This Tuesday, August 15 at 9:30 AM – Stele of the Ariane Executed Square
The invasion of Provence is a military operation carried out during World War II starting on August 15, 1944, by Allied troops and French armies in the southeastern part of France. The objective of this operation was to create a new front in France; this plan also included destroying the German 19th Army, which was present at the time in southeastern France.
The news of the invasion spread to Nice throughout the day. In retaliation, on that very day, the Nice Gestapo selected 21 resistance fighters from the prisoners in the German wing of the New Prisons. They added two members of the French Popular Party’s Action Groups to this group. Taken to an isolated vacant lot in Ariane, they were executed one after the other.
Today, a commemorative space inaugurated on August 15, 1945, named the Square of the Executed, remembers these executions.
Provence was liberated in two weeks, and Nice was liberated on August 28, 1944.
