Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey was born in Nancy on the 17th November 1854, achieved the Baccaleaureat in July 1872, entered Saint-Cyr and 1873 before attending army training school 1876. Made a lieutenant in December 1877, he was posted to the 20th light cavalry regiment at Rambouillet before being transferred on request to Châteaudun. Trained in cavalry, in the 2nd regiment of hussars, he joined his regiment in Sézanne in August 1880, which left two months later for Algeria. Posted to Orléansville followed by Algiers, he developed a passion for Arab civilisation, learning the language and familiarising himself with colonial matters, administration and French and Algerian politics. He preferred a solution of autonomy and protectorate to the policy of total assimilation to France and direct administration, believing that France's action could only be accepted and respected by itself respecting the civilisations and cultures it sought to manage, and that this must be achieved by working in association with the local elites.

After a few months spent in Teniet-el-Haad, outpost of southern Algeria, captain Lyautey was moved to the 4th light cavalry regiment in Bruyères, in the Vosges, in 1882. In October of the following year he became aide-de-camp for general Hotte, general inspector of cavalry, whom he followed in his postings to Commercy then to Tours. On the 19th November 1887, he took command of the 1st squadron of the 4th light cavalry regiment of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In this position, he set about improving the living conditions of his men, both materially as well as culturally, and to train them, putting his reformist principles into practice with regard to the officer's social role. He was given the opportunity to publish his innovative theories in an article which was to have a major impact, entitled ?On the social role of the officer in universal military service?, published in the Revue des Deux Mondes (Two Worlds Review) on the 15th March 1891.

Transferred to the 12e regiment of hussars at Gray, then made Chief of Staff of the 7th cavalry division at Meaux in 1893, Lyautey was appointed major in Indochina en 1894. First as Colonel Gallieni's Chief of Staff, then as major of the Chinese border military zone (Lang Son territory), he took part in the expeditions to upper Tonkin against the Chinese pirates pillaging the region. By Gallieni's side, and convinced that the populations must be shown the French army's strength to prevent them gaining the upper hand, he set up the necessary infrastructure for improving the region: reconstruction of villages, road building, rebuilding and development of cultures and business. Second-in-command, before being promoted to Chief of Staff of the occupation forces, he was subsequently appointed to director of the military bureau of Armand Rousseau, governor general of Indochina. Improving his knowledge of Indochina's political, administrative and financial issues, he continued his action throughout the territory. In March 1897, he returned to Gallieni, appointed a few months previously as the governor general of Madagascar. Gallieni assigned him the task of pacifying the northwest and the west of the island followed by organising the south. The occupation of the territories was combined with large-scale infrastructure work designed to improve the economic and commercial growth of the country.

Promoted to colonel in 1900, he returned to France in 1902 to take command of the 14th regiment of hussars at Alençon before being called to the South-Oran region in 1903 by Charles Jonnart, governor general of Algeria. Appointed as brigadier general, he took command of the Aïn Sefra subdivision in October then of the Oran division at the end of the 1906. Eventually appointed major general in 1907, the following year he became the government's high commissioner for the occupied zone in the Oudjda region of Morocco. He began his task by supervising the redevelopment of the border zone between Algeria and Morocco, the seat of constant unrest, by setting up new frontier posts designed both to secure the region, regularly threatened by incursions from tribes hostile to the French presence as well as to open up the route into Morocco. He set up a line of frontier posts stretching from the south of Béchar, renamed Colomb, occupied in October 1903, leading to the north at Berguent, in the oasis of Ras el Aïn, in June 1904. He dedicated the months that followed to strengthening and extending the operation towards the west. As much a diplomat as a military man, Lyautey also improved and increased contacts at the same time with the various local chiefs in order to bring them around to accepting French policy. After the pacification of the border region between Algeria and Morocco, he returned to France in 1910 to take command of the 10th army corps of Rennes.

