The Courneau military training camp

In 1916, the French military command chose to station the African soldiers on Courneau moor. These men came from the territories of former French West Africa: Senegal, Upper Senegal and Niger (present-day Mali), Mauritania, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire and Dahomey (present-day Benin). Forming the battalions of Senegalese tirailleurs, they landed in Bordeaux, then made their way to La Teste, where they were given military training and language classes.

In 1916 and 1917, more than 27 000 men followed this route.

Once the land had been drained, many soldiers losing their lives in the process, a camp of 400 huts was built to accommodate up to 18 000 men. Owing to the marshland surrounding the camp, the tirailleurs contracted respiratory illnesses which were sometimes fatal. Courneau was soon nicknamed the “camp of misery”. The dead were buried on site.

In autumn 1917, due to the revolution in Russia, the Russian troops were withdrawn from the front and took the place of the tirailleurs at Courneau. Eight thousand men were sent there. Discipline being practically non-existent, there was much trouble with the local population. In the first months of 1918, the camp was emptied of its occupants. Many of them joined work parties; others enlisted in the Foreign Legion.

In January 1918, the camp was reorganised to accommodate the American contingents, mostly artillery units, who landed in Bordeaux and were stationed temporarily at Courneau. From July 1918 to May 1919, successive units stayed at the camp before going to the front. During that period, 87 American soldiers died of “Spanish flu” and were buried in a cemetery created specially for that purpose on 15 February 1918, in the forest of Natus-de-Bas. After the war, the soldiers’ remains were transferred either to the United States or to the Suresnes American Cemetery in Hauts-de-Seine.

The Natus memorial

On 1 November 1967, a memorial was unveiled to the African soldiers who died at the Courneau camp. Designed by architect Phihl, the monument was built with funding from Le Souvenir Français, the veterans ministry, the President of Côte d’Ivoire, veterans’ associations and local councils around Arcachon Bay.

After several years of research, local remembrance organisations, the town council of La Teste de Buch and the Ministry of the Armed Forces succeeded in ascertaining the identities and origins of the Senegalese tirailleurs. In 2018, as part of the First World War centenary commemorations, the Ministry of the Armed Forces had five stone slabs erected, bearing the names of the 956 African soldiers buried in the cemetery, which were unveiled on 11 November. Another stone is inscribed with the names of the Russian soldiers and two French soldiers who are buried on the site.

The Ministry of the Armed Forces plans to enhance the site by creating a remembrance trail at the heart of the cemetery, to shed light on the lives of the soldiers who lived in the Courneau camp.

Another stone slab in memory of the American soldiers stands outside the camp.

Established in 1967 on the initiative of Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Order of the Liberation, National Military Delegate of General de Gaulle in Vichy France, the Centre National Jean Moulin is located on the premises of the former Caisse d'Epargne de Bordeaux, a building constructed in the mid-19th century.

