René Mouchotte qualified as a military pilot in 1937 and was mobilised in September 1939. He joined the Avord fighter training school as a trainee instructor, then in May 1940, with his friend Guérin, he was sent to the fighter training centre at Oran. On 30th June, against direct orders, Mouchotte and eight of his comrades flew to Gibraltar in two aircraft and arrived in Liverpool on 13th July 1940, in time to watch the first 14th July review presided over by General de Gaulle, in London. After training at Old Sarum, near Salisbury, at the School of Army Cooperation, he joined 6 Operational Training Unit at Sutton Bridge, for training as a Hawker Hurricane fighter pilot. At the beginning of October, he left with 615 squadron for Northolt, in the western suburbs of London.

On 11th October, René Mouchotte, carried out his first operational sortie and spotted the French coast. On 15th December 1940, 615 squadron returned to its base at Kenley, south of London. On 4th March, René Mouchotte was awarded temporary command of a Flight. On 26th August he shot down a Junkers 88. On 10th November 1941, René Mouchotte joined Turnhouse RAF base, where first fighter group n° 2 "île de France" (340 squadron) was undergoing training. When Flying Officer Philippe de Scitivaux took command of the Group in February 1942, René Mouchotte replaced him as head of A Flight "Paris". He was promoted to Captain on 15th March 1942. General de Gaulle awarded him the Croix de la Libération, on 14th July 1942 and on 1st September he received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was given the command of 65 squadron, then went on to lead Fighter Group n° 1 "Alsace" which, following a tour of duty in the Middle East, was posted back to Great Britain as 341 squadron of the RAF. On 17th March 1943, 341 was considered fit to serve with 11 Group, where there was a great deal of enemy activity and returned to base at Biggin Hill. On 15th May 1943, the Biggin Hill wing, with 998 victories in the air, took off for a protection mission. "Alsace" was flying with 611 squadron, commanded by Squadron-Leader Charles. The wing was attacked over the Pas-de-Calais by a large formation of Fw 190's. Charles shot one down, bringing the wing's score to 999, before Mouchotte brought up the 1,000th kill. Commandant René Mouchotte's will read as follows: "If fate only allows me a short career as Commandant, I will thank heaven that I was able to give my life for the Liberation of France. Tell my mother that I was always happy and grateful that I had the opportunity to serve God, my Country and those I love and that, whatever happens, I will always be by her side." The last lines of his flight log said: "Sorties continue at a terrible rate. My record is 140. My fatigue is merciless and I can feel my nerves breaking. I have an unbearable need for rest. I haven't taken a week's leave in over two years. Always on alert to fly. I am worn out, but tomorrow ...I will be off until 26th August. He would never come back, shot down over Belgium. He amassed 1,748 flying hours including 408 on 382 war sorties. He "Died for France" on a mission in September 1943.

Marc René of Montalembert was born at the end of Louis XIV's reign in Angoulême, on the 15th July 1714. Born into an ancient and noble family from Poitou, he was betrothed by birth to the pursuit of arms and chose a military career. He distinguished himself during the Austrian war of succession, and in 1742 became captain of the Prince of Conti's guards. After becoming academician of the Sciences in 1747, he was noticed by the Duke of Choiseul who gave him the mission of seconding the Swedish and Russian army generals during the 7-years war, during which he commanded the operations in Pomerania. He became field marshal in 1761, subsequently serving in Brittany, whilst at the same time preparing a work dedicated to the art of fortification.

