A hundred years later, who remembers Les Poilus? Having left without return in the summer of 1914, active soldiers and infantrymen came out of the trenches to fall by the hundreds of thousands under enemy bullets. Germany had just declared war on France. This end of 2024, the vast majority of cities in France are celebrating the centenary of their war memorial.
Engaged with bayonets and not guns, the fighters of the First World War will not fade into oblivion. A century after their construction, most of France's war memorials are resisting abandonment. Restored, sometimes moved by the municipalities which own them and are financially supported by Souvenir Français, these buildings do not suffer from indifference. Even more so, as over time, the mayors have completed the list of the deceased, annexing the victims of the Second World War, those of Algeria and Indochina as well as the OPEX, these external operations carried out secretly by the elite of the French Army.
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Centenary of war memorials: “In the cemeteries of Aude, private companies are taking over the abandoned graves of soldiers and razing them to create space” denounces Souvenir Français
Aline Morcillo – Aline Morcillo
Historians, genealogists or simple anonymous enthusiasts are more and more numerous in surveying cemeteries in search of registration numbers and photos, in search of missing soldiers. Or lost in the division of land registers. Or never registered alongside their comrades in the trenches. Fault, also, of the Spanish flu which raged in 1918 and 1919. Others for having succumbed later to their war wounds or suicides. Find all these fighters who don't appear anywhere.
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Centenary of war memorials: “The Pyrénées-Orientales, 2nd most bereaved department of France in 14-18”, testifies military historian Renaud Martinez
Faced with this new craze for historical heritage, some municipalities, whose names the military historian Renaud Martinez prefers to keep quiet, are advocating the destruction of these works on the grounds of the horror of war.” This forgets that in 1914, the majority of soldiers were not military, 99% did not want to go, they went to the front out of patriotism. And, in 1940-1945 which left 644,000 dead in France, half were civilians, women and children”replies Renaud Martinez. Calling on all citizens to participate in the centenary ceremonies of the war memorials, extended until 2025. To share, transmit and sing “Never again”.
France
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