In March 1912, the convention of Fès established the French protectorate over Morocco, whilst the north of the country remained under Spanish influence. Lyautey became its resident general commissioner on the 28th of the following April. The protectorate was not unanimously accepted in Morocco however. There were many opponents to the treaty and to the sultan who signed it. The situation continued to deteriorate yet further. Arriving in Casablanca in mid-May, Lyautey went directly to Fès, which was besieged by the Berber chiefs' troops. It was to be the beginning of a difficult campaign. The country was in total chaos, and administratively and economically, the protectorate had to be entirely built from scratch. At the end of the violent battles, peace was finally returned to Fès and its region. During the summer, a new sultan was named. Lyautey was called upon to re-establish this new sovereign's religious and political authority to the whole country. Peacemaking in the region was slowly but surely achieved. In May 1914, Taza, strategic town for entry to Algeria, was occupied. The plains and coastal towns were now under French control. At the same time as these military operations were being carried out, he undertook large scale economic and social modernisation work in order to promote growth in the country. Important administrative, legal and economic reforms took place. Administrative frameworks were set up, ports, agriculture research and mining were all developed, towns and roads were modernised and schools and hospitals and dispensaries were created and built, and fixed or mobile sanitation stations... the task was enormous.

During the First World War, he briefly became War minister from December 1916 to March 1917, in the Briand cabinet before returning to Morocco. Despite weakened manpower, he managed not only to maintain a French presence but also to increase his influence throughout the whole conflict. On his return and for eight more years of working tirelessly, intense political and economic activity led by him contributed to the country's growth. The crowning achievement of his career came in 1921, when he was awarded the title of Marshal of France. In the Rif, however, the situation was beginning to cause concern. The uprising led by Abd el-Krim against the Spanish was advancing, threatening French Morocco. In spring 1925, Abd el-Krim attacked, threatening the Taza and Fès sectors. Lyautey, who had seen his forces gradually reduced in numbers over the recent years, immediately organised a defensive barrier whilst waiting for reinforcements. Opposed to the French governments' handling of operations, and subsequently denied by them, he returned for good to France in October and retired to Thorey, in Lorraine. From 1927 to 1931, he undertook a last mission, the organisation of the international colonial exhibition of Vincennes.

Marshal Lyautey passed away on the 27th July 1934. Initially buried in Rabat, his body was exhumed and repatriated to France in 1961 to be buried in the Invalides cemetery. Hubert Lyautey was awarded the Grand-Cross of the Legion of Honour and was also decorated for outstanding gallantry in the field, of the colonial medal of Tonkin and Morocco, holder of the medal of Morocco for campaigns in Casablanca, Oudjda and Haut-Guir, as well as numerous foreign decorations. Elected to the Academy Française on the 31st October 1912, he was also the author of several studies and books, including "The social role of the officer in universal military service", published in La Revue des Deux Mondes (The Two Worlds Review), 1891, The colonial role of the army, 1900, In Southern Madagascar, military penetration, political and economic situation, 1903, Letters from Tonkin Madagascar: 1894-1899, 1920, Words of action: 1900-1926, 1927, Letters from youth: 1883-1893, 1931.

Raymond, Nicolas, Landry Poincaré, was born into an old family from the Lorraine on the 20th August 1860 in Bar-le-Duc. Following his secondary education in Bar-le-Duc and then in Paris, with a degree in law as well as in the arts, he was enrolled as a lawyer at the Paris bar in 1880. He received his doctorate in law and became a legal columnist at the Voltaire, a radical daily newspaper edited by Jules Laffitte. In 1886, at the age of 26, he made his debut in politics as the head of the cabinet of Jules Develle, the Minister of Agriculture. He was elected General Councillor of the Meuse and then, the following year, MP for the same département. Specialising in financial matters, he was the reporting officer of the 1890 budget and in 1893 accepted the portfolio for Public Instruction and the Arts in Prime Minister Dupuy's cabinet. In 1894, he became Minister of Finance before taking on the portfolio for Public Instruction and the Arts again for a short period, along with running the Department of Religion in Ribot's cabinet in 1895. After the fall of the latter, he declined Jules Méline's offer of Finance Minister in the new government. Whilst establishing a rapidly well-known legal practice, he continued to carry out his parliamentary duties and became vice president of the Chamber.

