Fightings on Chéran at Alby-sur-Chéran
Rhone Defense Sector (SDR) command decided to regroup all its forces behind the two obstacles of rivers Fier and Chéran
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Ville d’Alby
Faced with the advance of German forces, Rhone Defense Sector (SDR) command decided to regroup all its forces behind the two obstacles of rivers Fier and Chéran and ordered the destruction of the bridges located on these two cuts.
The right bank of Chéran was held by 3 Battalion,141 Regional Regiment (141 RR) installed between confluence of Fier and Chéran and south of Alby, with 8th Company facing Saint Marcel and 9th Company facing Héry-sur-Alby.
During the night of 23 to 24 June, the new and old bridges over Chéran at Alby were destroyed by sappers of 2nd Company, 440th Pioneers Regiment (RP), which from the morning of 24 June set up a defensive position facing the left bank, holding the access roads to the town.
German 3 Battalion, 93rd Infantry Regiment (IR-93), left Albens on the morning of 24 June, with the objective of gaining a foothold on the right bank of Chéran by seizing the Rumilly and Alby crossing points.
A strong element reinforced by mortars had the objective of taking Alby and its two bridges.
At around 11 a.m., German reconnaissance parties discovering that the two bridges were destroyed, immediately looked for other possible routes.
At this moment they were shot at by the French pioneers, who had set up on the right bank in the town.
The enemy withdrew to more sheltered positions until early afternoon.
After some mortar fire on French positions, German infantrymen tried to infiltrate through the bottom of Chéran. Spotted, they were repulsed.
Considering the difficulty to break through, German forces first withdrew to the ridges on the left bank, then to Saint-Félix, leaving the right bank under surveillance.
