Cirey-sur-Vezouze

Commune in Grand Est, France

Coat of arms

Location of Cirey-sur-Vezouze

(2021–2026) Jean-Claude Bazin^[1]Area

16.39 km² (6.33 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

1,587 • Density97/km² (250/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

54129 /54480

Elevation273–393 m (896–1,289 ft)
(avg. 260 m or 850 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Cirey-sur-Vezouze (French pronunciation: [siʁɛ syʁ vəzuz], literally Cirey on Vezouze) is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in north-eastern France.

History

During the Second World War, a Royal Canadian Air Force Lancaster Bomber was forced to crash land near Cirey-sur-Vezouze after a bombing raid on Stuttgart. Three of the crew were killed in the crash landing with a further two airmen (including Flight Sergeant Fordham) being apprehended, taken into the nearby forest and summarily executed by German forces. Three war graves lay in Cirey-sur-Vezouze's graveyard^{[citation needed]}, with the shallow graves in the forest being discovered and exhumed by a team led by Major Eric Barksworth.^[3]

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 1 February 2022.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
^ Lewis. SAS Nazi Hunters: The Ultra-Secret Unit and the Hunt for Hitler's War Criminals (Quercus, London (2015)).