Maquis Montcalm

The Maquis were rural guerilla bands of French resistance fighters, during the occupation of France in WW II. Vichy France were conscripting young French men to work in forced labour camps in Germany, this was known as the Service du Travail Obligatoire - STO. To avoid this, many of them escaped into the mountains’s and woods and organised themselves into active resistance groups called Maquis. 

In the forest between the valley of the Seine and the valley of the Ource, just near Mussy, a well organised maquis was formed and called The Maquis Montcalm. It was headed by Commander Marceau and Lieutenant-Colonel Émile Alagiraude, alias Montcalm.

It originally included around 200 french freedom fighters when it was created in the summer of 1944, but in just a month, it had over 1200 men, 850 of whom lived permanently in the woods. It had the discipline of a real army and organised itself into 6 companies strategically situated throughout the area. Their primary objective to come together with other Maquis in the area and help liberate Troyes.