggled to breathe or try and touch the ground, the other would be choked to death...it happened many times to get them to reveal other members of the Maquis/ FFI on the mountain. Many were taken to the stone wall and executed, men women and children, many were shot in the Maquis hospital in the caves, many just shot with their families....a Mother holding her Son or Daughter in front of her...so that x1 bullet would kill both...to save ammunition!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading this Val & I hope others will also ....To Remember just how Very Brave Many Maquis Men & Women Were!

Desert Rat

All images sole copyright of Ian R Bridle..... www.edenbridgetown.com

 

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Edited by Desert Rat
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