You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in French. (June 2017)Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Maquis des Glières]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|fr|Maquis des Glières}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation.

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Battle of Glières
Part ofSecond World War
Geographic organization of theFrench Resistance showing theHaute-Savoie andRhône-Alpes region in R1
Date 31 January 1944 – 26 March 1944 (1 month, 3 weeks and 5 days) Location Glières Plateau,Bornes Massif,Haute-Savoie,France Result German and Vichy French victory Propaganda boost for French Resistance
Belligerents
French Resistance	Germany Vichy France Milice Groupe mobile de réserve Garde Mobile
Commanders and leaders
Tom Morel † Maurice Anjot †	Karl Pflaum Georges Lelong Jean de Vaugelas Jacques de Bernonville
Strength
c. 450maquisards(including 56 Spanish fighters and 80Francs-tireurs)	Over 1,400 Vichy policemen 700 militia(of theFranc-Gardes) 3,000 German soldiers
Casualties and losses
140 killed or deported	21 killed

TheMaquis des Glières was aFree French Resistance group, which fought against the 1940–1944German occupation of France in World War II. The name is also given to the military conflict that opposed Resistance fighters toGerman,Vichy andMilice forces.^[1][2]

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At the end of 1943, theFrench Resistance in theFrench Alps ofHaute-Savoie needed arms. To find good drop zones to supply the Maquis with arms and sabotage equipment, a mission composed ofRichard Heslop from theSpecial Operations Executive andCaptain Rosenthal from theFree French Forces was sent fromLondon. TheGlières Plateau, a high remote mountain table close toLake Annecy, was chosen.

On 31 January 1944, LieutenantTom Morel, of theChasseurs alpins from the27thchasseurs alpins battalion (mountain light infantry) inAnnecy, was commissioned to collect parachute drops from theRoyal Air Force (RAF) with 100 men. Captain Rosenthal, the Free French representative, persuaded the other staff members to regroup the majority ofmaquisards on the Glières Plateau, to establish a base to attack the Germans and carry out sabotage. Because the Allies doubted the value of the French Resistance, the French considered it a political necessity to show they were capable of undermining German military power in France.

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In January 1944 a state of siege was declared in Haute-Savoie. Anyone found carrying arms or assisting theMaquis was subject to immediate court martial and execution. Hunted by theVichy police and badly supplied, most of the maquisards gathered on the Glières Plateau to set up their base of operations. Soon after, 100 French communist resistants and about 50 Spanish lumberjacks joined forces with them in taking refuge and obtaining weapons. From 13 February the 450 maquisards, under the command of officers from the27e bataillon de chasseurs alpins, were besieged by 2,000 French militia and police. Although they suffered from starvation and freezing conditions, they collected three parachute drops consisting of about 300 containers packed with explosives and small arms, includingSten sub-machine guns,Lee–Enfield rifles,Bren light machine guns andMills bombs (hand grenades).

On the night of 9/10 March the commander-in-chief, Lt Tom Morel, was killed in a skirmish with the Vichy forces. On 12 March, after the largest Allied parachute drop, theGermans started to bomb the area with ground-attack aircraft. TheMilice (French paramilitary police) staged several attacks, which failed. On 23 March three battalions from the German 157th Reserve Division and twoOrder Police battalions, composed of more than 4,000 men, with heavy machine guns, 80 mm mortars, 75 mm mountain guns, 150 mm howitzers and armoured cars, concentrated in Haute-Savoie.

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On 26 March 1944, after another air raid and shelling, the Germans took the offensive. They split their attacking parties into three groups (Kampfgruppen) with an objective for each group. Reconnaissance was carried out by ski patrols dressed in white camouflage. One of the patrols, from aGebirgsjäger (mountain troops) platoon, made an attack on the main exit from the plateau and captured an advance post in the rear. Sustaining the attack from about fifty German soldiers, eighteen maquisards fought and resisted into the night but were outnumbered and overwhelmed, though most of them escaped under cover of darkness. Captain Anjot ordered the Glières battalion to retreat. In the days that followed he and almost all his officers, as well as 120 maquisards, were found dead. They had been killed in battle or, if taken prisoner, had been tortured, shot or deported. The Germans considered the maquisards terrorists.

The region of Savoie had suffered badly, but the defeat was turned into a propaganda victory and gave a boost to the French Resistance in the spring of 1944.

• The Battle of Glières
• National cemetery of the Glieres
• Resistance Museum of Morette La Balme-de-Thuy

• Maquis du Vercors
• Maquis du Mont Mouchet
• French Resistance
• Free French Forces
• French Forces of the Interior
• Liberation of Paris
• Maquis de l'Oisans

45°57′54″N06°20′02″E / 45.96500°N 6.33389°E /45.96500; 6.33389

• French Maquis
• Battles of World War II involving France
• Battles of World War II involving Germany
• Military battles of Vichy France
• Uprisings during World War II
• Guerrilla warfare
• Military history of France during World War II

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