In fact, the last years of the Ancien Régime were marked by a period of relative opposition to change in military architecture. Although Cormontaigne can be considered as one of the heirs of Vauban, the designs of Marc René de Montalembert are radically opposed to those of the famous Marshal. A trained artilleryman, he preferred the Vauban principles of concentrated fortification, attacking the enemy with concentrated firepower served by numerous cannons, that were ever more accurate as well as more powerful. He was thus responsible for creating numerous cannon foundries in France, including the Ruelle forges, near his birthplace. Taking inspiration from the restructuring of the artillery orchestrated by the Lieutenant-General of Gribeauval, the Marquis of Montalembert advocated making the cannon the front line of defence, rather than the rifle preferred by the former general commissioner for the fortifications of Louis XIV's reign. Between 1776 and 1794, he published the eleven volumes of his major work, "perpendicular fortification, or defensive art over offensive art". Convinced of the need to adapt the fortifications to new developments in firearms, Marc René de Montalembert recommended placing the combat zones further away from the central fortresses themselves, and broke away from the sharp angles and recesses that characterised the bastions and curtain-walls built by Vauban. He was something of a pioneer, calling for the advent of fortresses built in a polygonal layout, reinforced with cannon towers and caponiers, but stripped of advanced defence fortifications. The architectural layout put forward by the Marquis of Montalembert consisted of several forts positioned side by side, directly facing the enemy. His theories were virtually ignored in France during his lifetime. The short-lived fortress erected in 1779 on the site of the fort de la Rade (Island of Aix) was one of the only examples of defensive edifices built by the Marquis. This fortress, with its triple casemate firing levels was destroyed however in 1783. It was not until the XIXth century that other forts were built based on the principles decreed by the Marquis of Montalembert, including fort Boyard off the coast of the Island of Aix, and the fortress of La Ferrière in Haïti. The perpendicular fortification had more success with foreign military engineers, in particular, the Austro-Sardinians. The fortified site of Esseillon is therefore a remarkable example of the architectural ideas of Marc René of Montalembert put into practice. Among the forts which make up this impressive fortified barrier, the Marie-Christine fort is without doubt the most characteristic of the Marquis' innovative designs: this regular hexagon built in 1819 enabled concentrated perpendicular artillery fire within a restricted space. Condemned during the Revolution having never seen his theories on military architecture put into practice, Marc René of Montalembert died on the 26th March 1800 in Paris.

On the 22nd November 1902 in Belloy (Picardy) Philippe de Hauteclocque, the fifth of six children was born to the count Adrien and Marie-Thérèse Van der Cruisse de Waziers. Originally from Artois, his family, from a long line of nobility dating back to the XIIth century, participated in the crusades, served at Fontenoy, at Wagram and held office as town councillors. During his childhood spent in a rural and traditional environment, he learned exceptional hardiness and a passion for hunting, an ardent patriotism, and a Christian faith anchored in Roman Catholicism, reinforced through his education by the Jesuit fathers of Providence in Amiens. He pursued an army career at Saint-Cyrien in the "Metz-Strasbourg" division, and after a first posting in Germany, opted for a posting to Morocco, first as an instructor at the School for native officers of Dar El-Beïda, then at the head of a goum during the peacemaking operations amongst dissident tribes.

He then became a school instructor at the special military school of Saint-Cyr before being admitted to the War school in 1938, an opportunity that opened up prospects of a fine career. Meanwhile, in 1925, he married Marie-Thérèse de Gargan, related to Wendel, with whom he would go on to have six children. The captain of Hauteclocque was promoted to general of the 4th infantry division who were surrounded by the enemy in June 1940 in Lille. He was captured, before escaping to rejoin the front, where he was then posted to the 2nd armoured division. Wounded and hospitalised on army orders, he then escaped the advancing enemy and fled to Paris by bicycle. It was here that he decided to join general de Gaulle in London by travelling through Spain, however not before seeing his wife who approved his decision and agreed to take care of their children. The captain of Hauteclocque became Leclerc. In London, he learned of the general de Gaulle's strategy of political combat: to keep France in the war as a sovereign nation. The leader of the campaign to free France then assigned general Leclerc with a political mission supported by Cameroon on the 26th of August; a further mission, on the 12th November also rallied the support of Gabon, which Vichy wanted to make a base for reconquering the unoccupied part of the French African territories. With the civilian zone secured and the Italians in Libya under severe pressure, the priority became to show that the French were continuing to fight the war. Colonel Leclerc was promoted to military commander of Chad, operating base for these manoeuvres.

