On the west side of the road.

An upright stone slab stele inscribed in French text commemorating Bernard Gautier and Robert Spaur who were killed at the site during an ambush. On the top of the stele are the Lorraine Cross followed by badge pictures of the 2 men and an OSS badge in between the pictures. On the back of the stele is a metal plaque that details the incident.

Robert Spaur and Bernard Gautier were members of a fifteen-strong American commando unit (Operational Group PAT) which parachuted into the south Tarn on the night of the 6th of August 1944, as part of an allied plan to disrupt supply lines in southern France prior to D-Day in the South–scheduled for the 15th August.

On patrol, a couple of days after the drop, the group spotted a Nazi motorbike unit heading up from Mazamet towards the small village of Le Rialet to investigate an attack by local maquis–that had succeeded in killing a cow and injuring a German soldier.

The commandos decided to ambush the unit on its way down.

The plan went awry and in the skirmish two Americans, the oldest (Gautier 33) and youngest (Spaur 19), were shot and killed. About a dozen Germans were also killed or wounded.

Source of information: Paris Post 1, robin-ellis.net

Source of images: www.ossreborn.com, corpsfrancsidobre.pagesperso-orange.fr

A LA MEMOIRE

DES HEROS AMERICAINS

GAUTIER BERNARD

ET

SPAUR ROBERT

TOMBES ICI AU COMBAT

DU 12 AOUT 1944

A nos camarades de combat

LE CORPS FRANC DU SIDOBRE

HISTORIQUE AU DOS DE LA STELE

LIEU DU COMBAT A 400 m    BORNE OSS

English translation:

IN MEMORY OF

THE AMERICAN HEROES

GAUTIER BERNARD

AND

SPAUR ROBERT

WHO FELL HERE IN COMBAT

ON AUGUST 12, 1944

To our comrades in the fight

THE CORPS FRANC DU SIDOBRE

HISTORY ON THE BACK OF THE STELE

LOCATION OF THE FIGHT 400 meters FROM HERE