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Saint-Floret lies at the foot of cliffs 27 km SSW of Clermont-Ferrand; its inhabitants were expecting trouble after the Maquis had attacked a German convoy and wounded an officer. Spotter planes had been overhead from early on the 29th, the men had hidden in the woods and there had been heavy rain overnight. Now at 06.00 [local] the sound of low-flying aircraft impelled at least one family to dress hurriedly and dash for their cellars. For about three quarters of an hour, bombs fell in sticks of three interspersed with strafing. In the words of one witness: [The bombs] meant for us were the last to fall. The rock must have got in the way of the plane’s manoeuvre [because] they missed us by a metre: one in the angle of the big archway, the other on the small house we’d bought and the third under the office window. All the doors and windows … were snatched and the partitions shaken by the blast. None of the projectiles hit us … what troubled us most was the smothering, we were full of dust to an unimaginable degree and didn’t dare put out a hand to the nearby tap for something to drink … As soon as the bombing stopped, we climbed the stairs after a fashion — [they were] covered in debris — and rapidly filled a small suitcase with clothes and money in order to flee. We were convinced that our six bombers had gone to reload and would come back. The damage was extensive — 18 houses destroyed in the neighbourhood of the old fort — and 10 villagers were killed; an unexploded bomb was found beneath the bridge. German troops soon arrived, looted the houses and shot or deported another nine people. On 30 June 1944 the village of Saou was demolished in a bombardment by Nazi aircraft. Fifteen people met their deaths. For its participation in the Resistance, Saou received the Croix de Guerre. Saou War Memorial Albrecht Bellstedt of 2./ZG 1 undertook a flight against the Maquis though his assigned target is not recorded (Bellstedt was still at Châteauroux on 13 July but it is not known whether he flew more sorties in the interim). The III./SG 4 detachment in Valence contacted the Gruppenstab, asking for an operations order. At 11.35 hours, 16 Fw 190s took off on III./SG 4's last mission in the French interior, one aircraft losing its SC 500 bomb in the process. Thirty-five minutes later they dive-bombed two small villages east and south east of Valence: Léoncel and Saou. The 15 bombs dropped were reported to be well on target, with the former village damaged and the latter destroyed. In Saou 15 people died, only two of them FFI members, and 20 were injured. The bombs and the fires they started destroyed 15 houses and the vaulted nave of the 12th century parish church of Sainte Marie. The pilots saw no traffic on the roads during their mission and all returned safely to Clermont at 13.00 hours. It seems as if only a part of the Gruppe was involved in this mission: the 7. Staffel appears to have remained in Conches until 1 July; returning aircraft landed in Clermont-Ferrand and Avord is not mentioned; Avord’s resident 9. Staffel had seven serviceable aircraft but no operationally ready pilots that day. (The Staffel’s full figures were: 11 (7) Fw 190 and 11 (0) pilots). At 16.00 hrs. Geschwader Bongart gave orders to prepare for III./SG 4's transfer to the Eastern Front. At 22.30 hrs., Ltn. Klepke at Avord advised the Gruppe that the airfield was serviceable. The diary of III./SG 4 sums up the unit’s part in the war against the French Resistance: 5 operations with 59 machines. Bombs dropped with good effect in the following villages: Beaufort, Plan de Paix, Le Chaffal, La Vacherie, Gigors et Lozeron, La Rochette, Ourches, Vincent [?], St. Nazaire, St. Jean de Royans, Pont en Royans, Saou, Léoncel. Bongart’s 13. Staffel was reported to be ready for operations from its new base of Lissay-Lochy, 10 km south of Bourges, the first time that Bletchley Park had heard of this particular unit. The Geschwader also reported stocks of 48,110 litres of B4 fuel. At 15.15 hrs. the Geschwader’s Ops. Officer told an unspecified Gruppe to rest and to submit a report on results. Also that afternoon, Luftflotte 3’s Operations Officer (Air), Hptm. Gräber, told an unknown recipient that operations for “Commandant Army area” were permitted and would be carried out according to the state of forces, “in direct agreement with Geschwader Bongart, Bourges.” The strength on 30 June of “III. and IV./Fl. Zielg. 2 combined as ‘Geschwader Bongart’” was reported as:
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