Thursday June 15 at 8:30 p.m. at the Cordeliers cinema in Albi, the young Tarn historian Yann Roques presents his documentary on the bombardment of a German column on August 19, 1944 in the Tarn.
“I was born in Lombers. When I was young, there was this phrase that always came back: – in Mousquette, the English planes bombed the German colony for 30 minutes – it made a big impression on people here but there is little in the writings…” It was enough for Yann Roques, a young historian and videographer of 34 years, to decide to make a documentary on this Saturday August 19, 1944 in Mousquette, a small hamlet 7 km from Réalmont. This day or nearly 1,800 Germans, fleeing Albi released by the current departmental road 612, to join Castres still occupied, were bombarded by 7 Mosquitos, English bombers of the Royal Air Force each carrying 900 kg of bombs. The title of the future documentary was all found: “The day the sky fell on Mousquette”. To tell this story, Yann Roques, screenwriter and François Sers, director of SAS Bon sens production in Albi, found and interviewed, in July 2022, the last witnesses of this Tarn episode of the Second World War. Like Yvette Cavaillès, 20 years old at the time. “She has an incredible, funny peach, a sparkling eye. She lived in the Boudrette hamlet, just above Mousquette. That day she saw the planes arrive, like in the cinema. She attended “the backfire “as she says” says Yann Roques. There was also Renée Calcel, now Mrs. Jean Chabbal, then 9 years old but who has forgotten nothing of the time when she lived in the café-restaurant of her grandfather Eugène, a hundred meters from the current brand Le Rouge et Noir.
Renée recounts a war crime
“A German officer enters, asks for water. After a few turns of the pump… more water. My grandfather points out a well to him” recounts as if it were yesterday the granddaughter of the innkeeper, who will be without reason killed in the back. The only summary execution of that day. “It’s a very moving moment in the documentary when Renée recounts this real war crime”.
The column of fugitives was spread over 2 km in length. “In Réalmont, people said that there weren’t many Germans, a few in the countryside to find food, but that’s all” says Yann Roques in his documentary. “They had received the order to go towards Castres to join Provence and counter the landing” continues the young historian. Warned by the Tarn guerrillas of the sudden desertion of Albi, the RAF will not give quarters.
Photos found 78 years later
The next day August 19, only a thousand Germans will arrive in Castres. History does not say how many perished. Many escaped across fields and some stayed on nearby farms. “My great-grandfather helped bury the dead and the animals, in a field near Mousquette” testifies the filmmaker from Tarn. “What shocked people the most were the many horses, donkeys, mules and oxen that the Germans had stolen, taken with them and died under the bombs. The animals were more valuable to them than the Germans.”
After a year of filming, interviewing, voiceover and editing. With the rare photographs of this episode, three of which were found barely 6 months ago, where we see Germans dragging bicycles and strollers containing everything they could have finally produced his documentary. It lasts 52 minutes and will be screened on Thursday June 15 at 8:30 p.m. at the CGR des Cordeliers cinema in Albi. A real cinema for a true story. “I wanted to put Mousquette in the history book” summarizes Yann Roques. Obviously for this regular on the You tube channel with his video series “Knowledge is a duty”.