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Discover the story of Robert Lhuerre, a resistance fighter executed in August 1944 and recognized as Dead for France, told with emotion by his nephew.
©️Geneafinder - Philippe Lhuerre
On the occasion of the European Heritage Days 2025, we wanted to give our readers a voice by launching a call for stories. The idea: highlight family memory through stories of ancestors with unique destinies.
Philippe Lhuerre has been one of the first to respond to our invitation by sharing a moving testimony. In a meticulously documented text full of emotion, he traces the life of his uncle, Robert Lhuerre, a resistance fighter executed in August 1944.
We are honored to publish this story today, which combines family memory and collective history, and reminds us how heritage is also nourished by individual lives.
Enjoy your reading
⚠️ Some images may be disturbing
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Robert Lhuerre, was born on August 5, 1921 in Libreville, Gabon, then a French colony, to colonial civil servants: Lucienne Collotte from Bar-le-Duc in the Meuse, and Conrad Lhuerre from French Guiana.
In 1939, Robert lived with his maternal grandfather in Bar-le-Duc when he enlisted, still a minor, in the Air Force. In January 1940, he was sent to North Africa, to the airbase in La Senia, near Oran, where he served until 1942.
Discharged, he returned to Bar-le-Duc and was employed at the Wheat Distribution Group (National Interprofessional Cereals Office – ONIC), whose offices occupied the second floor of the Grand Bazar de la Gare, on the Boulevard de la Rochelle. Robert came into contact with a network of smugglers as early as 1943, the Possum network, a Belgian network operating in Champagne, tasked with rescuing, sheltering, protecting, and helping Allied airmen whose planes had been shot down during missions leave France.
His professional activity allowed him to travel, a skill he used to escort airmen to Reims by train, passing them off as deaf-mutes.
On June 8, 1944, Robert had an appointment with a British airman, Denys Teare, at the Bazar de la Gare.
The Gestapo entered the building, and Robert only had time to signal to Denys Teare to go up to the top floor, while he went down to meet the Germans. Robert then attempted to jump out of the window, but his colleagues stopped him, as he wouldn’t have survived the fall. He then went to meet the Germans and identified himself as the person they were looking for, hoping that the Gestapo would be satisfied with his capture and not search the premises, which would inevitably lead to Denys Teare’s arrest.
Robert was taken away, handcuffed to his cousin Bernard Collotte, who was also present. They were both transferred to the German prison set up in the former girls' school.
Robert underwent interrogations without speaking until the evening of August 28, 1944.
His last cellmate, Mr. Roger Gauthier, 46 years old in 1944, told in the newspaper L'Est républicain on August 26, 1975: "Tortured, beaten with a whip, he lost hope day by day. His only comfort was the few cakes his fiancée, a young girl living in the Vieille Côte de Behonne (Anne-Marie Mougel), sent him. On August 28, the soldiers came to get him, saying: 'Arbeit Deutschland' (work in Germany). But Robert Lhuerre understood immediately and said to me: 'They're going to shoot me down.' Very upset, he couldn't even lace his shoes. He took his coat under his arm and left... I never saw him alive again."
With four other prisoners, they were taken to two cars and driven to a place called 'La Fédération', a clearing in a small wood at the western exit of the town. As soon as they got out of the vehicles, they were assassinated with a bullet in the head and left on the spot.
At 23, Robert was the oldest; the youngest was only 17.
His four companions in death were:
The Resistance found the bodies the next morning and launched an operation that same day against the prison to free the prisoners still there, fearing that these five victims would be the first in a long series.
The Resistance found the bodies the next morning and launched an operation that same day against the prison to free the prisoners still there, fearing that these five victims would be the first in a long series.
Prison was liberated by the Resistance the next day, with its 42 prisoners including Bernard Collotte. Denys Teare escaped the Gestapo, as Robert hoped, and was eventually freed by the arrival of the Americans on August 31 around 6 PM. A monument was erected in August 1945 and inaugurated on the first anniversary of the massacre, at the site where it took place.
Since then, this memorial ceremony has been held every August 28, and Denys Teare regularly participated for many years in memory of Robert, until his health no longer allowed him to travel. He died in 2015 at the age of 93, after receiving the Legion of Honor in 2014 from the hands of the French ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Robert, recognized as an FFI fighter in 1945, is buried in the military section of the cemetery in Bar-le-Duc, two steps from the starting point of the Voie Sacrée, another symbolic site in Bar-le-Duc. Posthumously, Robert received a citation from the Nation and another from the Army, and was recognized as 'Mort pour la France' by decree.
Citation from the Nation (JO of July 9, 1947): LHUERRE Robert, clerk at the Wheat Distribution Group of the Meuse. Very young agent who actively participated in the Resistance. From the beginning of 1943, he took care of the accommodation and transport of Allied airmen who had fallen in the department of the Meuse. Thus, he managed to escort at least twenty-seven airmen to Reims, whom he handed over to an officer of the Intelligence Service in charge of escorting them to England. He actively took care of the organization of the maquis of the Meuse and participated in numerous arms transports. Arrested by the Gestapo on June 6, 1944 and tortured, he was assassinated on August 28, 1944 with a machine gun bullet behind the ear as he got out of the car without revealing anything about the resistance organization in the sector. His heroic conduct earned him the Military Medal and the War Cross.
He was decorated with the Military Medal, the War Cross 1939-1945 with Bronze Palm, the Resistance Medal, Knight of the Agricultural Merit (his supervising ministry being the Ministry of Agriculture, as an employee of ONIC), Combatant Volunteer of the Resistance Medal, International Resistant Medal, and received the Medal of Freedom, awarded by the President of the United States for enabling the escape of American and Allied airmen.
The story of Robert has been told in various works, the most important of which are:
• The account by Denys Teare in 1953, titled "Evader" (not published in France), and reissued later (Air Data Publications Ltd 1996).
• The work by Jean-Pierre Harbulot, historian: "Bar-le-Duc 1944-1945 Occupation Resistance Liberation" published by Dossiers documentaires meusiens in 2015 (ISBN 978-2-9537142-6-5).
We also mention the work by Charles Richez "A Almost Ordinary Life" published by Éditions du Barrois in 1995. Memories and documents related to Robert Lhuerre are displayed at the Eden Camp Modern History Theme Museum, Malton, North Yorkshire, YO17 6RT, England.
A street in Bar-le-Duc bears the name of Robert Lhuerre, which passes in front of the 1945 commemorative monument. If you pass by, pause in front of this monument, rue Robert Lhuerre, in Bar-le-Duc (55).
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