Stepan Kotsur heroically died sixty years ago in a battle for France's liberation from the Nazi. Kotsur's brother in arms, Oleg Ozerov, head of the Combatants Volontaires association of Resistance veterans, told us about Kotsur's eventful life.
In late March 1944, he fled the Nazi camp and joined the guerrilla detachment Maquis de Lorette.
"In August 1944," Ozerov recalls, "our detachment and other Resistance detachments were fighting for Langon occupied by the SS Reich division. The Nazi wanted to get to Bordeaux to enter the sea port but we did not let them in."
During a severe battle near the railway station, Ozerov continues, Kotsur received an order to stop the Nazi machinegun that prevented guerrillas from launching an offensive.
"Kotsur began to snake towards the target, with short runs. When he approached the machinegun, he threw a grenade at it, and the machinegun hushed. The guerrillas began the offensive but the machine gun suddenly resumed fire. Then Kotsur opened fire from a submachine gun, and then threw himself at the machinegun," Ozerov recalls.
On Tuesday, the two countries' flags were hoisted, and French and Russian anthems were played. The municipal authorities and residents of Langon paid tribute to the Russian participant in the Resistance, who sacrificed his life for France's liberation.
The Maquis de Lorette included 12 Russian guerrillas, including Kotsur and Ozerov. In all, over 30,000 ethnic Russians fought in the French Resistance.
