Carreyrou Stele in Montech

The Free Zone was free no longer by January 1943. German troops reached Montech and requisitioned several houses. Officers took over Cadars Chateau and the Kommandantur took over the Town Hall. The southern part of the forest was decreed zone interdite (off limits).

The villagers in the 10th Secret Army Company went underground on 5 June 1944. The Montech arm was run by Pierre Fourcade (alias Fournier), Messrs Granier and Rouaux (two retired army men), Pierre Delos, Armand Bonnet and René Clavel. They crossed the Garonne on a barge (there were guards on the bridges) and walked three nights to meet their peers from Finhan and Beaumont. Life in Montech went on as usual. The curfew began at 10.00 pm.

A fuel-storage facility in Montbartier was bombed on a number of occasions at the end of July. Two Resistants from Montricoux, André Jouany and Joseph Lespinet, were executed. Several explosions resounded through the forest on 19 August. The Baraquements de la Cellulose, an army camp housing German troops, was blown up in turn.

Cadars Chateau burned down. A German convoy was intercepted in La Vitarelle. 20-year-old Jean Lacaze was killed during the fierce fighting there on 20 August. Eight farm and village houses in Montech and Saint-Portier were burned down in retaliation.. The war years claimed ten of Montech's children.
 

Mairie (Town Hall)

Place de la Mairie - BP n° 5 82700 Montech

Tel: +33 (0) 563 64 82 44 - Fax +33 (0) 563 64 87 62

E-mail: mairie-montech@info82.com

"Garonne et Canal" Office de Tourisme (Tourist Office)

Place Jean Jaurès

Tel/Fax +33 (0) 563 64 16 32

e-mail: com.garonne.canal@wanadoo.fr