Made by Camille and Sabrina
After the Armistice, signed on June 22nd , 1940, with Germany, France was divided in two parts: the free part and the occupied part where the Wehrmacht settled until November 11th, 1942. After the landing of the Allied troops in North Africa, the Germans crossed the dividing line and invaded the free area, under Pétain ‘s rule.
The Dividing line spread itself about 1200 kilometres. It was delimited by the towns of Bayonne, Mont-de Marsan, Angoulême, Poitiers, Tours, Bourges, Moulins, Châlon-sur-Saône, Dôle et Nantua. To pass through the Dividing line, an “Ausweis” was obligatory. This pass was only delivered by the German authorities. Nvertheless the German supervision of the line was not totally tight. A lot of clandestine crossing took place, mainly in the north-south sense. The Dividing line was officially suppressed in February, 1943.
In
green, there are the different French departments crossed by the
dividing line: L’Ain, l’Allier, les Basses Pyrénées,
la Charente, le Cher, la Dordogne, la Gironde, le Jura,
l’Indre-et-Loire
(our department, n°7 on the map), les Landes, le
Loir-et-Cher, la Saône-et-Loire et la Vienne.
The Dividing line started at the north of Genève, passed by Gex, Chalon Sur Saône, overtook Moulins, on the Allier, and rejoined the Cher’s valley, along the right rive by Vierzon, Selles-sur-Cher, Saint-Aignan, Montrichard and Bléré. In our “department” the line divided Dolus-le-Sec, Ciran, Vou and Cussay, but, La Haye-Descartes, Reignac and Azay sur Cher left in the free part
In Touraine, the line was modified two times:
In a first time, the Germans had included Loches but, thanks to Mr Falcoz-Vigne and Mr Rethoret who was the mayor of the town, Loches was evacuated by the Germans on July 12th.
Later, a more important modification was done. On December 15th 1940, the line was brought nearer from La Haye- Descartes, so, now, Chambon, Barrou, La Guerche, Le Grand-Pressigny, Abilly, Neuilly-le-Brignon and Paulmy are in the free part.
a French control-post at Cormery, near Loches.
The passes was only delivered by the Germans. It was very difficult to get the ausweis. It circulated from July 1940, until March 1943. The passes could be obtained for diverse reasons: inhumation or exhumation of an family member, the illness of a parent, children‘s birth, a marriage .... People who lived on or near the line, could obtain ausweis easier than the others French.
Control of the « ausweis »
LOCHES, TURN-TABLE OF CLANDESTINE PASSAGE.
“Loches is the biggest center of the passage of stowaways on the Dividing Line” assert the French authorities in november 1940. A lot of people came to Loches in order to cross the line. Loches was well-named for offering easier possibilities to pass the line without papers but with money. Moreover, the German and French patrols were rare between wide-spaced out control-posts. This “underground” activity raised up the covetousness of the denouncer network. This network helped escaped prisoners or rebellious people in exchange of money, then it denounced them to the Germans. The true ferrymen were mainly farmers who lived near the Dividing line and who helped refugees benevolently, at the risk of their life.
1940
June 22nd : birth of the Dividing Line in the French-German Armistice, signed at Rethondes.
August 9th: All postal services between the two parts are forbidden.
December 13th: Pierre Laval pro-Nazi French Prime minister arrested. The Nazis thought to forbid passages of the Dividing Line by men between 18 to 45 years old.
1942
Allies' landing in North Africa, invasion of the free part by the German troops, French control posts are confiscated.
1943
March 1st: The pass became unnecessary to cross the line. The Dividing Line is opened.
March 3rd: The postal services are re -established on all the territory. The line does not exist on the ground.
1944
July: Official final for the Dividing Line. The line is mentioned for the last time on July 6th.
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