JUNE 1940, ON THE ROADS OF CÔTE-D'OR, FROM THE DÉBÂCLE TO THE EXODUS (Volume 2)

Second volume of the exceptional study on the events and fighting that took place in the Côte-d'Or during June 1940.

These two books will take you day by day through the incredible and terrible history of the Côte-d'Or in 1940: the history of war, fire and blood. In this context of total chaos, fleeing the fighting, on the roads of the exodus, tens of thousands of civilians crossed the region. For several of them, it was a journey with no return. Death claimed them there, just as it claimed the French soldiers and their allies who fell with weapons in hand or were swept away by the tide of the débâcle.

Bombings, strafings, rearguard actions, looting, atrocities, massacres of prisoners… marked the roads, towns and villages of the Côte-d'Or, encircled by SS units and German Panzer divisions. Men, women, children, infantry soldiers, armoured unit troops, colonial troops… more than 1,200 people were killed in the département during the Battle of France!

Actual fighting took place at Molesme, Montbard, Saulieu, Arnay-le-Duc, Beaune, Pontailler-sur-Saône, Auxonne, Saint-Seine-l'Abbaye… At the same time, Châtillon-sur-Seine, Coulmier-le-Sec, Dijon, Beaune, Seurre… were bombed.

Volume 1 covers the period from the declaration of war through to 16 June 1940, the date of the principal engagements in the département. Volume 2 picks up the chronological account from 17 June, when General Hoepner, commanding the XVI.AK, sought to settle matters with the Côte-d'Or: that morning, at Sombernon, the Germans negotiated the surrender of Dijon. At the same time, heavy fighting unfolded at Laignes, Saint-Seine-l'Abbaye, Gevrey, Beaune…

Meanwhile, forming the rearguard of the XVI.AK, the SS massacred dozens of Senegalese riflemen in their path. Moreover, to cover the advance of their troops, the Stukas bombed and strafed several towns and the withdrawal routes of the retreating French armies. By late afternoon, the Germans had reached Beaune and Dijon.

On 18 June, the remnants of the last French regiments encircled in the Saint-Seine-l'Abbaye pocket surrendered one after another. Thousands of French soldiers were still being captured and the département became covered with prisoner-of-war camps.

On 22 June, the Armistice was signed. For the Côte-d'Or, the toll of destruction and casualties was heavy.

At the end of the volume, the reader will find lists of approximately 1,200 victims who died in 1940: civilians, French military personnel, Allied and German.