General de Gaulle created the Order of the Lib In 1965, General de Gaulle, the President of the Republic, decided that the Order of the Liberation would be located in the Invalides, an important place of national military remembrance. Five years later, the Museum of the Order of the Liberation opened to the public.

In thirty years the unquestionable prestige of the Order has allowed a great wealth of collections to be assembled in a single place. Its magnificence owes much to the diversity of the 1,061 Companions of the Liberation, which unites all sectors of the active resistance movement, bringing together teachers and military chaplains, African tirailleurs and Army Generals, students and workers, as well as 18 fighting units and 5 French towns. These collections - comprising mainly of personal objects and documents donated by the companions and their families - bear witness to their commitment and the ordeals they endured. A veritable showcase of the Order, the museum has more than 4,000 items in its permanent collection which, covering three areas (the France libre, the Resistance movement on the home front and the Deportation), illustrate the companions' journeys. Although several objects are remarkable because of their rarity, they are equally so because of the people to whom they are linked. Of particular note are Jean Moulin's civilian clothes and sub-prefect uniform, the would-be Commander General Leclerc's jacket, pennants taken from the enemy on the battlefields of Africa and Europe, Pierre-Henri Clostermann's flying jacket, the first flags of the France Libre's navy, original drawings made in the concentration camps and secret pamphlets, diaries and radio sets etc.
The museum's main hall is devoted to General de Gaulle, the founder and Grand Master of the Order. It houses personal objects, all of his French and foreign decorations, his only surviving full uniform and some of his most important war manuscripts, amongst which is the original text for the "A tous les Français" (calling all French people) poster, which was given UNESCO status in 2005. As a museum of objects, the Museum of the Order of the Liberation is an obvious complement to the renovated Museum of the Army and the Charles de Gaulle History Museum, a thoroughly modern concept, based uniquely on images and sound. A place of remembrance and history As the companions gradually die, the museum has become the focus for the Order of the Liberation's remembrance work. Because of its good position in the Invalides, it receives an average of 100,000 visitors a year and has developed several educational programmes (preparing for the national competition of the Resistance movement and the Deportation, commentated tours for 3rd, 1st and final year pupils and questionnaires for primary school pupils etc.). A place of remembrance and history, the museum is also a research and documentation centre, managing the Order's archives and the companions of the Liberation's files, a library (4,000 titles) and a photographic library (10,000 photographs). The Museum is also on the internet, thanks to the Order's website, where of particular interest is a biographical note on each Companion of the Liberation as well as a selection of some of the most significant objects and documents from the Museum's collections
Museum of the Order of the Liberation Visitor reception and tickets through the Museum of the Army Hôtel national des Invalides 129, rue de Grenelle (northern entrance) or Place Vauban (southern entrance) Telephone & fax: + 33 (0)1 47 05 04 10 Email: musee@ordredelaliberation.fr Opening times (cash desks close I hour earlier) From the 1st April to the 30th September: Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm, Sundays and Bank Holidays from 10 am to 6.30 pm From the 1st October to the 31st March: Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, Sundays and Bank Holidays from 10 am to 5.30 pm Closed: the first Monday of each month (except in July, August and September) and the 1st January, 1st May, 1st November and the 25th December Entrance charges Full rate: 8.5 € - Reduced rate: 6.5 € (students - under 26 years old, ex-servicemen and large families). The Paris Museum Pass is accepted. Free entry: under 18's, young people between 18 and 25 years old resident or born in the European Union, job seekers and those on benefits (on production of proof dated within three months), the disabled, students of history and Art history from the School of the Louvre, and ministry of defence personnel. Tickets provide entry to the Museum of the Army, the tomb of Napoleon the First, temporary exhibitions, the Museum of Relief Maps and the Museum of the Order of the Liberation. Guided tours available by appointment only (maximum 25 people). Access RER: Line C (Invalides station) Underground: Invalides, Varenne, Latour-Maubourg Bus: 28, 49, 63, 69, 82, 83, 92, 93 Centre of documentation Photographic library 18,000 photographs (reproduction on request) Library 4,000 works (by appointment only from Monday to Friday) Postal address : Museum of the Order of the Liberation 51 bis bd de Latour-Maubourg 75700 PARIS cedex 07

