The Maquis Vallier was one of the maquis

Maquis (World War II)

The Maquis were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire to provide forced labour for Germany...

 groups of resistance

French Resistance

The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

 fighters during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. The maquis operated in the north of the Var

Var (département)

The Var is a French department in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in Provence, in southeast France. It takes its name from the river Var, which used to flow along its eastern boundary, but the boundary was moved in 1860...

 département, particularly in the Verdon

Verdon

-Several places in the United States:*Verdon Township, Aitkin County, Minnesota*Verdon, Nebraska*Verdon, South Dakota-Name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Verdon, in the Dordogne département* Verdon, in the Marne département...

 valley.

The maquis Vallier was initially part of the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance

Mouvements Unis de la Résistance

Mouvements Unis de la Résistance was a French Resistance organisation, resulting from the regrouping of three major Resistance movements in January 1943 and also the merger of the military arms of these movements within the Armée secrète . Its committee was headed by Jean Moulin...

(MUR) organization, before becoming the primary structure of the Armée secrète

Armée secrète

The Armée secrète, created in 1943, was an organisation of French resistance fighters during World War II set up by Jean Moulin. It resulted from an amalgamation of three smaller resistance groups:*Combat*Libération-Sud*Franc-Tireur...

(AS) in its zone. In 1944, it was under the authority of the comité départemental de libération

Comité départemental de libération

The Comité départemental de libération was a structure of the French Resistance. In 1944, in each department, the Resistance unified around a civil resistance structure and a military one...

.

The maquis Vallier was led by Louis Picoche. Like many maquis in that region, the maquis Vallier did not participate directly in the liberation of its sector, but joined the Moors

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

 and the coast in August 1944 to support the Provence landings

Operation Dragoon

Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...

.

Sources

• Jean-Marie Guillon, Les années de guerre dans le pays du Verdon varois, in verdon no 6, automne 2001, p 90–104 (French).