Tata of Chasselay

From 19 to 20 June 1940, in Chasselay, the Senegalese colonial troops (also called Senegalese Tirailleurs) of the French army delayed the entry of German troops into Lyon, declared an "open city" on 18 June.

On 17 June, the defence was organised in Chasselay, a village about fifteen kilometres north-west of Lyon. Barricades were erected, thanks to soldiers of the 405th RADCA of Sathonay, the 25th Senegalese infantry regiment, legionnaires (2 of them rest in the tata) and also with the help of civilians.

Having met very little resistance from Dijon, the Germans arrived on June 19, near the Montluzin convent in Lissieu. Heavy and violent fighting between German and French troops resulted in 51 deaths, including one civilian on the French side, and more than 40 wounded for the Germans. When the Senegalese tirailleurs had run out of ammunition and surrendered, they were ordered to a nearby field. The French officers were led aside and told to lie face down. Then the Senegalese were ordered to assemble in front of two German tanks, and told to run away. As they ran, the tanks opened fire on the Tirailleurs with machine guns, and then drove over the dead and wounded. A German soldier then walked over to one of the white French officers and shot and wounded him; but otherwise they were left unharmed. German officers specifically ordered French civilians living nearby not to bury the murdered soldiers, but instead to let them rot in the open. However, the civilians, who also sheltered a handful of Senegalese who managed to escape, buried the bodies in a mass grave overnight.

After the armistice, Chasselay was in the unoccupied zone. Accordingly, it was not subject to the general rule in occupied France that no memorial might be erected to black soldiers. Jean Marchiani, who held the position of General Secretary of the Departmental Office of disabled ex-servicemen, veterans and victims of war heard about the massacre He decided to bring together the bodies of the African soldiers, some of whom were buried in local cemeteries while others were often simply left to lay in ditches in the middle of the countryside. After identifying the villages where bodies were buried, Jean Marchiani bought a plot of land in Chasselay, near the locality of Vide-Sac where 50 Senegalese prisoners were shot by the enemy, and raised funds for the erection of the cemetery. He was backed by General Doyen, former commander of the Army of the Alps, and Senegal Deputy Calendou Diouf.

The inauguration took place on 8 November 1942, three days before the invasion of the unoccupied zone by the Germans.

The building, entirely red ochre, consists of tombstones surrounded by a rectangular enclosure 2.8 metres high. Its porch and its four corners are surmounted by pyramids covered with piles. The solid oak clerestory gate is decorated with eight African masks.

Dirt from Dakar has been brought by plane, to mix it with French soil.