Municipality of Vierville-sur-Mer
Municipal Information - Bulletin N°10 - May 2007 - "http://vierville.free.fr"
Editorial
Each municipal bulletin reminds us of which are the Vierville associations: the Friends of the Beach, the Association of Hunters, the Veterans Association, the Charles de Bellaigue Association, Omaha Bedford and the Viervillais Educational Recreations.
Their founders, sometimes deceased, were individuals, animated by the same passion, anxious to federate energies in the service of a goal. Their initiative was based on a regulatory framework of common law dominated by a fundamental principle of freedom, freedom of association.
Each, by defining its purpose, determines its field of action: leisure, humanitarian aid, historical memory. But they all have one thing in common: they are animated by volunteers.
Associations, through their internal life and the activities they organize, create and maintain social relations between the inhabitants of Vierville, with those of neighboring municipalities and sometimes open up to the outside, going so far as the discovery of different cultures, in Benin or Virginia.
To support their actions and enjoy sharing the good times they offer us, whenever we can, let's participate in their animations!
Very sincerely, I thank all these people for what they give of themselves, for us, for others; the activities they organize guarantee the maintenance of landmarks in the week or in the year, help to get through difficult days and animate our village.
I also believe that these volunteers, by their example, can be incentives for each of us to give the best of ourselves for others.
Jean-Marie Oxéant
Vierville Educational Leisure Association
Contact: Mrs. FONTAINE. September to June, manual activities on Tuesdays from 2:15 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
The members of this association offer a second appointment, every week, in the same premises, on Friday afternoon from 2:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., for manual activities (making decorative objects)
Events to remember
An exhibition of military and historical models will be held in the communal hall on June 2 and 3.
As last year, a militaria scholarship is organized on Saturday, June 2, in the courtyard of the old school and the adjacent street.
On June 5, between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., the children of the Trévières primary school will come to the beach to meet D's Landing. Various activities are planned. The afternoon of June 5 will end around 3:45 p.m. with a deposit of flowers by elected officials and children in the presence of the inhabitants of Vierville invited to meet on this occasion
Concert on June 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the church of Vierville, by the Choirs of the University of Caen. Addrance to the concert of 06/06/07 is free and therefore open to all
The Centre Communal d'Action Sociale organizes on June 15 the annual walk for the alumni of the Commune.
Friends of the Beach Program 2007:
Saint Jean's Fire on June 23, at the beach
Fireworks on July 13, at the beach
Fair at all on August 5, with street parade of the Théâtre-Ecole du Damier troupe
End of year meal on December 31
The municipal budget 2007
It was voted by the city council last March for a total expenditure of 373,280 E (220,110 E in operation, 153,170 E in investment).
Operating expenses in 2007 were reduced due to a partial transfer of charges for municipal staff and since the municipality has sufficient cash flow to guarantee its working capital, the municipal council decided to reduce the amount of tax revenues by an 18% reduction in the local tax rate.
The subsidies paid to the Associations have all been extended to 2007.
For the investment, the following work and acquisitions were planned:
- Works of the village: they will be completed by the end of spring and the balance of invoices to be paid in the following weeks.
- Tractor: the current model, bought second-hand 14 years ago, is worn out and it no longer meets the current safety standards that apply to municipalities. Its use could become dangerous for municipal staff, but also for public road users. A new used model was sought, in vain. Small-power agricultural tractors are no longer used by farmers. Also, it was necessary to acquire a new one, which will meet all the requirements of the safety regulations.
- Cemetery gate: the two large wooden gates will be replaced in early summer by aluminum models of the same range as the small barriers changed last year.
- Church bells: bell doors and a tinkling device will be changed in June.
- Lifeboat trailer: its dilapidated state requires its replacement. The new model will be delivered in June.
The competence for municipal roads transferred to the Intercom
Following the decisions taken, by a majority, by all the municipalities of the Communauté de Trévières, all work on the paved roads (roadways, side aisles and sidewalks, all new work, repair and maintenance) are taken care of by this Community (Intercom). This resulted in a significant reduction in municipal taxes.
The Commune no longer has the right to have work carried out on these roads even by financing them from its budget.
The coastal trail
A few years ago, a path was marked on the cliff between Vierville and Grandcamp. Following a fatal accident during a landslide of the cliff between Pointe de la Percée and Pointe du Hoc, this trail is now closed to the public.
The General Council has undertaken to recreate it, improving it, and in more satisfactory security conditions, throughout the Calvados coast. Studies are underway and the chosen policy route has recently been investigated.