On the 1st March 1941, after careful preparations, Leclerc took control of Koufra, an Italian oasis in southwest Libya, the first exclusively French victory. Leclerc then swore "only to lay down our arms once our flag, our noble flag, is fluttering above Strasbourg cathedral". News of the battle travelled all the way back to occupied France. A Franco-English agreement made plans for a military campaign led from Chad to facilitate the English offensive against the Afrikakorps on the Libyan coast from Egypt. With his Chadian soldiers, Leclerc conquered the Fezzan in 1942 and on the 26th January 1943 joined general Montgomery, commandant of the 8th British regiment, whom he convinced to join the campaign in Tunisia. The "L Force", as Leclerc's units were henceforth to become known, distinguished itself during the battle of Ksar Rhilane on the 10th March where, with the help of the Royal Air Force, it provoked heavy losses to a German armoured unit. After being exiled for several months in Libya, whilst general de Gaulle was overthrowing general Giraud, the 2nd Free French division (the former "Force L") officially became the 2nd armoured Division on the 24th August 1943. The 2nd armoured division in Témara (Morocco) owed its unity to its leader, despite the fact that it was a mix of men and women from widely varying political and military backgrounds.

At the end of 1943, de Gaulle entrusted Leclerc with a further political mission: to liberate the capital. The 2nd armoured division was therefore transferred to England at the end of April 1944 to hone their skills. Integrated into the general Patton's IIP Army, it landed at Utah-Beach on the 1st August and received a baptism of fire at Mortain. It then went on to distinguish itself once more during the battle of Normandy. In mid-August, general Leclerc waited impatiently for the order to liberate Paris and to establish the provisional government's authority. Leclerc's determination, as well as the missions sent by the colonel Roi-Tanguy, commandant of the FFF of Paris and general de Gaulle's insistence all convinced Eisenhower not to bypass the capital. The 2nd armoured division made contact with the FFF, forcing the enemy to surrender and preparing general de Gaulle's arrival. Thanks to the determination of its leader, the 2nd armoured division liberated Paris swiftly and with very few casualties. Leclerc, liberator of Paris but also its saviour, since the war was not yet over and his unit had some tough battles ahead of it yet at Bourget to drive back the German counter-offensive. The 2nd armoured division continued its progress: on the 13th of September at Dom-paire, the coordination of firepower and manoeuvres with an air attack broke down an enemy offensive. Baccarat was liberated on the 30th, Badonviller and Cirey-sur-Vezouze on the 17th and 18th November, the Vosges was reached by the 22nd. A feat of daring, the result of meticulous preparations, led to the liberation of Strasbourg. Leclerc had steadfastly held to his oath made at Koufra. Attached to the lre army (led by Lattre), the 2nd armoured division participated in reducing the Colmar pocket. The Alsace campaign was also gruelling and cost many lives. Leclerc requested a transfer to the American operation. After a period of leave at Châteauroux, during the course of which a part of the Division, on Langlade's orders, participated in reducing the Royan pocket (15-17 April 1945), Leclerc finally convinced the Allies to join the final combat in Germany, the high point being the storming of Berchtesgaden when the French flag was finally hoisted above Hitler's villa on the 5th of May.

Superior commander of troops in the far East under the orders of admiral Thierry d'Argenlieu, high-commissioner and commandant-in-chief, Leclerc left for Indochina with a dual mission: to re-establish French sovereignty and to represent France in forcing the Japanese to surrender. His time in Ceylan spent under admiral Mountbatten convinced him that diplomatic and political action should be integral to his manoeuvres. More than many of his contemporaries, he realised the importance of the national movement in Vietnam. He re-established order in Cochinchine and in Annam at the end of 1945 - beginning of 1946 and, returning to Tonkin, simultaneously prepared the military and diplomatic action (Sainteny - Hô Chi Minh agreements of the 6 March 1946). His ideas about men on the ground were opposed to the principles of those who, such as de Gaulle or d'Argenlieu, Moutet or Bidault, risked undermining French Union by their measures more often taken by forced than by agreement. He subsequently requested another transfer. In July 1946, he was appointed inspector of ground troops in North Africa, a posting that was interrupted by a mission in Indochina on the request of the president of the President of the Council Léon Blum in December 1946. Leclerc did not dismiss the idea of an agreement with the nationalist leaders but he refused to be drawn into any spiralling military offensives. He declined the offer to succeed d'Argenlieu, fearing political isolation and the risk of not receiving the resources he requested.

