Chavant, Eugène

Date of birth:: February 12th, 1894 (Colombe, France)
Date of death:: January 28th, 1969 (Grenoble, France)
Nationality:: French

Biography

In February 1912, he enlisted for three years with the 11th Dragons, then was assigned at his request to the 20th Battalion of hunters in January 1917; sergeant and section chief, he was gassed near Soissons in 1918 and refused to leave the front.

His attitude earned him the receipt of the Military Medal and the Croix de Guerre with three citations.

Demobilized in August 1919, he resumed his profession as a mechanic. SFIO activist, he stood for municipal elections in Saint-Martin-d'Hères near Grenoble and was elected municipal councilor in 1929.

Reelected in 1935, he became first deputy mayor Alexis Jourdan. After the latter's resignation in February 1938, he was elected mayor of the town. He then left the factory and became the owner of a café in Grenoble.

In February 1941, he was dismissed from his post as mayor by the Vichy government. He took part in a first clandestine meeting in the presence of Doctor Léon Martin (former mayor of Grenoble) and Aimé Pupin. He took part in the distribution of the underground newspaper of the Le Populaire socialist party and joined the Franc-Tireur resistance movement in the spring of 1942.

Local manager of "Franc-Tireur" with Aimé Pupin, Jean Perrot and Dr Martin, Chavant is one of the organizers of the Vercors maquis.

Following the first laws on the Service du Travail Obligatoire (STO), he participated in the reception, in December 1942, of the first refractories who were installed at the Ambel farm in the Vercors.

In September 1943, after the arrest of Aimé Pupin, first civilian leader of Vercors, Eugène Chavant was chosen by his comrades to replace him while Commander Le Ray was the military leader of Vercors.

Under the pseudonym "Clément", he continues to welcome refractories at the STO, takes care of security and ensures supplies and transport.

In May 1944, after a first unsuccessful attempt, "Clément", via Corsica, went to Algiers to inquire about the chances of implementation of the "Montagnards" plan developed in 1941 by Pierre Dalloz and Jean Prévost which provided for to use the Vercors plateau as a massive parachuting point for troops and airborne equipment in order to cut off the retreat of the Germans in the event of a landing in Provence. This plan obtained in 1943 the agreement of Jean Moulin and General Delestraint, head of the Secret Army (AS). Chavant meets General de Gaulle and those responsible for fighting France and obtains promises of aid to the Vercors by parachuting.

Back in France by an air operation, he actively participated in the mobilization of the Vercors; it ensures, during the fights of June 15 and 16 which take place in Saint-Nizier, the provisioning in food and ammunition of the survivors. On July 14, under bombardment, he successfully evacuated the women and children of Vassieux-en-Vercors.

On July 21, when two German divisions launched an assault on the Vercors, and 400 SS paratroopers invaded the Vassieux-en-Vercors plateau and the surrounding hamlets, Chavant sent the following telegram to London: "If no help, population and we will judge Algiers as criminals and cowards. I repeat: criminals and cowards. "

Unfortunately two days later, the Germans managed to emerge on the plateau and break through the defenses of the maquisards.

Member of the departmental committee for the Liberation of Isère, Eugène Chavant was appointed mayor of Saint-Martin-d'Hères in September 1944.

On November 5, 1944, during his first visit to liberated Grenoble, General de Gaulle presented the Cross of the Liberation to Eugène Chavant.