It will be a path accessible to pedestrians, non-motorized cycles and cars for the disabled.
Coming from the west, it would run along the cliff while sufficiently away from it (the expropriation of a large strip of land is planned). Arriving at the height of the Vierville campsite, a route reserved for pedestrians would continue towards the beach passing between camping and cliff, but the route for cyclists and disabled people would take the Camino de la Hérode, on a shared road with car traffic to the museum. The museum in its two configurations, current and enlarged, would be bypassed up to CD 514 (route de Grandcamp) by borrowing a strip of land to be expropriated.
The route would then take the sidewalk, currently grassed, from CD 514 and 517 to the sea. This is at least the route that was requested by the municipality, to avoid both crossing the very circulating CD517 (avenue de Bedford) and taking the rue de la Mer in its lower part, a street that is partly one-way. It is also appropriate to reserve the rue de la Mer for the general development of the descent planned as part of the Grand Site.
In front of the beach, the route would use the boulevard de Cauvigny, in a shared road. A cliff crest route in front of the beach was ruled out, considering that walkers would probably prefer to enjoy the beach in the immediate vicinity.
The site of Omaha Beach has been classified as a national heritage
Recall that this classification aims to preserve and improve the current landscape.
On the first aspect, knowing how building permit applications will be processed is essential to assess the developments that will be authorized.
Since last summer, no application for a building permit in the protected area has been submitted. It is therefore not possible to draw any information from this, either on the investigation deadlines, or on what would be accepted or refused by the new procedure called "special authorization".
On the second aspect, which concerns the improvement of the landscape, meetings were held recently to prepare the work intended to improve the descent to the sea, the space in front of the rue de la Percée and the associated car parks, the signage and finally the space located between the main crossroads and the castle which constituted the West entrance threshold on the Grand Site.
This work is envisaged in the coming years.
The February 2007 census
The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies carried out a census of the population of our municipality. The results are not yet published, but we believe that the population actually living more than 6 months a year in Vierville can be estimated at around 246 people, 10 to 15 more than the figure used for 1999.
We are waiting for the final results for next fall.
A new rescue station
For several years, the administration has wanted the municipality to install a rescue station that complies with current standards, especially with regard to security. The studies, then the procedures, which will be long because of the Grand Site, have been launched.
A location was selected after complex discussions with all the departments concerned, with sometimes difficult requirements to reconcile. The new post would be installed in a new building below the National Guard monument, leaning on the main blockhaus of Vierville.
It will therefore have better visibility to the east of the beach. The position of supervisors will be associated with a small infirmary and a sanitary-shower block connected to the sewer network. The architecture will have to be adapted to the historical environment.
An architect's consultation was made and the Poupard firm, from Saint-Lô, retained. This firm has already made works in environments to be specially protected.
It is possible that, when the implementation phase with search for funding comes, the tourism competence now partially shared with the Intercom of Trévières will be fully supported by it. In this case, the studies undertaken by Vierville would also be transferred.
POS revision
The revision of the Land Use Plan, which will be transformed into a Local Urban Planning Plan (PLU), has been initiated. The Municipality, with the help of the Council in Architecture, Urbanism and Environment, is preparing a description of the current situation that will serve as a basis for consulting research firms.
On this occasion, the Municipality wishes to define new urbanization areas and pitches for collective services such as the parking of motorhomes or the creation of new tourist accommodation structures.
Communal subdivision of rue Désiré Lemière
Road work is being completed and the land has been put up for sale (4 by the municipality and 2 by a private owner).
Another small, private subdivision has just been presented, with a view to building along the street, on the East side. This will also allow the municipality to enhance the investment it has made by creating the new street.
This street in the Guerberue district was named "rue Désiré Lemière" by the City Council.
Thus was commemorated the memory of the resistance to the occupier of this inhabitant of Vierville, (hamlet of Fosses Taillis), shot on June 6, 1944 in Caen.
Désiré Lemière was originally a farmer, but he had little land, the Germans having requisitioned some of it. He then became a postman in St-Laurent, which allowed him to circulate everywhere without attracting attention.
Since January 1943, he was part of the "Groupe Alliance" which gathered military intelligence and transmitted it to the Allies. His local group was eventually discovered by the Germans and he was arrested on May 5, 1944 by the Gestapo.
Robert Boulard Street subdivision
The Municipal Council gave the name of Robert Boulard to the street that serves the subdivision "Les Embruns de la Liberté" (also known as the Dumont subdivision, near the beginning of the rue du Hamel au Prêtre),
Robert Boulard was a postman in Trévières and he lived in Vierville, in the hamlet of Vacqueville.