He then returned to his duties as Inspector, which had been extended to include the army, navy and air force. Faced with the political difficulties in North Africa, he was in favour of a more moderate evolution of the situation over time, less extreme in its ends than for Indochina. However, on the 28th November 1947, his plane crashed near the border of Algeria and Morocco near to Colomb-Béchar. He died along with seven officers from his squadron and four flight engineers. The leader's public funeral was held on the 8th December, for which de Gaulle wrote: "Never was there any mediocrity about him, neither in his thoughts nor in his speech nor his acts" He was posthumously awarded the title of Marshal of France in 1952. His courage, tenacity, and influence on his soldiers and his sudden death, have all contributed to making him a legendary character and ensuring his place in the history books.

Born in Paris on 27 November 1898, Jacques Stosskopf began military service in 1917 as an artillery cadet and received the Croix de Guerre at the end of World War I. He joined the Ecole Polytechnique in 1920 and opted for a career in maritime engineering in 1924. Appointed head of the section for the construction of new craft at the Lorient naval shipyard in October 1939, he was promoted to first-class chief engineer of maritime engineering in November at the age of 41. During the first few months of the war, he contributed to the important role of the shipyard in maritime operations, in particular the development of the system used to sweep German underwater mines. From the arrival of German submarines at the port in 1940, the chief engineer, under the pretext of supervising the work of his staff as closely as possible, continued to inspect the docks. A fluent speaker of German as a result of his Alsatian origins, Jacques Stosskopf won the trust of the occupying forces.

The authoritarian engineer, with his strict, cold demeanour, was soon regarded by personnel at the shipyard as an enthusiastic collaborator who would scrupulously inspect tasks given to the French workers by the Germans, even inside the workshops. Kriegsmarine officers became accustomed to the presence of the engineer around the cavities and basins. When the Lorient-Kéroman base became operational at the end of 1941, his privileged relationship with the general staff of the enemy meant that he became one of the few Frenchman to enter the base.

With his exceptional memory, for four years Jacques Stosskopf observed the submarines that crossed the Port-Louis channel: iron cross, ace of spades, fish and sirens, laughing bovidae from a famous brand of cheese ?he scrupulously noted the insignias painted on the kiosks of the structures which, with their victory pennants, made it possible to identify these redoutable machines of war. Remarkably discrete, this soldier in the shadows kept a daily record of U-boat movements, which he recited from memory at meetings with the Alliance network, where he would pass on valuable information to British admirals. The dismantling of this network led to the arrest of Jacques Stosskopf on 21 February 1944.

Confined to a shack at a camp known as Schirmeck, he was transferred to another camp, Struthof, where he was executed with a single shot to the neck on 1 September 1944, shortly before the arrival of the Allies in Alsace. Having paid for his glorious contribution to the Resistance with his life, Jacques Stosskopf was posthumously promoted to Commander of the Legion of Honour by General de Gaulle in October 1945. On 6 July 1946, the Kéroman base was named in his honour.

Pierre Marie Philippe Aristide Denfert-Rochereau was born on 11 January 1823 to a Protestant family from Jarnac in Saint-Maxent, in the department of Deux-Sèvres. After failing on his first attempt, he finally gained admission to the École Polytechnique in 1842 and opted for a career in the military in 1845, by his own admission due to his mediocre performance. Graduating first from the Ecole d'Application de l'Artillerie and Génie de Metz, the young lieutenant joined the 2nd regiment of the engineering division in Montpellier in 1847. Denfert-Rochereau participated in the conquest of Rome in 1849 before being promoted to captain and playing a role in the Crimean War, in particular in the siege of Sevastopol in 1855, where he was shot and wounded in his left leg. Repatriated to France, he taught fortification at the Ecole d'Application de Metz for five years before travelling to Algeria, where he supervised the construction of barracks, bridges and barrages.