He was Senator of the Meuse from 1903 to 1913 and in 1906 he accepted the portfolio for Finance in Sarrien's cabinet. He was elected to the French Academy in 1909. In January 1912, as President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs following the Agadir Affair, which set Germany and France against Morocco, he was in favour of restoring executive power against the Assembly and of a liberal yet strong state and set out to solve the problems of overseas policy. On the 30th March he signed the treaty of the protectorate with the Sultan of Morocco. In addition, he sought to strengthen the bonds between France and Great Britain and Russia. To this end, an agreement to provide naval assistance was negotiated with Great Britain and in August he went to Russia to revive the alliance. A "Secular Republican" and man of order, he was elected President of the Republic on the 17th January 1913. Faced with the prospect of war, he got the three year military service law voted through in August and, on the overseas front, strengthened alliances by making a second trip to Russia in July 1914. Once war was declared his vital task was to win the conflict. For that he had to muster up all his forces and unite all the faithful, both from the left and the right, in a word, make the "Sacred Union ". The government would be headed in turn by Viviani, Briand, Ribot and Painlevé, but before weapons could prove successful. Military and political problems multiplied: defeat for the French on the Chemin des Dames, mutinies on the front, the reawakening of social tensions and the end of the Sacred Union. Keeping his personal feelings to himself, Poincaré called upon his political enemy, Clemenceau, who became President of the Council on the 16th November 1917. In 1918 came the victory and the return of the Alsace-Lorraine to France.
At the end of his 7-year term of office he again became Senator of the Meuse and was Chairman of the Reparations Committee between February and May 1920, before being appointed Council President and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1922. He was in favour of the integral execution of the Treaty of Versailles and, despite Allied reticence, he sent General Degoutte's troops to occupy the Ruhr on the 11th January 1923, as the Germans were late with their reparations payment. The result of the legislative elections, giving a majority to the "Cartel of the left", forced him to hand in his resignation in June 1924. He was recalled on the 23rd July 1926 to try to right a catastrophic financial situation, immediately restoring confidence and managing to stabilise the Franc. Absorbed by monetary problems, he left the domain of foreign affairs to Briand who chose a different policy, that of seeking a compromise with Germany. Due to illness, Poincaré resigned in July 1929 and concentrated on writing his Memoirs, Au service de la France (Serving France) (1926-1933). He died on the 15th October 1934. Following a state funeral held in Paris, he was buried in Nubécourt.

Aristide Briand was born in Nantes on 28 March 1862, into a family of café owners whose ancestors worked the land. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in Saint-Nazaire before moving to Paris where he worked for La Lanterne, the populist anti-clerical newspaper founded by Eugène Mayer. Alongside Jean Jaurès, he struggled to maintain unity between the opposing currents within the French socialist movement. After being elected as a parliamentary representative in 1902, he went on to hold many political posts. He was a brilliant speaker and was chosen as rapporteur of the bill for the separation of the Church and the State, which was passed in 1905. In 1906, he was entrusted with his first ministerial portfolio in charge of public instruction and worship. He succeeded Georges Clemenceau as Prime Minister in 1909, and one of his many noteworthy successes was to pass the bill for workers' and farmers' pensions (April 1910).

