Operation “1000 Trees for Cemeteries”

Vignemont National Cemetery (Oise department) - Source : MINDEF/SGA/DMPA-ONACVG

Les quatorze points de Wilson (8 janvier 1918)

General Pershing landing in Boulogne from the freighter

The liberation of Corsica, 9 September - 4 October 1943

Bombing of Bastia, October 1943. Source: Service Historique de la Défense

On 4 December 1938, in response to Mussolini's clams: ”Corsica, Savoia, Tunisia a noi!”, thousands of Corsicans took an oath in front of the war memorial in Bastia, ”Before the world, with all our souls, on our glories, on our tombs, on our cradles, we swear to live and die French”.

Aux origines de la France Libre

Ardennes, Elements of the 10th Panzer-Division cross the Meuse. (15th - 20th May 1940)

First World War

L'archiduc François-Ferdinand et la duchesse de Hohenberg dont l'assassinat va déclencher l'entrée en guerre des grandes puissances européennes

L'assaut final

The French in Italy, 1917-1918

Asiago Plateau, 17 June 1918, during the Austrian offensive. Source: Public domain.

Canada in World War II

Canadian infantry landing at Juno Beach and marching toward Bernières-sur-Mer, 6 June 1944.

L'infanterie canadienne débarque sur la plage de Juno Beach et marche en direction de Bernières-sur-Mer, le 6 juin 1944. Source Archives Nationales du Canada.

On 7 September 1939, the Canadian Parliament met in a special session and two days later gave its support to Great Britain and France, which had been at war with Germany since 3 September.

New Caledonia in the two World Wars

Noumea, departure for La Grange, 4 June 1916 © Noumea City Museum

As was the case for all of France and the French Empire, New Caledonia, one of France's principal possessions in the Pacific, played a role that remains mostly unknown in France today but was nonetheless important, or even crucial, at certain points during the World Wars, especially in the Pacific operations during World War II.

Protecting our memorial heritage

Fréjus (on left) - Tunisia (on right)

The origins of remembrance tourism

Between the 17th and the 20th centuries, France was the site of a great number
of armed conflicts which left behind many remnants as a lasting legacy.