Now a lieutenant-colonel, Denfert-Rochereau received the order from the engineer of Belfort. The officer set about developing the defences of the city, of which he would become governor in October 1870. Located south of Alsace, Belfort was an administrative centre of the administrative division, the sub-prefecture of the department of Haut-Rhin, while France was at war with the German armed forces allied with Prussia since July. From 3 November 1870, the region of Montbéliard was invaded by the powerful armies of the enemy and Denfert-Rochereau had to organise the resistance of Belfort, a fortified town blocking access to the Bourgogne. Under attack from more than forty thousand troops under the command of Werder, Denfert-Rochereau had only around fifteen thousand men, of whom just a quarter came from regular combat units. To warnings from the enemy to surrender the town, Denfert-Rochereau responded thus: "We know the scope of our responsibilities to France and the Republic, and we have decided to fulfill them". Refusing to allow the elderly, women and children to leave, the Prussian war machine used more than two hundred pieces of artillery from December 1870 and bombarded Belfort in the hope of bringing the siege to an end. Entrenched in a bunker of the tower of Bourgeois at the Brisach gate, Denfert-Rochereau refused to surrender despite the loss of life among his troops and the deterioration in the sanitation of the civilian population. Hostilities continued after the armistice of 28 January 1871, with Denfert-Rochereau refusing to surrender until 13 February, and only then on the express orders of the provisional government. After 103 days of fighting, the besieged, still twelve thousand strong, left Belfort before the Prussians, who paid them tribute. This heroic resistance saved the honour of a France wounded by the defeat of Napoléon III and Mac-Mahon in Sedan, as well as the surrender of Bazaine to Metz. It allowed Adolphe Thiers, the elected executive head of the French Republic by the National Assembly on 17 February, to secure from the victors the preservation of the administrative division of Belfort as part of France. The Treaty of Frankfurt signed on 18 May 1871 resulted in the cession of the rest of Alsace and part of Lorraine to Germany.
Elected the representative of Haut-Rhin in the National Assembly from 8 February, the hero of Belfort handed in his resignation once the preliminary peace treaties were signed. Named Commander of the Legion of Honour on 18 April 1871, Denfert-Rochereau was dismissed due to his known Republican beliefs and thus did not participate in the bloody repression of the village. Now a civilian, he was elected in three departments in the elections of 18 July 1871 and opted for Charente-Inférieure. In a National Assembly with a conservative monarchist majority, he sat with the Republican left. Re-elected in February 1876 in the VI arrondissement of Paris, he joined the Groupe de l'Union Républicaine des Gambettitstes and sided with opponents of General Mac-Mahon during the crisis of 16 May 1877. During his third term, he focussed more particularly on military issues and in particular demanded the reinstatement of the right to vote for the armed forces, who had been denied this right since 1872. He died in the palace of Versailles on 11 May 1878 and was given a state funeral. He is buried in Montbéliard.

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was born on 2 August 1834 in Colmar (Haut-Rhin department). During his childhood in Paris, he demonstrated his artistic gifts and his future became clear as he visited the capital’s workshops and monuments during his studies at Lycée Louis-le-Grand.

From 1843 to 1851 he went to painter Ary Scheffer’s workshop, and during school holidays in Colmar he took drawing lessons with Mr Rossbach.

In 1852, Bartholdi moved into a workshop in Paris and the following year he filled one of his first orders for his home town – a statue of General Rapp, inaugurated in 1856.

At 21, he took a trip to the Middle East, Egypt and Yemen.

