​​Memorial to the martyrs of 11 June 1944

After the message broadcast on the BBC on 5 June 1944, "The mermaids have long bleached hair", groups of resistance fighters from the former Pas-de-Calais region attempted to join the maquis in the Ardennes. The aim was to block the German retreat following the landings in Normandy. A large number of Resistance fighters from all over the region, from the Artois to the mining basin, were called up.

It was then that young members of the FUJP, Forces Unies de La Jeunesse Patriotique, gathered in the village of Bapalmes. Some of them stopped at Mr Chevalier's farm in Haplincourt to wait for fellow fighters. But they were very quickly spotted, and German troops surrounded the building and opened fire. The Resistance fighters responded by throwing grenades, however, due to a lack of ammunition, by around 21:00pm the young fighters were arrested and lined up with their hands behind their heads. The German soldiers fired at them and only two Resistance fighters escaped, although they died shortly afterwards. The dead youngsters were carelessly left on the ground.

After the war, a monument paying tribute to these Resistance fighters was erected in Haplincourt, inaugurated on 16 June 1946.The names engraved on this monument are:

BAILLON Michel 

MORTREUX Raymond 

SARAMAGNA Henri 

VASSEUR Roger 

DUBUS Jean 

LEVEL Roger 

PETIT Paul