#Monument
Stele of Captain Jeanpierre
The memorial marks the spot where Captain Jeanpierre was killed on July 18, 1943, while attempting to leave occupied France to join the Liberation Army in North Africa. He was part of a group that was taken in charge at the Loustalot Hotel in Oloron and betrayed by their smuggler.
Taken in charge by the smuggler Del Estal, the group of six people had stopped at the Loustalot hotel. In the middle of the night, they set off again. After walking for 45 minutes, the guide told them to stay close together because the path was less visible.
Lieutenant d'Alnoncourt gave the order to reduce the distance between them but not to regroup. A few minutes later, gunshots rang out amid the barking of dogs. “Four German soldiers were already on top of me,” recounted d'Alnoncourt. "I heard the sound of running feet and several bursts of machine-gun fire. My comrades who were following me tried to flee. But the ambush was well planned, and we were surrounded. We were regrouped, but Captain Jeanpierre was missing." Sergeant Bucher was also killed.
This was not the first ambush. A first convoy, also led by the smuggler Del Estal, had been stopped on the night of July 13-14, near Saint-Christau. The Germans were waiting for them hidden behind an embankment.
Of the twelve people in the two convoys, two were killed in the ambushes and the others were deported to Germany. Seven died in the camps, including the three Montel brothers. Del Estal is believed to have denounced 29 people between May and July 1943. He was shot after trial in 1946.