Along the Nile he discovered a rich civilisation whose monuments have survived the ages. This enriching, 8-month journey enabled Bartholdi to bring back sketches, drawings and photographs and, more importantly, it confirmed his vocation in statuary.

In 1857, he presented a project for a fountain that was selected in a competition organised by the city of Bordeaux, but it did not take shape for another 42 years, in Lyon, on the Place des Terreaux.

From 1863 to 1869, in Colmar, he produced the Martin Schongauer monument and the fountain dedicated to Admiral Bruat, took a second trip to Egypt, and sculpted his Petit Vigneron, exhibited at the covered market in Colmar.

In 1870, he made the first model of the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. During the Franco-Prussian War he was an officer in the national guard, then aide de camp for General Garibaldi and a government liaison agent. Angered by the loss of Alsace-Moselle, Bartholdi said to his friend Edouard de Laboulaye, "I will fight for freedom, I call upon all free people. I will try to glorify the Republic over there, while waiting to find it once again at home." He left for the United States, seeking to ensure Franco-American friendship.

In 1872, he produced "The Curse of Alsace" and prepared a funerary monument for the National Guards fallen during the war. In 1873, the statue of Vauban was inaugurated in Avallon. In 1874, he produced bas-reliefs for the Unitarian Church of Boston.

In 1875, for the exhibition in Philadelphia, he completed a fountain and also produced a statue of Champollion. Then, with the founding of the Committee of the Franco-American Union, he got down to work on the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World.

The hand and flame were completed in 1876 and exhibited at Madison Square for 5 years. That year, Bartholdi also produced a statue of La Fayette for the city of New York.

In 1878, the head of the future Statue of Liberty was exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.

From 1879 to 1884, he produced the Gribeauval monument in Paris, the Lion of Belfort, the statue of Rouget de Lisle in Lons-le-Saunier, and the statue of Diderot in Langres.

On 4 July 1884, France presented the United States with a statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. In 1885, a replica measuring a few metres in height was installed on Ile aux Cygnes in Paris, while its big sister boarded the "Isère". The statue was inaugurated in New York on 28 October 1886, and other copies of the work were later installed in Hanoi and Bordeaux.

From 1888 to 1891, Bartholdi produced the Roesselmann monument and the Hirn monument in Colmar, then the Gambetta monument in Sèvres.

From 1892 to 1895, he presented two works in Paris dedicated to La Fayette and Washington and a sculpture representing Switzerland assisting Strasbourg, while a statue of Christopher Columbus was shown at the Chicago World’s Fair.

In 1898, the Schwendi monument was inaugurated in Colmar.

In 1902, for the Place des Ternes in Paris, he produced a work dedicated to the “Aéronautes” (hot air balloons) of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, “Les Grands Soutiens du Monde” (which can be seen in the courtyard of the Musée de Colmar).

In 1903, he completed the monument dedicated to Vercingétorix for the city of Clermont-Ferrand, based on a model created in 1870.

Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi fell ill and died in Paris on 4 October 1904.

In 1907, his widow left the artist’s house and models to the city of Colmar, where a monument to his memory was inaugurated.

In 1912 Belfort posthumously inaugurated the Trois Sièges monument.

The Bartholdi Museum opened in 1922, four years after the return of Alsace-Moselle to France.

His works included the monument to Sargent Hoff, Hero of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, at Père-Lachaise Cemetary in Paris (division 4).

Foch was born in Tarbes on 1851 in the bosom of a middle-class, pious family. Hard working, brilliant high school pupil he graduates in the Arts/Science Bachelor. Sent to Metz in 1869 to prepare the entrance to the Ecole Polytechnque, he will live the Prussian occupation in Lorraine. At the Polytechnique he chooses the military career. Captain at the age of 26 and friend of Gustave Doré, he will get married in 1883. A pupil in 1885 at the School of war, he will teach at this same school later, from 1895 to 1901, before becoming commander in 1908. Already two works gathered the his strategic conceptions together.

August 1914 : The war breaks out.

