War Memorial French SAS Paratroopers

On April 8, 1945, 700 French SAS paratroopers landed near Westdorp. They were deployed in the large-scale operation "Amherst". Fifteen paratroopers landed in Westdorp, of which 4 were injured and 3 were killed.

The names of the victims are: Serge Levasseur, Albert Le Saux and René Péron.

Background
Stick 11 (led by 2nd Lieutenant André Simon and aspiring Lieutenant Bornhauser) consists of a mixed bag of soldiers, with experience in previous British SAS actions and former resistance fighters from the Orleans area.

This stick departs from Rivenhall (GB) at 20:34 and after a few hours of flying the French paratroopers are dropped six kilometers southwest of the planned DZ. The stick is complete and the containers with stuff are found quickly. The stick moves southeast and in the early morning they reach a farm near Westdorp. The officers Simon and Bornhauser try to clarify their position and the sergeant (Pierre) Matern arranges security around the farm. After a few minutes, the two officers return to the farm with a German prisoner. The nearby bridge, with access to Westdorp, is defended by about 20 Germans.

Meanwhile, a farmer alerts the Germans, who send out a patrol from Westdorp in the direction of the farm. Sgt Matern gives the order to fire. The KPLs Péron and Besnard fire their guns and force the Germans to take cover in a ditch. ALt Bornhauser manages to kill a German officer.

A detachment of Fallschirmjäger soon arrives as reinforcements, the fighting intensifies and the pressure on the French paratroopers increases. Soon the first is injured; sld Usseglio. After this, the KPLs Le Saux and Péron and the SLD Lavasseur are killed. The wounded Cpl Allin and Sld Dupuis manage to escape together with the Cpl Guérin and finally reach stick 13 of Lt André Varnier. The other members also manage to escape except for the wounded soldiers Usseglio and Delasalle and the CPL Besnard. They are captured and go via Borger to the hospital in Assen to end up in the German military naval hospital in Wesermünde on April 14.

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Source

• Text: Bert Deelman
• Photos: Bert Deelman
• Achtergrond: Cornelis Reijntjes