Reflecting their weakening power , the authorities grew more harsh in their punishments . At the village of Ascq , close to Lille 86 people were killed in the Ascq massacre on 1 April 1944 by the 12th Waffen SS Division '' Hitlerjugend '' ( " Hitler Youth " ) in reprisal for resistance attacks on the railroads , the first of many '' villages martyrisés '' of 1944 . Starting on 20 May 1944 , there occurred another major clash between the Germans and the '' maquis '' at Mont Mouchet when the '' maquis '' seized another " redoubt " which led to overwhelming force being brought to bear against them . Émile Coulaudon , the chief of the FFI in the Auvergne believed that continuing inaction was bad for morale and starting on 20 May 1944 began to concentrate the '' maquis '' at Mont Mouchet under the slogan " Free France starts here ! " , gathering about 2,700 men , who formed the Maquis du Mont Mouchet . German attacks forced the Resistance off Mont Mouchet by June , killing about 125 '' maquisards '' and wounding about another 125 with the rest escaping . The Germans burned down several small villages in the Mont Mouchet region and executed 70 peasants suspected of aiding the '' maquis '' . The " résistants " answered by waging a ferocious guerrilla war against the Germans
Ascq massacre
Ascq massacre
French Resistance