General since 1907, Foch commanded at that time the 20th corps at Nancy. On August 29th he will lead the 9th army, which distinguished itself during the "Marais de Saint-Gond" battle. This was an essential operation during the 1st Marne battle. Later he will coordinate the allied armies of North, who will stop the German during their "running to the sea" , then he will lead the operations of Artois in 1915 and those of Somme in 1916. But the results of these operations where judged insufficient. In addition to that, intern rivalries caused a temporary disfavour of the General. In 1917 the military situation of the allies is critical : failure of General Nevelle on the "Chemin de Dames", mutinies, collapse of the Russian empire, Italian defeat... Foch will be recalled chief of the general staff of the Army. Appointed generalissimo from the allied troops he will block the German offensive on April 1918 and launches the decisive counter attack on July 18th. On November 11th he feels that his duty is accomplished. Nevertheless he also thinks of the million dead soldiers -among them also his son and his son-in-law- and knows that also peace must be won. "I do not make war for the war. If I obtain through the armistice the conditions that we want to dictate to Germany, I will be satisfied. Once the objective achieved, nothing has the right to spread one more drop." (Memoirs of General Foch vol. II p. 285). He will be honoured many times : he will become Marshall of France, of Great-Britain and Poland, academic, holder of 37 French and foreign medals, president of the supreme Council for war. Counsellor during the conference opened on January 18th 1919, he will not succeed to assert his peace conception, requiring the Rhine as German border rather then basing it to hypothetical promises.

Disappointed by the clauses of the treaty, he wants to divulgate his opinion by presenting himself to the presidential elections of 1920. Because of his failure he will give up the policy. He travels, writes his memoirs, and never stops to defend his convictions : a morally strong and armed nation is necessary to avoid the beginning of another war. The isolation of France, the economic stagnation (which is sapping up), the deliquescence of the peace treaties, obscure his last years of life. On March 20th 1929 he will die leaving the following motto : "beaten will be he who doesn't want to win" The name Foch is related to the victory of 1918 and many municipalities symbolically baptised with a road, a square or a boulevard with this name. Foch is without any doubt one of the historic personalities who are most evoked in the towns of France.

Born in Serrebourg (Moselle), Charles Mangin (1866-1925) participated in the Congo ?Nil mission of 1898-1900 under the orders of Marchand and leading the native Senegalese infantry. He is colonel in Morocco and with Lyautey he will seize Marrakech. Between 1914 and 1915, he is General and commands an infantry brigade and then, during the battle of the borders in Marne and Artois, the 5th Infantry Division of Rouen. On May 22nd 1916 he attacks the Douaumont (Meuse) fort in vain, then always in Verdun he leads the reconquest offensive at Nivelle's side. In 1917 at the Chemin de Dames, he is chief of the 6th army. The attack did not make progress and he is dismissed. He will come back on 1918 to command the 10th army, with which he will effectuate the famous counter-attack of July 18th in Villers-Cotterêts, where he will beat the enemy. In autumn he wins in Aisne, breaks the German front and releases Soissons and Laon.

The armistice cancels his offensive envisaged in Lorraine. On November 19th he enters in Metz, reaches the Rhine in Mainz on December 11th and occupies the Rhineland. Convinced of the value of the native Senegalese troops he is an assiduous partisan of the most numerous and strong African army (?the Black strength?), serving France. From 1906 to 1922 hid faithful orderly, a very tall man, whose name was Baba Koulibaly and who would watch over him day and night. His devotion was very much appreciated by the General. Magin really was the type of colonial officer, untiring, with a lot of temper, dominating his men and forcing the events.

Georges Marie Guynemer was born in Paris on 24 November 1894. At the outbreak of war, he tried to join the infantry, then the cavalry, but on both occasions he was refused due to his weak physical constitution. He was finally accepted into the Air Force and gained his pilot's licence in March 1915. Flying with the Cigognes squadron, he soon proved himself to be a daring and extraordinarily skilled fighter pilot. He was cited and decorated many times. Having become a living legend, Captain Georges Guynemer disappeared during a mission ('high in a sky of glory' were the words used in the last citation relating to him), shot down somewhere over Poelkapelle in Belgium on 11 September 1917, while at the commands of his plane 'Vieux Charles'. His 53 officially recognised victories made him one of the 'Ace' fighter pilots of the French Air Force during the First World War.