The Musée de la Grande Guerre was officially opened on 11 November 2011 by the Pays de Meaux combined area council. The furthest point of the German advance and the site of the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, Meaux and its neighbouring communes possess historic heritage which, until then, had been undervalued and was little known to the general public, since the Great War is not generally associated with the Île-de-France region. First off, then, the museum serves as a reminder that the front came right up to the edge of Paris, and that the “miracle of the Marne”, just one month after the outbreak of hostilities, was the victory that was to decide the course of the conflict. Besides its historical legitimacy, the museum, like any major structure, plays the role of a lever of development for the region. It contributes to shaping a new image while mobilising different actors around a shared project that can benefit everyone, both in terms of culture and tourism and in terms of networks.

Origins

The Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux has its origins in a meeting between Jean-Pierre Verney, a passionate, self-taught historian who, over more than 45 years, collected 50 000 objects and documents on the First World War – one of the largest private collections in Europe – and Jean-François Copé, chairman of the Pays de Meaux combined area council. Copé took the decision to buy the collection in 2005 and founded a museum on the First World War, at a time when Verney was preparing to sell overseas, having found no local authority willing to take it. It was an obvious choice, given the sheer scale of the Pays de Meaux area (18 communes with a total population of 85 000) and the fact that a number of its villages still bear visible traces of the Battle of the Marne (memorials, cemeteries, etc.), including the grave of French poet Charles Péguy, killed on 5 September 1914.

A museum on a human scale

From the outset, the Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux was intended to be for all visitors. Its bold design and contemporary layout, at once educational, sensitive and immersive, contribute to making it as accessible as possible.  This proximity to visitors can be explained in part by the desire to approach the conflict from a human perspective, through the everyday lives not only of the soldiers, but of women and children, continually switching between the front and the home front. All the nations that took part in the war are represented here, namely through the collection of uniforms, the overall intention being to present the universality of suffering and violence, whatever side of no man’s land your camp happens to be on

The object at the heart of the display

The exhibition is deliberately open and unconstrained, in order to allow each visitor to choose their own route, and thus build their own history. The main display, which presents the First Battle of the Marne (1914) alongside the Second Battle of the Marne (1918), clearly presents to visitors the passage from the 19th to the 20th century. Between these two key mobile battles at the beginning and end of the war, the presentation of the static war with its front comprised of trenches offers an insight into the notion of stalemate. Laid out in the main body of the museum, here is where the big hardware (lorries, aircraft, tanks, artillery pieces, etc.) is on show, making the museum a unique place where visitors can see the full range of objects and documents bearing witness to the conflict. This main display is complemented by a themed display: eight spaces look at topics that cut across the conflict (A New War, Bodies and Suffering, Globalisation, A Mobilised Society, etc.), adding new ways into the subject. The presentation is different for each of the spaces, thereby breaking up the monotony of the experience, as each new setting renews visitors’ interest. Obviously, the objects in the collection are at the heart of the display: they lend and take on meaning in their relationship with the space and in the dialogue they establish with the museum resources, and ultimately move visitors to ask questions about their own memories. By arousing interest and curiosity, the museum encourages visitors to interrogate their own personal history.

An innovative interaction

If visitors are greeted by ambient sounds even before they set foot in the museum, once inside, they find a whole series of objects to touch in the displays. Known as “martyr objects”, they belong to the collections and offer the public an opportunity to handle materials and shapes. There is also a wealth of interactive tools that aim to put the visitor in the driving seat: wearing special glasses to experience 3D stereoscopic views, feeling the weight of soldiers’ kit bags or coils of barbed wire, guessing what objects are in the archaeological niches, educational games to grasp the economic impact of the war or discover the different belligerent nations, interactive terminals to offer a deeper insight into the collection. All of this makes for an attractive and dynamic visitor experience, involving the different senses, thereby aiding the immersion in what is a complex subject.

The Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux is today an essential site for discovering the history of the First World War, and the area has become a remembrance tourism destination. The years of the centenary commemorations contributed to that process, which is sure to continue as the museum celebrates its tenth anniversary with a special season in 2021-22.

Sources : © Musée de la Grande Guerre

Located in the commune of Nice, the Bellanda Tower guards over the Baie des Anges, in the south of the castle grounds.

A medieval defensive structure built on the site of an ancient acropolis, in 1825 it was converted into a belvedere. Berlioz is said to have composed his “King Lear” overture there in 1831.

Until 2006, the tower housed the naval museum, which is currently closed.

Bellanda Tower gallery

Colline du Château

Tél: 33 (0) 497 13 23 95

Open 10 am to 6 pm, except Sundays and some bank holidays. Free admission.

Nice Tourist Office

Quiz: Forts and citadels

Arras and the First World War (1914-18)

Arras was at the centre of battle throughout the First World War. After falling into German hands in 1914 and then taken back by the French, it was defended by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from spring 1916. Almost razed to the ground, the town had become an underground city organised into a maze of galleries several kilometres long (known as boves) that were used during the great offensive of 1917. At the start of April, at dawn, some 20,000 British soldiers emerged in the surrounding German trenches to the complete surprise of the enemy, managing to seize officers as they were having breakfast.

For the Commonwealth forces, this was an absolute massacre: 159,000 men lost in 39 days, or the equivalent of 4,076 deaths every day. While notching up the biggest death toll, this offensive was nevertheless a significant military victory, perhaps the only one achieved by the Allies in 1917. In 1918, the Germans attempted, in vein, to recapture Arras.

Within the walls of the cemetery, all men are equal. The memorials were created in this spirit, with soldiers and officers lying side by side. The Cross of Sacrifice symbolises the faith of the majority (Christian) whole the Steele Memorial was built in honour of the men of other faiths and atheists.

Used from March 1916 by the British forces, the cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice by the graves repatriated from the battlefield and two small cemeteries nearby. It is the site of 2,651 burial places of Commonwealth soldiers who fought in World War I. A further 30 graves hold men of other nationalities, mainly German. Seven graves date back to the Second World War, when Arras served as the headquarters of British troops until the town was evacuated on 23 May 1940. In German hands at the time, it was taken back by the Allies on 1 September 1944.

For those with no known grave

The cemetery features a memorial that pays tribute to the more than 35,000 missing soldiers whose bodies were never found. These men fought in terrible conditions, against the deadliest weapons of war the world had ever known. Sent from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand, they fell in the Arras region between spring 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the March to Victory. The Canadian and Australian soldiers killed during this period are commemorated by the memorials in Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A specific memorial honours the men who fell during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.

The Flying Services Memorial bears the names of around 1,000 men from the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force (following the merger of the RNAS and the RFC in April 1918) who were shot down on the Western Front and have no known graves. For the pilots involved in the Battle of Arras, April 1917 was dubbed Bloody April and life expectancy fell to three weeks at 5.30 p.m. Fiercely efficient, the German airforce decimated the RFC forces by a third in just one month.

Faubourg d'Amiens Military Cemetery

Boulevard du général de Gaulle 62000, Arras

Office de tourisme d'Arras

It was responsible , thanks to the weaponry it contained (155 mm and 120 mm artillery pieces - 220 mm mortars) for preventing any enemy from crossing the heights of Chassieu or St-Priest and advancing towards Lyon, or setting up their own canons, which would then have been able to bomb the town. Trapezoid in shape, which is a characteristic of polygonal fortifications, the length of its perimeter was protected by a dry moat, which prevented the central structure from being surrounded by an infantry attack. Its buildings were covered with a mass of earth in order to absorb the effects of projectiles (an anti-impact layer). In the event of war, its garrison was increased to 841 artillery and infantrymen. More than 1500 m² of stores of various kinds housed provisions and munitions, food supplies, fuel and equipment etc.

