The Glade of the Armistice (french: Clairière de l'Armistice) is a French national and
war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
in the
Forest of Compiègne
The Forest of Compiègne (french: Forêt de Compiègne, ) is a large forest in the region of Picardy, France, near the city of Compiègne and approximately north of Paris.
The forest is notable as the site of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 b ...
in
Picardy,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, near the city of
Compiègne
Compiègne (; pcd, Compiène) is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. It is located on the river Oise. Its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois''.
Administration
Compiègne is the seat of two cantons:
* Compiègne-1 (with 19 ...
approximately north of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
It was built at the location where the Germans signed the
Armistice of 11 November 1918
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
that ended
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. During World War II,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
chose the same spot for the French and Germans to sign the
Armistice of 22 June 1940
The Armistice of 22 June 1940 was signed at 18:36 near Compiègne, France, by officials of Nazi Germany and the Third French Republic. It did not come into effect until after midnight on 25 June.
Signatories for Germany included Wilhelm Keitel ...
after Germany won the
Battle of France. The site was destroyed by the Germans but rebuilt after the war.
Today, the Glade of the Armistice contains a statue of World War I French military leader and Allied supreme commander
Marshal Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general and military theorist who served as the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. An aggressive, even reckless commander at the First Marne, Flanders and Ar ...
, and the reconstructed
Alsace-Lorraine memorial, depicting a
German Eagle
The coat of arms of Germany displays a black eagle with a red beak, a red tongue and red feet on a golden field, which is blazoned: ''Or, an eagle displayed sable beaked langued and membered gules''. This is the (German for "Federal Eagle"), for ...
impaled by a sword.
History
The
Armistice of 11 November 1918
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed at Le Francport near Compiègne that ended fighting on land, sea, and air in World War I between the Entente and their last remaining opponent, Germany. Previous armistices ...
was signed in one of the rail carriages ("
Le Wagon de l'Armistice") of Foch's private train in
Rethondes. The carriage was
Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits
Newrest Wagons-Lits, formerly (lit. ''International Sleeping-Car Company''), also CIWL, Compagnie des Wagons-Lits, or just Wagons-Lits, is a division of particularly known for its on-train catering and sleeping car services, as well as being ...
(CIWL) No. 2419D.
Foch had convened the armistice talks deep in the forest beside the small village of Rethondes, because he wanted to shield the meeting from intrusive journalists,
as well as spare the German delegation any hostile demonstrations by French locals.
The carriage was put back into regular service with the Compagnie des Wagons-Lits, but after a short period it was withdrawn to be attached to the French presidential train. From April 1921 to April 1927, it was on exhibition in the
Cour des Invalides in Paris.
![William Shirer at Compiègne France 1940 06 22](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/William_Shirer_at_Compi%C3%A8gne_France_1940_06_22.jpg)
In November 1927, this carriage was ceremonially returned to the forest in the exact spot where the Armistice was signed, a part of the newly constructed monument the Glade of the Armistice. Marshal Foch, General
Weygand and many others watched it being placed in a specially constructed building, near, but not on, the exact place of the signing.
There it remained, a monument to the defeat of Imperial Germany and the triumph of France, until 22 June 1940, when German staff cars bearing
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
,
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
,
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (; 22 September 188216 October 1946) was a German field marshal and war criminal who held office as chief of the '' Oberkommando der Wehrmacht'' (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's Armed Forces, duri ...
,
Joachim von Ribbentrop and others swept into the ''Clairière'' and, in that same carriage, having been moved back to the 1918 signing-place, the World War II
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...
with France was signed; this time with Germany triumphant.
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
war correspondent
William Shirer
William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly w ...
, who afterwards wrote the book ''
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany'' is a book by American journalist William L. Shirer in which the author chronicles the rise and fall of Nazi Germany from the birth of Adolf Hitler in 1889 to the end of World W ...
'', was present, and wrote of Hitler's reaction to seeing the monument:
"Through my glasses I saw the Führer stop, glance at the lsace-Lorrainemonument. ... Then he read the inscription on the great granite block in the center of the clearing: Here on the eleventh of November 1918 succumbed the criminal pride of the German empire ... vanquished by the free peoples which it tried to enslave." I look for the expression on Hitler's face. I am but fifty yards from him and see him through my glasses as though he were directly in front of me. I have seen that face many times at the great moments of his life. But today! It is afire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph. He steps off the monument and contrives to make even this gesture a masterpiece of contempt. He glances back at it contemptuous, angry. ... Suddenly, as though his face were not giving quite complete expression to his feelings, he throws his whole body into harmony with his mood. He swiftly snaps his hands on his hips, arches his shoulders, plants his feet wide apart. It is a magnificent gesture of defiance, of burning contempt.
Destruction of the armistice site in Compiègne
![Clairiere de l'Armistice 2 Compiegne](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Clairiere_de_l%27Armistice_2_Compiegne.jpg)
The Armistice site was demolished on Hitler's orders three days after the signing of the 1940 armistice.
The carriage itself was taken to
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
as a trophy of war, along with pieces of a large stone tablet which bore the inscription (in French):
The Alsace-Lorraine monument was also destroyed and all evidence of the site was obliterated, with the notable exception of the statue of Marshal Foch: Hitler intentionally ordered it to be left intact, so that it would be honouring only a wasteland.
The railway carriage itself was later exhibited in Berlin. After the Allied advance into Germany in early 1945, the carriage was removed by the Germans for safe-keeping to the town of
Crawinkel
Crawinkel is a village and a former municipality in the district of Gotha, Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it is part of the town Ohrdruf. Crawinkel was first mentioned in 1088.
After the Armistice with France in 1940, during World War ...
in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and lar ...
, but as an American armoured column entered the town, the detachment of the
SS guarding it destroyed it by fire and buried the remains. Some pieces were however preserved by a private person; they are also exhibited at Compiègne.
After the war, the Compiègne site was restored by German POW labour. On
Armistice Day
Armistice Day, later known as Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth and Veterans Day in the United States, is commemorated every year on 11 November to mark the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, Fran ...
, 1950, a replacement carriage was re-dedicated: an identical Compagnie des Wagon-Lits carriage, No. 2439, built in 1913 in the same batch as the original and also part of Foch's private train during the 1918 signing, was renumbered No. 2419D.
References
External links
Mémorial de l'ArmisticeOfficial site
{{World War I War Memorials in France
World War I memorials in France
Treaty signing historic sites
Compiègne