His motto, 'Faire face' ('Face your Fears'), was adopted by the Air Force.

Bibliography 'Guynemer, un mythe, une histoire' (Service historique de l'armée de l'air, 1997) 'Guynemer ou le mythe de l'individualiste et la naissance de l'esprit du groupe' (1997, in 'Revue historique des armées' n° 207).

René Quillivic was born in Plouhinec in Finistère in 1879, the son of a peasant fisherman.

He began training as a sculptor, although he had not been born into it, at the workshop of a carpenter and joiner in his village. He managed to secure a study grant, thanks to Georges Le Bail, the MP and later, senator for Finistère, and went on to the National School of Fine Arts in Paris. During his years of training, he always tried to portray a certain cultural tradition, which he very soon realised was unique.

Even before the war, he was already familiar with funeral commemoration. But it was particularly in a post First World war context that René Quillivic became one of the most famous sculptors of Brittany. Almost all of Quillivic's commemorative monuments are in Finistère. René Quillivic found special ways of using the traditional methods of the statue makers of Brittany in the 15th and 16th centuries. He increasingly used kersantite in creating his pieces, under the aegis of Donnart, a stone mason and tombstone maker from Landerneau. Kersantite (wrongly called Kersanton Granite) is a rock found in northern Finistère, around Brest harbour. It has a closely packed grain, a sombre grey colour that is almost black in the rain and is not susceptible to erosion. "In fact, as his monumental creations appeared, kersantite quickly became the symbolic rock for Breton commemorations, because very few materials are quite so closely associated with the land and the history of a country, as well as for its lasting quality." wrote Sylvie Blottière-Derrien, Secretary of State for ex-servicemen and victims of war in "Monuments de Mémoire - Monuments aux morts de la Grande Guerre, Mission permanente aux commémorations et à l'information historique" (in "Monuments of Remembrance - Monuments to the dead of the Great War and the permanent Mission for commemorations and historical information") in 1991. René Quillivic's choice of themes for his works had a regional context, close to the heart of Bretons. His models are familiar, well known and easily recognised by people. Thus, at Bannalec, people from the village recognise the sister of the glorious aviator, Le Bourhis in Quillivic's funeral monument. In the same way, in Plouhinec, the portrait of his own mother is set in stone. "René Quillivic knew how to promote a commemorative sculpture that is specifically Breton."
The monument to the dead of Pont-Scorff (Morbihan) The initiative for this work came from Princess Henri de Polignac who wanted to pay tribute to her husband who was killed on the 25th September 1915 at Auberive in Champagne. This work was created by René Quillivic under the supervision of the architect Charles Chaussepied and the stone mason and tombstone maker, Donnart.

The monument of Saint-Pol-de-Léon (Finistère), inaugurated in 1920 is a work commissioned by the mayor of the commune, created by the sculptor Quillivic in conjunction with the architect Charles Chaussepied. The recumbent statue represents a "poilu" (foot soldier). Four country women are depicted on the corners of the funeral stone: one of them wearing a large mourning headdress, another wearing a country headdress, the third a town headdress and the last one is dressed as a middle-class woman in mourning. Through these choices, "all social groups and ages are represented: the first is aged about 50 or 60, the second a widow of 30 or 35, the third is a very young widow and lastly, the young middle class woman symbolises a fiancée."

Finistère

• Saint Pol de Léon
• Roscoff
• Guiclan
• Châteaulin (on Jean Moulin)
• Pont-Croix - Plouhinec
• Plouyé - Scaër
• Banalec
• Coray
• Ile de Sein

Côtes d'Armor

• Loudéac
• Pleumeur-Bodou

Morbihan

• Pont-Scorff