History: Advances in artillery quite rapidly rendered this type of fortification obsolete and unsuitable. Nevertheless, the deterrent factor of any fortress could never be totally removed. It remained partly armed up until 1914. After 1920, it had only a logistical role for the nearby air base. It would be occupied by German troops in 1942, and finally given to the urban community of Lyon (la communauté urbaine de Lyon or COURLY) in 1975, to be used as a support building for the enormous water reservoirs. The town of Bron uses it for storing council equipment, for which the COURLY has granted a long lease in return for a modest rent.
The Association of the fort de Bron, created in 1982, brings together all the people and associations who want to contribute to the development, improvement and running of the place. Its administrative committee, with two permanent elected officers from the BRON district, defines the work that needs to be done and participates in the research work on future projects carried out by the council. A sports track and circular walk have been created. A long-term programme is planned for the renovation and conservation of the Fort: access to most of the moats, making some of the rooms in the Fort available for public use and the temporary opening of part of the interior for cultural, community and theatrical events.
The association is particularly keen to promote the historical heritage of this example of military architecture from the end of the 19th century. On the first Sunday of every month it organises free guided tours of the Fort and its museum, from 1.30 to 4.30 pm in winter and 2 to 5 pm in summer. It also organises occasional tours for associations and schools (requests to be addressed to the cultural department of the mairie).
It takes part in Heritage days and holds an artwork exhibition on the first Saturday and Sunday in October. The Fort de Bron belongs to the fortified defence system set up around Lyon after the war of 1870, at the instigation of General Séré de Rivières, who was responsible for fortifications on a national level. One room in the Fort bears his name. A museum is in the process of being established, with new documents and photographs from the period, as well as a visual display showing the different parts of the fort.
Fort de Bron Avenue Maréchal de Tassigny 69500 Bron Association du fort de Bron Bt 74 Maison des sociétés square Grimma 69500 Bron Tel: + 33 (0)6 60 65 25 23 E-mail: chaandre@numericable.fr

"Bridgehead on the Marne" (Noisy-le-Grand - 93) 

1871.

The first ring of forts built with the purpose of protecting the capital from the enemy did not prevent the defeat of 1870.

Fort de Villiers

Avenue Paul Belmondo

93160 Noisy-le-Grand

E-mail : contact@asfv.eu

Visits Warning! Fort de Villiers is not open to visitors. The site is dangerous and is not protected by security (entry is prohibited). 

Contact the Mairie in Noisy-le-Grand to request access.

Bibliographical sources Annals of the National Assembly.  Government bills, proposals and reports. 1874 List of the law bills of the French Republic. 1874

Fort de Villiers

Quizz : Forts et citadelles

The Shoah Memorial was opened to the public on 27 January 2005 for the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp and the European Day in Memory of the Holocaust and for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity.

Located in the historic Marais quarter of Paris, today it has become the reference institution in Europe for the Shoah.

Understanding the past to shed light on the future – that is this site’s mission as a place of remembrance, a museum and a documentation centre.

Open to a wide, diverse public, it provides numerous spaces and activities: a permanent exhibition on the Shoah and the history of the Jews in France during World War II, a temporary exhibition space, an auditorium that schedules projections, conferences, debates, book presentations, etc., the Wall of Names engraved with the manes of the 76,000 Jewish men, women and children deported from France between 1942 and 1944; the Wall of the Righteous which bears the names of the 2,693 Righteous Among the Nations who protected or saved Jews in France during the Nazi occupation; the crypt, a place of contemplation where the ashes of victims of Auschwitz and the Warsaw ghetto are held; the Centre of Contemporary Jewish Documentation (one million documents archived, 90,000 photographs and 50,000 books) and its reading room, a multimedia space, pedagogical areas where workshops are held for children and activities for teacher classes, and a bookstore.

