August 16 is a day of reverence in France for the execution on that date in 1944 — just days ahead of the allied liberation of Paris — of 35 young Francs Tireurs partisans.
In a dastardly operation, a French collaborator known as “Jacques” — actually Guy Glebe d’Eu, who was himself executed after the war — who had insinuated himself into resistance networks lured the youths, all aged about 18 to 22, to a purported weapons-smuggling operation. They were unarmed when they arrived, but the Gestapo was not.
By nightfall the victims were being lined up at in the Bois de Boulogne and shot. The site today is marked by a stately monument that hosts public memorials every August 16.

(cc) image by Remi Jouan.
“Pass this oak with respect: it bears the scars of the balls that slew our martyrs.” (cc) image by Mickael Denet.
On this day..
- 1820: Rebecca Worlock, arsenic poisoner
- 1794: Charles-Louis Richard
- 1704: Roland Laporte, posthumously, and five aides, humously
- 1943: Gunnar Eilifsen, good cop
- 1817: Not Hall or Read, prosecuted for blood-money
- 1883: Ah Yung
- 2001: Jeffrey Doughtie, "It started with a needle and it is ending with a needle"
- 1527: Leonhard Kaiser, Lutheran
- 1851: Col. William Logan Crittenden, nephew of the Attorney General
- 1878: Max Hödel
- 1972: Mohamed Oufkir
- 1894: Sante Geronimo Caserio, anarchist assassin
When was Guy glebe D eu caught and executed