| It was around the village of VASSIEUX, 10km south of La Chapelle, that the fighters of the Vercorsmaquis suffered a bloody and bitter defeat at the hands of the SS in July 1944. During 1942–43 they had been gradually turning the Vercors into a Resistance stronghold, to the annoyance of the Germans who finally, in June 1944, decided to wipe them out. They encircled and attacked the maquisards with vastly superior forces and parachuted an SS division into Vassieux. The French appealed in vain for Allied support and were very bitter about the lack of response. The Germans took vicious reprisals and, despite their attempts to disperse into the woods, 700 maquisards and civilians were killed and several villages razed. The Germans' most ferocious act was to murder the wounded, along with their nurses and doctors, in the Grotte de la Luire, a cave off the La Chapelle–Col de Rousset road. Vassieux itself, a dull little village now rebuilt, has a memorial cemetery and small museum, the Memorial de la Résistance du Vercors (April–Sept daily 10am–6pm; Oct–March 10am–5pm; €4), with documents, photos and other memorabilia to do with the maquis and the battle. In the field outside are the remains of two gliders used by the German paratroops. Also near the town, the Musée de la Préhistoire (same times and price) is built over the site of a 4000-year-old flint mine and axe works, and contains various tools and relics which have been found there. If you want to stay, try the comfortable Hôtel Allard in rue Abbé Gagnol (tel 04.75.48.28.04, fax 04.75.48.26.90; €55–70).
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