Born in Béziers in 1899, Jean Moulin was, upon the completion of his law studies, the youngest permanent departmental ministerial representative in France, before becoming the youngest prefect in France. At the time of the debacle of June 1940, he was prefect of Chartres where he accomplished his first act of resistance on 17 June. He left for London after being deposed by the Vichy government. Moulin was parachuted into Provence on the night of 1 January 1942 with two sets of orders - one civil, the other military - and was in charge of coordinating movements by the Resistance, as well as forming a secret army. Moulin, the first president of the National Resistance Council, was arrested in Caluire on 21 June 1943. After being tortured, he died during his transfer to Germany. Since 19 December 1964, his ashes have been kept at the Panthéon.
Jean Moulin was also an art lover and an artist in his own right who, under the pseudonym of Romanin, published caricatures, created etchings and painted watercolours.
The Resistance 18 June 1940: A day after arriving in London, General de Gaulle makes his appeal. 2 July 1940: France is divided in two by a demarcation line: the area north of the line is occupied by German forces, while the area south of the line, controlled by the government of Pétain in Vichy, would also be under occupation from 11 November 1942. Those who refused to live under German control became members of the Resistance. Members of the Resistance were not soldiers; they were anonymous and clandestine volunteers without uniforms. Faced with the Resistance, the German system of repression was overwhelming, with the secret police service, the Gestapo, at times acting with the assistance of French citizens deceived by propaganda from Nazi collaborators, in particular the militia. While combat between the two sides was unequal, patriotic enthusiasm more often than not made up for inexperience, unfortunately at a heavy price.
The Free French Forces From July 1940, General de Gaulle, now based in London, formed his general staff, notable members of which included Dewavrin (Passy), Roulier (Rémy), Duclos (Saint-Jacques), Fourcaud, d'Estienne d'Orves, and others. These 'first men of London' would form the Central Information and Action Bureau (BCRA). At the same time, General de Gaulle regrouped and organised under his command the remnants of the French army that had managed to evade German capture. Those that volunteered would make up the army, navy and air force of Free France that would fight alongside Allied forces.
Deportation Concentration camps were one of the first institutions created by the Nazis when Hitler came to power in 1933. Terror, which had earlier been developed by paramilitary Nazi groups (S.A. and S.S.), became legal. The regime's most hostile opponents were arrested and interned. German authorities in France used deportation from the earliest days of the Occupation. The first to be deported were those being held in camps in the south of France (Austrians and Germans, political refugees, combatants for international brigades and Spanish Republicans, foreign Jews), then the inhabitants of Alsace and Lorraine who resisted Germanisation. Soon afterwards, all Jews and opponents (Gaullists, communists and members of the Resistance) would suffer the same fate.
Permanent collections The Centre National Jean Moulin is a World War II documentation centre and museum that houses three floors of collections dedicated to the Resistance, Deportation and the Free French Forces. The Centre National Jean Moulin is a place of great historical importance that also looks to the future, contributing to learning and research. The Centre is also a documentation centre within a museum, offering the public access to documents from the period (posters, clandestine correspondence, weaponry, etc.) and objects which remind visitors of that period in our recent history and help them to understand the different networks that were formed and to appreciate the efforts made by all concerned in the name of freedom. The Centre also holds exhibits, special studies and organised activities. The Centre National Jean Moulin also welcomes artists, in particular in the context of the 'Nuit et Brouillard' exhibit by Jean-Jacques Morvan, war paintings by Bordeaux painter Edmond Boissonnet and the enamel works of Raymond Mirande.
The Centre is open to the general public all year round for visits with commentary (groups of 5 or more on appointment). For school students, the Centre's education service, which is managed by an agrégé history-geography teacher, offers theme-based and/or general visits with commentary (on appointment). A reference library containing books and documentary albums on collections housed in the museum is open to adults and students. Postal address: 48 rue Vital-Carles 33000 Bordeaux E-mail: cnjm@mairie-bordeaux.fr Tel: 33 / 05.56.10.19.90 / 05.56.10.19.92 Fax: 33 / 05.56.10.19.91 Open Tuesday-Sunday From 14:00 to 18:00. Closed Mondays and holidays Free admission

The Citadel of Blaye is one of the finest examples of 17th century military architecture. Started in 1652 by Pagan, it was extended, strengthened and completed by Vauban between 1685 and 1689. Designed to protect the port of Bordeaux, this complex seals off the Gironde at Blaye. On the right bank, it consists of a citadel comprising three successive fronts with orilloned bastions, a demi-lune and covered walkway, all of which are typical of Vauban's second system. On the Gironde side, a wall and batteries overlook a cliff that overhangs the river at a height of 45 metres. However, the range of artillery at the time was not capable of totally preventing ships from passing. Vauban therefore designed two other forts which allowed artillery cross-fire and the control of the Gironde.

On the left bank, the engineer Ferry built Fort Médoc, which was trapezoid in shape and had a very fine entrance gate. In the middle of the river, on a sand bank, he built a solid, low, round tower, Fort Paté, crowned with a parapet with embrasures and a gun terrace. The unstable nature of the ground made it necessary to set the tower on a double grill of wood, submerged for a year in the wet ground. Despite subsidence of 2 metres in 1707, the fort, which was consolidated in the 18th century, has remained intact.
The Citadel is still partly inhabited. Access is either on foot via the Porte Dauphine, or by car via the Porte Royale. Inside, there is the Museum of History and Art of the Blaye area. There is also the château des Rudel, a medieval triangular château where the troubadour Geoffroy Rudel, the lover of the "distant Princess" Melisande of Tripoli, was born. On the platform of the Tour des Rondes, an observatory offers a view across the town and over the Gironde estuary. From the Aiguillette Tower, you can also see the Gironde and all the little islands in it. Also worth seeing are the Place d'Armes where there is the Minimes Convent and the Pavillon de la Place, in which the Duchess of Berry was detained. A real little town within a town, the Citadel is on the list of Historic Monuments and today plays host to more than 200,000 visitors a year.
Tourist Information Office of the canton of Blaye Les allées marines 33390 Blaye Telephone: +33 (0) 5 57 42 12 09 fax: + 33 (0) 5 57 42 91 94 Mail: info@tourisme-blaye.com Opening and closing times The citadel is open every day all year round, with groups by appointment. Charges : Free entry

The grounds of the psychiatric hospital in Cadillac-sur-Garonne, a bastide founded in the 13^th century with the support of the King of England, received 98 World War One veterans with facial and brain injuries.

