Answer to the call and trip to Caen.

On May 28, 1944 Armand is arranging his trip to the railwaystation of St. Pierre in Caen. It seems that the trip was planned, including a visit to Rouen. ‘Le rapide’ is the fast train between Paris and Rouen, but it wasn’t available ( by our research we found out that during the morning of May 28, the railwaystation, including a train were hit by allied bombing in Rouen. This also implies that this typing was done in the afternoon ). Presumably, he would continue his trip further towards Caen. E.H. ( unknown ) will join him. Armand is glad to be able to ‘separate the load ‘. In psycho-analysis this means that Armand is not aware of real nature of his trip and he is just continuing his mission as before. He probably presumes this ‘ Guillot ‘ ( he types “Gilot”, not knowing him ) to be his new liaison. Introduction to the “grande coupure “ Page 29 of the “Pencil Papers” is the first of the pencil written part that remained. This means that any information between his actual trip and arriving in Colleville-sur-Mer is lost. We can only presume he met  Guillot as planned and he introduced him to the evolutions that were ahead. He must have insisted, because he was present at the “cabane de Cabourg”… Due to the nature of the sabotage actions and timeframe, there is a high probability that Guillot was linked to the Réseau PTT by Etienne Bobo . Etienne and François knew eachother by the visits from Etienne to the Guillot family, running a café at the “ Passous de Coutainville “ ( Agon-Coutainville ). Maurice Guillot was the commander of the Agon resistance section. From there, Etienne moved the only machinepistol they had to Beaucoudray and even Caen on his bicycle ! A testimony from Henri Le Veillé ( May 6, 1956 : Centre National. Etudes PTT 6 rue Pierre Bourdan - PARIS 12è ),  being  “ Responsable Régional du Réseau PTT” clearly explains the sabotages on the German telephone lines during the night of June 5, 1944. They cutted the telephonelines from the bunkers towards the German High Command Post for the whole coastline of the Calvados and Manche, situated in Basly . Also communication towards  the “Central de Bernay “ was interrupted, so inland communnication by wire was down. The Calvados sabotages were executed under the command of Henri himself,  Pierre CORNILLET, Marcel DELAHAYE et Albert LAUNAY.  For Bayeux and Port-en-Bessin, Léonard CAMPS dit “Franco “ from Bayeux took the lead. He is presumed to be present at the sabotages at la Chenevière and ‘le Bouffay’ (Commes), according to the testimony in Armand’s diary. The Manche sabotages ( so also the one at la Madeleine ), were organised by Ernest PRUVOST, Etienne Bobo, Marcel RICHER, Augustin Lemaresquier and Clément SEGER. Etienne Bobo dit “BOZON” is well described in Armand’s journal, when he wrote down Guillot’s testimony on the La Madeleine sabotage, several hours before the landings. Ernest Pruvost was in charge for the La Madeleine section.

Finding Etienne Bobo. After some research on the Réseau PTT association, I got in contact by phone with Mme Couzeau when we were in Maison near Port-en-Bessin.  Mme Couzeau still holds the archives of her late husband who was the son of one of the Réseaux PTT members that were executed in Beaucoudray. On a rainy day in september 2017, we drove over to her house about 25 kms east of St. Lô, the Manche. A very friendly lady welcomed us into her house and a large amount of documents were already displayed on the table. We were stunned by the details and information her husband collected by the years. But, important to us, was the information on “Bozon”, this Etienne Bobo. She already had searched together the documents and pictures she had on this maquisard. And there it was. A genuine picture of Etienne. And his history, being a native of Perpignan. Told by a Joseph Cadère, who was personal friend of him when Etienne worked in St. Lô during the war. An original picture rose at the scene. The first time we saw him in such a detail, a handsome man at that time ! In 1999, even a street in Perpignan was named after Etienne Bobo, according to this testimony of Joseph Cadère and the Commision des Fusillés de Beaucoudray.

The friendly Mme Couzeau, helped us in such a detail !

The key to Etienne Bobo’s codename : “Bozon”.

The original picture that was send by Joseph Cadène in 1999.

And then the key to our research, when a short writing appeared on the back of a letter, a copy that was communicated in 1999, done by mister Crouzeau at that time . The information about Etienne and the place where he was burried in St. Lô, with a name on the right : “Bozon”… exactly like it’s mentioned in Armand’s diary !