On the eve of World War 1, while supporting the lengthening of military service, Aristide Briand urged the world's political leaders to seek peaceful solutions to their differences. However, when war was declared, he entered the "sacred union" mixed party government as Justice Minister and Vice-President of the Council, and gave his support to the command during the Battle of the Marne. He played an important role as head of the government and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1915 to 1917, notably organising the Salonika expedition and coordinating military and economic operations with the Allies. The four years of war had bled Europe dry. The former belligerents, who had borrowed heavily to keep up supplies to their troops, were economically devastated by the end of the conflict. In France, the richest and most industrialised regions had been extremely hard hit. With almost one and a half million dead and more than a million seriously wounded, a large section of the population had been wiped out. War pensions and the costs of reconstruction were a drain on the treasury. The peace treaty, signed with Germany on 28 June 1919 in Versailles, stipulated that Germany must pay reparations for the damage caused by the war. The thorny question of settling these reparations was to become one of the main issues presiding over Franco-German relations for a decade or so and the source of much contention between the Allies themselves.
In the aftermath of the war, Aristide Briand was a partisan of the strict application of the Treaty of Versailles and firmly believed that Germany should be forced to pay reparations for the war. He would nevertheless abandon this stance in favour of a more peaceful approach in the framework of the League of Nations, and from then on he concentrated his efforts on improving relations with Germany. At the Cannes conference in January 1922, he was open to the proposal of alleviating German debt in return for a guarantee of French borders. His position was severly criticised by Alexandre Millerand, president of the Republic, and he was forced to resign. As the French representative of the League of Nations in 1924, he continued to advocate a policy of conciliation, conscious that Franco-German relations could only be improved by making certain concessions. He expressed his views thus: "I believe that peace within our nation, political and social peace, is the ultimate wish of the entire country... The desire for peace, in a country such as France, which has suffered so much from the war and, since the armistice, has been subjected to a series of challenges and provocations that would justify impatience, is proof of patience". Once again Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1925, Aristide Briand pursued his policy of reconciliation with Germany, seeing it as the only way to establish lasting peace in Europe. He struck up a dialogue with his German counterpart, Gustav Stresemann, who was also a partisan of the policy of conciliation. At the Locarno conference, which brought together the representatives of Germany, Belgium, Italy, France and Great Britain, he signed the treaty with Germany to guarantee the borders of France and Belgium and established a pact for mutual assistance on 16 October 1925. After Locarno, he supported Germany's application to join the League of Nations, which would be accepted the following year. In December 1926 he and his German counterpart, Gustav Stresemann, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
For some, the Locarno agreements and the admission of Germany into the League of Nations marked the beginning of a new era announcing the end of Franco-German antagonism, but for Aristide Briand it was only the first step on the road to peace. The absence of the United States from the League of Nations weakened the influence of the organisation. In 1927, he embarked on a mission to coax the United States out of its isolationist position. By calling out "to the American nation", he gained the support of its powerful pacifist organizations. On 27 August 1928, the Briand-Kellogg Pact, so named after the US Secretary of State with whom Briand had negotiated the pact, "outlawed" war: "Article 1: All signatory states solemnly declare in the name of their respective peoples that they condemn the reliance on war in order to resolve international differences and renounce the use of war as an instrument of national policy in their mutual relations. Article 2: All signatory states recognise that the settlement or resolution of any differences or conflicts that may arise between them, regardless of the nature or origin of these differences or conflicts, should be sought through peaceful means only." Despite being approved by fifty-seven countries, including Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union, this pact had only a moral value since it did not define the sanctions that would apply to any country that failed to respect its dispositions. Moreover, the United States, which was enjoying a period of economic prosperity at the time, was reticent about getting involved in an eventual European conflict.
Aristide Briand then decided to embark upon a new and resolutely European policy. In September 1929, during a speech in Geneva, he took up an idea previously put forward by Count Coudenhove-Kalergi, the Austrian diplomat who had founded the Pan-Europa movement, and suggested the creation of a regional union, a "European Federation" whose competence would extend mainly to economic matters and would not encroach upon national sovereignty. This proposal met with great success and the delegates of the twenty-seven European states commissioned him to produce a memorandum on the subject. This memorandum was presented to them in May 1930. In it Aristide Briand took his project a step further. Falling within the framework of the League of Nations, this institution would be composed of a European Union Conference, a representative body bringing together representatives of all the European government members of the League of Nations, a permanent Political Committee, an executive body, which would be presided over in turn by the different member states, and a Secretariat. One of the main aims would be "the creation of common market to raise the level of well-being to a maximum amongst all the peoples of the European community".
The memorandum did not receive the same welcome as his initial words at the League of Nations. In France and around the world, Aristide Briand's vision met with increasing resistance. The greatest obstacle was the persistence of nationalism. While the principle of cooperation was not questioned, the idea of a full political and economic European union was far from popular. It was the political aspect of the project, especially the mention of "federal links", that awakened suspicion. A commission was created to study the proposal on 23 September 1930 and Aristide Briand was elected to preside over it. Although the commission was charged with studying the practicalities of a possible collaboration at the heart of Europe, it would not come up with any results. Throughout his diplomatic career Aristide Briand, known as the "pilgrim of peace" never ceased to look for opportunities to establish peace in Europe. Sadly, his project for a united Europe was unable to resist the economic crisis and the rise of dictatorships that would ensue. Aristide Briand died on 7 March 1932.

Heureux ceux qui sont morts pour la terre charnelle,

Mais pourvu que ce soit pour une juste guerre.

Heureux ceux qui sont morts pour quatre coins de terre.