Intended for the widest public, the Shoah Memorial contributes to teaching about a crime that is unique in the history of humanity, but also takes part education and discussions on tolerance, freedom and democracy.

Shoah Memorial

17 rue Geoffroy l'Asnier 75004 Paris

Tel.: +33 (0)1 42 77 44 72 (switchboard and voice mail server)

Fax: +33 (0)1 53 01 17 44

E-Mail: contact@memorialdelashoah.org

Opening hours

The museum is open every day except Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm and Thursdays to 10 pm.

Closed on Saturdays, certain national bank holidays and certain Jewish holidays.

The reading rooms and the multimedia education centre are open every day except Saturdays from 10 am to 5.30 pm and Thursdays to 7.30 pm.

Mémorial de la Shoah

The l'île de Ré, opposite La Rochelle, was subjected on several occasions to attack from British soldiers. Conscious of the need to protect access to La Rochelle and Rochefort, in 1681 Vauban started strengthening the island's defences by building a citadel and fortified castle at Saint-Martin-de-Ré, on the North coast.

Built on the site of a fortress where construction work had started in 1627, the square-shaped citadel occupies the eastern part of the town. Its defensive system comprises four bastions, three demi-lunes and a counterguard, surrounded by a moat and a covered walkway. It contained an arsenal, food and powder stores, barracks and officers' accommodation. The citadel opens on to the sea via a small fortified port. From 1873 onwards it became a stop-off point for penal colony prisoners on the way to New Caledonia until 1897 and later to Guyana until 1938. Today it remains a prison for more than 400 detainees and is not open to the public.
An example of Vauban's first system adapted to suit a flat site, the construction was accompanied by an enormous fortified enclosure capable of accommodating the island's population of some 16,000 inhabitants, as well as their livestock, and of storing food supplies and forage in the event of enemy attack. In an arc on the land side, there are bastions, orilloned half- bastions and a counterguard. Two monumental gates, the Porte Toiras and the Porte des Campani form the access points. Also surrounded by a moat and a covered walkway, it is in addition encircled by an open-plan glacis, sloping outwards from the ramparts within canon-firing range.
Saint-Martin de Ré Tourist Information Office 2, quai Nicolas Baudin Ilot du Port - BP 41 17410 Saint-Martin-Ré Tel.: + 33 (0) 5 46 09 20 06 Open from 01-07 to 31-08, from 10 am to 7 pm, Monday to Saturday and from 10 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 5 pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays from 01.06 to 30.09: Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm and from 10 am to 1 pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays In May: Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm and from 10 am to 12 pm on Sundays and/or Bank Holidays In April and during school holidays: Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm and on Sundays and Bank Holidays from 10 am to 12 pm from 01-10 to 31-03: Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm

The tower was built close to Notre Dame de Rocamadour chapel, at the end of the breakwater which protects Camaret port, at the entrance to the Crozon peninsular. It was part of a complex strategy designed to defend Brest harbour from enemy invasions and pirates.

The tower was built between 1693 and 1696 under the supervision of the engineer Jean-Pierre Traverse. It has four floors (basement, ground floor and two upper floors) and is 18m high to the roof.

The basement, with trap door access, was used to store food and powder.

A spiral staircase leads to the upper floors which housed the guard room and accommodation.

The hexagonal tower features arrow slits for defensive purposes. Acute angles of attack mean that projectiles could be deflected. It is also known as the Tour Dorée (Golden Tower) because the base is finished with a coating made from crushed bricks.

The tower is flanked by a low, semi-circular battery with wide embrasures for eleven canons and a defensive guard room. A second guardroom was later built on the site of the shot furnace. A beam drawbridge provided access to the site and the footbridge to the tower.

In June 1694 the tower, as yet unfinished, suffered its first attack, from the Anglo-Dutch Augsbourg League, whose aim was to take control of Brest Harbour. The tower was armed with just nine canons and three mortars, but the effectiveness of its defensive system was clear immediately. The 1,500 coalition men who had landed on Trez Rouz beach in front of Camaret were routed in a few short hours, suffering heavy losses.

