Stele

The Hesmond massacre took place during the fighting for the liberation of France. At the end of August 1944, pushed back from Normandy by the Canadian forces, the German troops withdrew little by little from the French territory in a state of total anarchy. The 245th German Infantry Division requisitioned all possible means of transport to evacuate as quickly as possible. On their way from Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), they took horses and carriages from seven farmers in Arques-la-Bataille in the Seine-Maritime. The&nbsp; owners were forced by the German unit to follow them.The convoy reached the village of Offin on 3 September. In the early morning of 4 September, fighting broke out between a Resistance group and the German unit, and a German officer was killed.In retaliation, eight German soldiers rounded up fifteen people, including the seven farmers from Arques-la-Bataille, at the Surmont family farm and led them across the fields.Struggling to keep up, Ernest Bisson, 46 years old, was the first to be shot at a place called Le Comble. When they arrived at Hesmond, an officer asked two of them to dig their own graves. Thirteen people were then executed. René Martin was the only survivor of the massacre.Two other people were arbitrarily executed by the German troops, Léonce De Bournonville, aged 66, and Louis Maillard, aged 48.On 15 September 1946, a memorial was inaugurated at a place called Le Pauvre Mont in Hesmond, 300 metres from the site of the massacre. The names of the sixteen people who were shot are inscribed on it.

​​Het Hesmond-bloedbad van 4 september 1944​

Het Hesmond-bloedbad van 4 september 1944