Gennes is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Maine-et-Loire

Maine-et-Loire

Maine-et-Loire is a department in west-central France, in the Pays de la Loire region.- History :Maine-et-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. Originally it was called Mayenne-et-Loire, but its name was changed to Maine-et-Loire in 1791....

 department in western France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

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History

Gennes was the scene of a World War II battle

Battle of Saumur (1940)

The Battle of Saumur occurred during the last stages of the Battle of France during World War II, when officer cadets from the Cavalry School at Saumur, led by superintendent Colonel Michon, made a defensive stand along the Loire River at Saumur and Gennes...

 in June 1940, during the last stages of the Battle of France

Battle of France

In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...

. The French casualties, seventeen Cadets of the Cadre noir Saumur Cavalry school, killed between 17 and 20 June 1940, are buried in the enclosure of the 11th century Saint-Eusèbe church built over an ancient Gallo-Roman sanctuary, on a hilltop overlooking the scene of their sacrifice.

The castle of Milly-le-Meugon

Milly-le-Meugon

Milly-le-Meugon is a village now attached to the city of Gennes, Maine-et-Loire department, France. It is also the site of a castle, which also belonged to the Maillé-Brézé family, a notable family of the French nobility with close ties to King Louis XIII's powerful minister, the Cardinal...

, in its vicinity, was the property of the Maillé-Brézé family, closely related to the French royal family through the First Prince of the Blood

Prince du Sang

A prince of the blood was a person who was legitimately descended in the male line from the monarch of a country. In France, the rank of prince du sang was the highest held at court after the immediate family of the king during the ancien régime and the Bourbon Restoration...

, Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé

Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé

Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé was a French general and the most famous representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon. Prior to his father's death in 1646, he was styled the Duc d'Enghien...

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External links

• http://www.tourisme.fr/office-de-tourisme/gennes.htm (in French)