General Paul Ducournau Bridge

Located near the entrance to the Vitria stadium, the sign was unveiled in 1994 for the 50th anniversary of the Allied landings in Provence.

He recalls that the 1st African commando, led by Captain Ducournau, reached La Londe on the evening of August 17th.

The 1st African Commando under the command of Captain Ducournau seized Cap Nègre on the night of August 14-15, 1944, after destroying the German batteries.
The commandos liberated Le Lavandou on the 16th, Bormes on the 17th and reached La Londe on the evening of August 17th alongside soldiers of the 3rd American Infantry Division.

On August 18, 1944, the African commando group crossed the Pansard, took over the Château de la Pascalette, the Kommandantur headquarters abandoned by the Germans, and reached the level crossing where the American tanks met the first shots from the 15 cm batteries of the Kriegsmarine from the Mauvanne battery.

The 1st commando unit was sent on a reconnaissance mission by Colonel Bouvet.
Captain Ducournau and his commandos heroically captured the bunkers, but with heavy losses. Of the 60 commandos, 5 were killed and 25 were wounded.
Enemy losses amounted to 50 wounded or killed. The 100 survivors were taken prisoner.

Corporal Jackie Boisdron, a 20-year-old Frenchman from North Africa, the first to be killed at Mauvanne, rests in the municipal cemetery of La Londe. Decorated on the Isle of Elba, he was the youngest recipient of the Military Medal in France.
The wounded French and Germans and the prisoners were gathered at the cooperative winery before their evacuation to the fort of Brégançon and Le Lavandou and then Italy.

On the same day, the young man from Londe, Joseph Spada, signed his commitment to the commandos. He was killed on November 20th during the assault on Mont Salbert at a place called La Forêt in the commune of Châlonvillars (70) near the village of Cravanche (90).

From La Londe on the evening of August 19, 1944, the African commandos reached Cuers in vehicles of the 1st Free French Division. They had just received orders to seize Fort Coudon, which they took on August 21 at 5 p.m., opening the way for French troops to liberate Toulon.

In one week, Captain Ducournau, at the head of his commandos, carried out three outstanding actions.
In his diary, General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny described the capture of Mauvanne as a fantastic feat.

Captain Paul Ducournau, after the Alsace campaign where he was wounded, surrounded and narrowly escaped certain death, entered Germany by crossing the Rhine at Village Neuf.
As a Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded the 3rd Colonial Parachute Battalion in Indochina (Lang Son), then the 25th Parachute Division in Algeria (Constantinois) during Operation Turquoise.

In 1967, as a Lieutenant General and military governor of Metz, he was seriously injured during an inspection; a helicopter blade accidentally ended his exemplary military career. He died in 1985.