Tourist office
15, quai Kléber BP 16 29570 Camaret-sur-Mer
Tel.: +33.(0)2.98.27.87.22

Open high season (01-07 to 31-08) from 10am to 12 noon and 2pm to 6pm every day.
Low season (April - September): 2pm to 6pm Tuesday to Sunday

Entrance
Adults: €3
Reduced rate (students, job seekers, people on income support, etc.): €2
Free entry for children under 12 (except groups)

Vauban association

Major Vauban sites network

During the First World War, the Hartmannswillerkopf, a rocky mountain spur dominating the Alsace plain to the south of the Vosges, occupied a strategic position. More than 150,000 men belonging to regiments that came from the whole of France, in particular the Chasseurs et les Diables rouges (Chasseurs and Red Devils) of the Colmar regiment, fought there for four years in order to re-conquer the Alsace. Around 25,000 officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers fell on the "Vieil Armand", as the poilus or foot soldiers christened it. Situated in the Vosges mountain range at an altitude of 956 metres, the Hartmannswillerkopf site is one of four national monuments of the Great War, during which time it was a strategic battleground. About 25,000 French soldiers died on the slopes of the "Vieil Armand". Listed as a historic monument in 1921, it has been developed thanks to a national fund under the noble patronage of the President of the Republic and five Marshals of France. Several buildings were constructed between 1924 and 1929 at this important place of remembrance and the whole place was inaugurated in October 1932 by the President of the Republic, Albert Lebrun.

Today the site of the battlefield, well maintained and signposted, is one of the most well preserved in France. Forty-five kilometres of paths and trenches provide access to French fortifications, such as the Roche Sermet and the Roche Mégard and to some German structures (Aussichtsfelsen etc.). These paths also lead to a cemetery, to the monument to the 152nd infantry regiment and to the steles (Serret, Chambaud and the one recalling the sacrifice of lieutenant Pierre Scheurer, who died on the 28th April 1915) and finally, to some German monuments such as the one to the chasseurs, and to the staircase with 560 steps "to the sky".
Built on sloping land, the Silberloch cemetery has 1,264 graves of soldiers who could be identified and six ossuaries. Dominating the cemetery, an alter to the Homeland, facing east towards the summit of the Hartmannswillerkopf, has been constructed on a stone esplanade above the crypt. Identical to the one of 1790, it symbolises the mass movement of volunteers who rushed to the borders to defend the Republic. On its four sides are the names of the towns that took part in financing the collection of monuments: Paris, Strasbourg, Colmar, Mulhouse, Besançon, Metz, Lille, Rouen, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes etc. An eighty metre long trench provides access to the cultural crypt, in the centre of which is the ossuary. Covered with a bronze shield six metres in diameter, it contains the remains of some 12,000 unknown soldiers. The word "Patrie" (Homeland) is engraved on the shield in gold lettering. The entrance to the crypt, which is closed by a wrought iron gate bearing the inscription Ad lucem perpetuat, is guarded by two archangels created by the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle.
Inside, weapons and equipment recovered from the battlefield are on display, as well as photographs and sculptures. On the walls of the corridor leading to the crypt are bronze plaques bearing the numbers of the 101 units, regiments et battalions that succeeded each other on the battle field over fifty-two months. A Catholic Chapel with a statue of the Virgin Mary on top, also by Antoine Bourdelle, is decorated with inscriptions composed by Monseigneur Ruch, the first bishop of Strasbourg after 1918. Sites for the Protestant and Jewish religions have also been built. A reinforced concrete cross 20 m high and 5.25 m wide stretches out towards the hills of the Vosges. It was illuminated for the first time on the night of the 10th November 1936.
The Vieil Armand Battlefield Route des crêtes 68700 Wattwiller Tel.: 03 89 75 50 35