Its old cemetery keeps their memory alive... Among the belligerent countries involved in WWI, France and Germany mobilised the largest number of men of fighting age: 80% of all men between the ages of fifteen and forty-nine.

Once the armistice had been signed, alongside the families of the 1,375,800 dead and missing, the country had to take care of 4,266,000 injured veterans, of which there were ten to fifteen thousand with facial injuries, called “Gueules Cassées”, a term that originated with Colonel Yves Picot, founder of the Union des Blessés de la Face (Union of Facial Injury Victims). Victims of the brutality of the first industrial conflict, during which 70% of injuries were caused by incessant artillery fire, these men were desocialised by the war. They had to re-learn civilian life, deal with their handicaps, and live under the eyes of a nation embarrassed by these heroes who did not “Die for France”, a reflection of the country’s condition at the end of the war.

To the north-east of the bastide of Cadillac, in the Gironde department, the “brain injuries” section at the psychiatric hospital contains the graves of 98 injured veterans who came back from the front mentally ruined and were put here to live out the rest their lives, as at the establishment in Moussy-le-Vieux (Seine-et-Marne) and Coudon (Var).

These men were doubly forgotten after their deaths because, as they were patients at the psychiatric hospital, their deaths were not recorded by a municipal officer. Their tombs and their identification markers, many of which have fallen off, are now anonymous.

Two plaques were presented, however, in 1937 and 1956 by veterans from the Gironde department at the initiative of the Saint-Blaise Association in Cadillac, honouring “the memory of their comrades, victims of brain injuries in the War of 1914-1918”.

Website: Mémoire des hommes

The decision to build Fort Médoc was made by Louis XIV in 1689. The construction work that had started in 1690 was far enough advanced in 1691 to allow a first garrison to move in, even before the fort was finished. Fort Médoc has the classic appearance of a Vauban-style fortification, with its grassed ramparts, moats and large open spaces leading up to the fort. Basically rectangular in shape, it is flanked on its four corners by bastions linked by curtain walls. The moats communicate with the Gironde by a system of locks that allow the water level to be maintained regardless of the tide.

After crossing the royal demi-lune in front of the buildings and the moats, visitors reach the heart of the fort by the Porte Royale, whose pediment is decorated with a sun, the emblem of Louis XIV. The vaulted corridor beneath the central building was sealed by a wooden lattice-work gate and by a portcullis, which has since disappeared. Lateral casemates with arrow loops provide security for the passage. The central building, the royal guard house, originally accommodated the garrison's commanding officer on the first floor and consisted of weapons storage rooms on the ground floor and fine vaulted rooms in the basement.
The enormous interior esplanade was bordered by two barracks on a single level, capable of accommodating up to three hundred men. These buildings never held more than around a hundred people and the only things that remain today are the floors, a few sections of wall and a fireplace. The guard house overlooking the bastions, the fresh water tank, the chapel and the powder store are, however, still there to be admired. From 1700 onwards, the defensive purpose of this fort, which was deemed to be barely operational, was questioned by military engineers and later by the bursar, Tourny: the earth supporting the bastions and curtain walls proved to be too weak to prop up the fort's defences, the marshland around the site led to several epidemics amongst the company, who had to be relieved too frequently and, most importantly, it was easier for ships to take the Blaye channel than the shallower Médoc channel.
Playing only a negligible role in the defence of the Gironde estuary, Fort Médoc was never to be tested under fire. A garrison was stationed there until 1916 and in 1930 it became the property of the Cussac-Fort-Médoc local authority. Today the town council manages the site in conjunction with the association of the friends of Fort Médoc. The fort is currently the subject of an ambitious renovation programme and has for many years hosted various cultural events in the summer season.
Tours The fort is open for tours every day in the summer season. More information from the mairie of Cussac-Fort-Médoc Access 40 km from Bordeaux via Blanquefort and Margaux, on the D 2. Mairie of Cussac-Fort-Médoc 34 Avenue du Haut-Médoc 33640 Cussac-Fort-Médoc tel. + 33 (0) 5 57 88 85 00 fax. + 33 (0) 5 57 88 85 15