Etienne Bobo was killed on June 15, 1944. Guillot tells this to Armand on June 29, 1944 (Armand’s diary). In reality, Etienne “Bozon” was caught by het SS raid on June 14th, on the small Maquis de Beaucoudray from Réseau PTT, 20 kms from Saint-Lô. A sad story was sinking in on us… Their body’s weren’t recovered until the end of august 1944. The original picture of the first memorial plate in 1945, on the spot where these resistance men where executed and burried in a shallow grave.. Today, a monument and memorial site is standing on the same place in Beaucoudray. But however, we were glad that Etienne wasn’t a man who was forgotten in time. He is well commemorated and honored. We just added a little link to one of the sabotage actions these men did, several hours before liberation. Even the day after, he would be present east of St. Lô, destroying the telephonelines between St. Lô and Cherbourg. These men executed “Plan Violet” in the best way they could. We were gratefull for Mme Couzeau’s uge help and kindness and made our way back thrue the countrysides of the Manche towards the Calvados coastline.

Back to the Cabane and Colleville-sur-Mer... The location situated at this “cabane de Cabourg” was a serious mistery for several years in our research. We went through documents and old wartime maps, to find this structure in Cabourg, an area next to the coastal line, between the center of Collville and the sands of Omaha Beach. Our encounters to the locals left us clueless. Just like it never existed. In the beginning of 2017 we went to Mr. Gosselin from the BIG RED ONE Museum in Colleville-sur-Mer, to consult his uge archives. During our visit, he mentioned our last hope would be madame Pineau, 12 years old in 1944. She was the last living person to have experienced D-Day at Omaha Beach. Call it sheer luck or faith – this name PINEAU did ring a bell !!! A certain Mr. Pineau is mentioned by Armand as the one explaining the places to execute the cutting of the German telephone lines. We made the visit to madame Pineau. A very nice and kind lady introduced us into her home. We explained who we were and how we came to be visiting her. She explained in clear words how she experienced the German occupation, how her father hated the “Boches” “ and how the landings took place… . “He knew the landings were coming”, she said. Things got interesting. Without showing our documents, I asked : “ Madame Pineau, do you know the ‘cabane de Cabourg’ ” ?. She gave me a smile and said : “ Sure ! But it doesn’t exist anymore “. We kind of got nailed to our seats… I asked : “ Can you indicate us where “ ? I opened my maps and she indicated a place on the hights of Cabour, about 600 yards from the actual US cemetary of Colleville-sur-Mer. “ It was a small wooden ‘abri’, my father participated in the construction. It’s was used as a lookout during the night “, she continued.                               Our visit to madame Pineau, the key in our                            After a serious search on the indicated place, we research on the ‘cabane de Cabourg ‘, 2017.                         found a relic of the shed , embedded for years.

Map with the June 1944 situation of Omaha Beach.The ‘cabane’ indicated on the highest point of the Cabourg area. From there, the Kommandantur, the German strongholds and trenches on the western side of the Wn were visible. Some of the  fields were accessable by civilians by a “laissez-passez”, during daytime until April 1944. After Rommel’s visit to the Atlantic Wall, all access to the hights got prohibited. He was well aware of the Allied threat. Next to the introduction of 22 reliable men, Michel Pineau explains the location where the destruction of the telephone lines has to be conducted. These points of connection with the inland telephone structures were made in “kabelbrunnen “.

Probably the last existing patch of the ones distributed at the Cabane de Cabourg meeting by Michel Pineau. Manufactured with paint on May 29 or May 30, 1944. ( Collection Museum HBFV ) These “kabelbrunnen” are sub terrain small concrete strongholds, with a metal entry plate. With the help of Mr. Gosselin from the Big Red One Museum, we found that place he called the “cabinet “, right behind the old Chemineau farm.

Map of the situation in Colleville-sur-Mer in 1944. The connection is situated behind the Chemineau farm.

Front view of the entry doorplate of the “kabelbrunnen”, behind the Chemineau farm, Colleville-sur-Mer. Only the top is still visible. Page 30 of the “pencil papers” : Armand mentions the destruction of the Hasler connectors and the taking of the 3v back-up batteries from the same structure by ‘Franco’. This ‘Franco’ is Léonard Camps, part of the Réseau PTT. That same evening on May 30, 1944 – Armand was chosen to conduct the sabotage at the Bessin region, at the domain of La Chenevière in Port-en-Bessin and the Bouffay hights in Commes, holding a German transmissionpost. He is writing this down on the evening of June 5, 1944 after 22 hours, when they have returned to Colleville-sur-Mer, also learning about the sabotage performed by ‘Franco’.