Like Désiré Lemière, he was an intelligence officer of the "Groupe Alliance", and he was also arrested on May 5, 1944.
On the morning of June 6, 1944, he was shot at Caen prison, at the same time as all the other prisoners of the Gestapo in Caen. Their bodies were transported by truck to an unknown place in the afternoon and were never found. They are probably still buried somewhere not far from the city, because the truck that was carrying the bodies made several short-term shuttles.
The "Alliance" network
The "Alliance" Network was founded in 1940 by Commandant Loustanau-Lacau. It covered in principle all of France. From the end of 1942 and the total occupation of France, it was separated into several zones, the West ("Farm" sector) being entrusted to Jean Roger called "Sainteny". Sainteny had ties to Vierville (where he was the owner), he appointed a manager for Calvados: Robert Douin (called "Civette") who lived in Caen but moved frequently throughout Bessin.
The sector of Bessin was under the responsibility of M. Couliboeuf (called "Bison noir"), teacher in Formigny, and had an operator radio Rodriguez (called "Pie") and a mailbox in Bayeux trained with 2 teachers: Melles Julia Picot and Germaine Limeul.
2 intelligence research groups were then recruited:
In Port-en-Bessin, a group led by Paul Bernier (called "Tigris") and Georges Thomine (called "Cachalot") and which included the 6 agents: Pierre Cardon, Edouard Cardon, Léon Cardon, Léon Payen, Gaston Chauvin and Auguste Thomine.
In Vierville, St-Laurent and Trévières, a second group led by Désiré Lemière (called "Chordeille"), with Robert Boulard, Charles Olard.and Albert Anne, group in which the first 3 resided in our village
The neighboring sector Villers-Bocage was led by the radio Jean Caby (called "Emouchet"), with 8 intelligence officers.
Other agents were in the sectors of Caen and Ouistreham.
The Alliance network was not the only one to carry out resistance activities in Bessin and Calvados. All these networks were completely separate and they ignored each other for security reasons: network OCM, which mainly did intelligence (Guillaume Mercader), network of the National Front which did not do intelligence but propaganda, network Mithridate dependent on British services (Marcel Aulombard in Bayeux in particular); movement Libération Nord which also did intelligence (Joseph and Arthur Poitevin in Port-en-Bessin).
In total there are 135 people registered in Bessin as resistance fighters (179 according to another count), including 15 to 20 for "Alliance".
These agents came from all classes of society, in proportion to their actual distribution. Their motivations were diverse: rejection of the natural enemy, Army cadres refusing the armistice and the Vichy regime, from 1943 refusal of the STO in Germany, sometimes communist or anti-fascist ideology. Many have committed themselves without even knowing the organization that used them, secrecy remaining essential for security. All these men had a current of sympathy among the population of Bessin, which facilitated their work with the necessary discretion.
The information sought concerned the entire German organization, and in particular the large coastal batteries: Longues, the Hoc, Maisy, the defenses along the coast, fuel depots, etc.
The transmission of information was generally done by radio (in the case of the Alliance network), but also by carrier pigeons (case of the CMO).
Each network transmitted to England what it had been able to gather. The results were exploited in London and carefully intersected with aerial reconnaissance. The heaviness of this treatment sometimes led to delays and errors. But overall, the effectiveness of French networks has been recognized.
The Alliance network, like most resistance networks, was hard hit by repression. Despite all the precautions, it was difficult to avoid infiltrations by French agents working on behalf of the Germans. As for radios, they were easily spotted by radiogoniometry, which forced them to move constantly and at very fast cadences.
In the Alliance du Calvados network, the dark period began on March 14, 1944 with the arrest in Paris of a Robert Douin liaison officer.
Subsequently, on March 17, Robert Douin was arrested in Caen, Georges Thomine was arrested in Port-en-Bessin, Jean Caby was arrested in Villers-Bocage.
On May 4, almost the entire Villers-Bocage group was arrested.
On May 5, it was the turn of the Vierville-Saint-Laurent-Trévières group, which was also arrested in its entirety: Désiré Lemière, Albert Anne, Robert Boulard and Charles Olard
These arrests were usually made by French people working for the Gestapo.
All were interrogated under torture in Caen, then shot on June 6, 1944 in the panic that seems to have gripped the Germans on the morning of the landing.
At that time, in the absence of a landing, their fate would have been deportation to the death camps (Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Struthof...) where the chances of survival were low.