4. Battle of Busset
1st Regiment of Algerian Tirailleurs and 2nd Squadron, 1st Cuirassiers Regiment
15-17 December 1944

Brought into action on 14 December 1944, 1st RAT attacked from the lower end of Orbey with the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion and supported by 2nd Squadron, 1st CR.

The farms of Fernand FRÉCHARD and Eugène DIDIERJEAN and the CHRIST farm were bombarded by the French forces and burned or destroyed on 15 December. Held up for three days by fierce resistance, 2nd Battalion, 1st RAT, supported by the armour of 1st CR, gave the assault on 17 December and took the position.

Captain Élie CHABERT, leading the 8th Company entrusted with the final assault, was killed by a mortar round.

The 1st RAT lost more than 70 men killed and nearly 200 wounded in the taking of this strongpoint, solidly held by seasoned and combative German units.

This tree was planted as a memorial to the liberators by the pupils of the Georges Martelot School, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary.

Explanation of military terms
Tirailleur: rifleman