According to his writing, they were at la Chenevière at 3 AM in the morning.  ( The date and hour also indicates that the sabotage at La Chenevière was premature to the “PLAN VIOLET “. The official messages by the BBC to initiate Plan Violet came several hours later !!! ) During the occupation, the chateau at La Chenevière in Port-en-Bessin was housing German officers… They led “the better life “there… Interesting is the quote about the message they received.  Mr Cairon, a farmer from Port-en- Bessin was made responsable for hiding the receiver unit produced by Jean Caby. He had to take it from it’s secret place in the garden at the correct time every day, according to the testimony from his son, Michel Cairon. Michel said : “he was the one hearing the encoded BBC messages - il fait chaud à Suez ( it is hot in Suez) -, and - les dés sont sur le tapis ( the fleas are on the carpet -  “. Armand tells about this message they received from Cairon. He finds it to be incredible (“incroyable”) ! The second sabotage during the same night was the line towards the transmission post on the cliffs of Bauffay, about a 2 kms from stonghold at the harbor. Conducting our research at the Cairon family in Commes : Michel refers the writing from the journal with the actions from his father – taking the receiver every night to listen to the BBC “personal messages” for the resistance.

Research on the origin of the sabotage, premature to the execution of  PLAN VIOLET instructed by the SOE. The meeting at the “cabane de Cabourg” was the initiation for the 22 men present, as we know now by the testimony in Armand’s journal. Henri Cairon received the specific message in Commes and he was present at the meeting or he passed the message to Michel Pineau. The message was pronounced at the cabane. Only one factor remained a mistery during the research for 6 years : the announcement and order to receive parachutists on June 5th, hours before the landings. Armand wrote : “Cairon passed the message, incredible news ! “ Searching the archives left me clueless. Officially no allied paratroopers were dropped over the Calvados and Manche coastline within that timeframe. 

Cutting telephonewires at St. Marie-du-Mont On June 29, 1944 Guillot meets Armand again at Cheux near Caen. Guillot seems very tired. Armand gets to hear from the “coupure” that was conducted at the coastal zone from St. Marie- du-Mont and he writes it down as Guillot tells him how they got “ ACTION CRICQUE “ done on the night of June 5, 1944. Guillot called it “ ACTION CRIQUE “- after the creeks they used to get into the German lines of the Atlantic Wall.  Armand wrote “ ACTION CRIC “ in a phonetic way, a thing he did several times in his journal. However, the sabotage was a deary action, performed by 3 men. Guillot teamed up with “ the son of the Laisney farm “ and a certain “Bozon”. Probably this “son” was a young hired help on the farm or Roger Laisney himself – since the Laisney family itself had no children. He was introduced as the son, probably to protect his identity, as happened many times. Bozon is the codename used by Etienne Bobo at that time.

At 9 PM the threesome left the farm, entering the Grand Hard ( written Grand Art by Armand, not knowing the real area and orthography ). They stopped at the “Pont Mansart”, one of the typical old small bridges crossing the network of creeks at a 900m from the coastline. They stayed there until darkness fell . From that spot, they made a 300m crawl in the water of “ la Grande Crique “, reaching the left side the cemetary around the Holy Madeleine Chapel. From there, it was less then 50 m to reach the “kabelbrunnen” from the bunkercomplex of the actual Utah Beach. The same cutting was performed ( always taking a piece of 1 meter in lenght, so immediate reconnecting was impossible ). They managed to make their 300m back by the use of the creek and burried the wires they salvaged. Guillot also mentioned the movement of several German soldiers with 3 anti-tank cannons towards the beach, about midnight.

One thing was for sure, according to this testimony – when the Allied soldiers touched French soil in the early morning of June 6  1944, the inland communication by wire from the Wn’s at Utah Beach was down. If it had any impact, we will probably never know. Remains of the “Pont Mansart”at le Grand Hard, at 10 m on the right from the actual road, still to be found over the “Grande Crique “ – the place where Guillot and  Bobo went into the waterside to overcome the 300m crawl towards the chapel at La Madeleine. On June 5th, 2019  at the Holy Madeleine Chapel of Utah Beach, a commorative plaque was inaugurated in the honor of Etienne Bobo et François Guillot. A fine closure in the means of history and our years of research.      

The LAISNEY farm at St. Marie-Du-Mont, where Guillot and Bobo stayed, before the night of June5, 1944 – from here they entered the Grand Hard to move towards the coastline. This place was indicated with the help of Séverine Letourneur, director of the Utah Beach Museum. As mentioned before – this paper is a work in progress. It will be updated by the research still in progress. The Armand Lapierre diary is part of the HBFV Collection . Non of this research paper or it’s content may be reproduced in any kind, without the permission of the author. Research performed by the War Heritage Detection Program MUSEUM Huis van het Belgisch-Franse Verzet 1940-1945 House of the French-Belgian Resistance www.hbfv.be March 27, 2017 – All rights reserved. Updated August 14, 2017 – Link to the Réseau PTT network. Updated August 29, 2017 – Normandy Resistance Map. Update September 18, 2017 – Visit to Mme Crouzeau, Etienne Bobo files. Update November 14, 2018 – Origin of François Guillot, Agon-Coutainville.                                                       Picture of the Cabourg patch