Who was Désiré Marteau
Place Désiré Marteau is a bus stop in Amboise.
Do any of those who get on and get off there ever wonder who Désiré Marteau was?
Born in Thésée, Loir et Cher (Department 41) he was a stone mason. In 1931, looking for work, he found plenty in Amboise so moved to nearby Chargé.
In 1940, when Germans occupied Amboise, Désiré Marteau joined his neighbour, René Mulo, a winegrower, one of the first resistance fighters in Indre-et-Loire. They became part of the Buckmaster network.
Colonel Maurice Buckmaster* was the leader of the French section of SOE (Special Operations Executive) in charge of parachute weapons drops.
On 13 June 1943 the BBC in London used the code ‘three goldsmiths in Saint-Eloi** to warn resistance leaders a drop would take place at midnight in Sarthe***.
The drop was organised by a local couple Mr and Mrs Auduc members of the Sarthe Resistance. It took ten men to recover and hide the containers full of weapons. One was Désiré Marteau.
How he was tracked down and caught is not known but he was arrested and deported in January 1944 to dig underground tunnels in Camp Dora of the infamous Buchenwald German concentration camp. Dora manufactured V2 missiles****.
The men were locked inside the tunnels. Their living and working conditions were inhumane. 5,882 prisoners died there.
Désiré Marteau died January 28, 1945.
Camp Dora was liberated April 11, 1945.
The US Army found a few hundred prisoners still alive and 1,200 dead or dying.
The Aurac family also paid a heavy price. They were deported.
Amboise is to be congratulated for honouring its long forgotten heroes with street names.
Ancient Egyptians believed that a person’s spirit never dies until people stop saying their names which is why each Pharaoh removed that of his predecessor.
Remember to say Désiré Marteau next time you pass his plaque.
* Awarded he Croix de Guerre
** Saint Eloi, a goldsmith, is the patron saint of goldsmiths
*** Le Mans is the Capital of Sarthe
**** Over a thousand fell on southern England and south Wales killing 2,754, wounding 6,523, destroying 400,000 homes, damaging more than 4,000,000.
Post by Pamela, photography by Mark.