Heureux ceux qui sont morts d'une mort solennelle »

Charles PEGUY, Prière pour nous autres charnels

Charles Péguy is born on January 7th 1873 in Orléans in the bosom of family of modest conditions. His father, who was a carpenter dies the same year of his birth and he is raised by his mother, who works as a upholsterer. Very good pupil, Charles Péguy, will benefit of an university grant, which will give him the chance to do brilliant studies after the elementary school. After having accomplished his military service in the 131st I.R. in 1892 he enters the University preparing him for senior posts in teaching, where he will be taught of prestigious professors as the medievalist Joseph Bédier, the writer Romain Rolland or the philosopher Henri Bergson, this last professor will have a great influence on his intellectual maturity. In 1896 he will get his bachelor degree in arts. After failing the competitive examination in philosophy for the posts in the teaching, he will leave the institution in 1897. He will give up any religious practice and commit himself in the conviction of the dreyfusic cause, after having met Bernard Lazare. In 1897, Peguy collaborates for the "Revue Blanche" and completes his fist work, "Jeanne d'Arc" in June. The next year he will write "Marcel, premier dialogue de la cité harmonieuse."

In 1898 Charles Péguy will marry with Charlotte Baudouin, sister of his best friend, who died little time before. The couple lives in 7, rue de l'Estrapade in Paris and will have four children : Marcel in 1898, Germaine in 1901, Pierre in 1903 and Charles-Pierre in 1915. Marcel Baudouin oriented him towards socialistic ideals. Vharles Péguy will be involved in political actions, at the side of Jean Jaurès, Lucien Herr and Charles Andler. Furthermore he collaborates in the creation of the "Revue Socialiste" (Socialistic Revue). With George Bellais he will also invest in a bookshop, which will quickly become a meeting point of the resistance to the Marxian socialism, preached by Jules Guesde and Jean Jaurès will try to influence the parliamentary left. In January 1900, Charles Péguy founds the "Cahier de la Quinzaine" an independent publishing house, which publishes every month it's own literary review. Installed in 8, rue de la Sorbonne he will personally take the leadership. It will publish 229 parts between the January 5th and July 1914, which will give Péguy the chance to publish his works,as well as those of his friends such as André Suarès, Anatole France, Georges Sorel or Julien Benda. Péguy also writes topical essays about the separation between the church and the government, the crises of the teaching sector.

In 1905, the incident of Tanger reveals to him the German threat and the "universal evil". Péguy will protest against pacifism and internationalism of the left. Thus in October he will publish "Notre Patrie" (Our Fatherland), a polemic and patriotic work. During the following years the writer also denounces the scientism of the "intellectual party", in other words he criticises his former university professors. In 1908 he will come back to his religious convictions. He will confide this to his friend Joseph Lotte. From 1912 to 1914 Charles Péguy will leave for several pilgrimages in Notre-Dame de Chartres. The writer at present castigates the official socialism, to which he blames its demagogy and its anticlerical sectarianism, after the separation of the church from the government. The writer will write mystical, philosophic essays such as "Clio, Dialogue de l'Histoire et de l'Âme païenne" , published between 1909 and 1912, or "Victor-Marie, comte Hugo" in 1910. His personal and timeless style is expressed in various oratorical poems of insistent rhythms : "Le Mystère de la charité de Jeanne d'Arc", in 1910 ; "Le Porche du Mystère de la deuxième Vertu", one year after; "Le Mystère des et La Tapisserie de sainte Geneviève et de Jeanne d'Arc" in 1912 ; "La Tapisserie de Notre-Dame", en 1913. In his last works Péguy re-discusses the the confrontation between mysticism and politics and the interior life of the citizens, of whom he already talked at the beginning of his work. Finally with "Eve", written in 1913, this vast symphonic poem of some 3000 quatrains, the patriotic writer again celebrates the dead of "the carnal world", the world of the ancestors.

On August 2nd 1914, the general mobilization, forces Péguy to interrupt his essay about M. Descartes et the Cartesian philosophy, a speech for the defence ofBergson. On August 4th he takes the command of the reservists unit in Colommiers and reaches Lorraine. After a short campaign in Metz his 276th I.R. moves backwards to Aisne, where the French army retreats. On September 5th 1914 in Villeroy, close to Meaux, at the time of the Marne battle, General Péguy's unit will be confronted with the enemy, who is trying to reach Paris. Here the officer will be shoot in the middle of his forehead. His body is buried among his other companions in the cemetery of Chaucoin-Neufmontiers.

Heureux les grands vainqueurs.

Paix aux hommes de guerre.

Qu'ils soient ensevelis dans un dernier silence.

Que Dieu mette avec eux la juste balance

Un peu de ce terreau d'ordure et de poussière.

Que Dieu mette avec eux dans le juste plateau

Ce qu'ils ont tant aimé, quelques grammes de terre.

Un peu de cette vigne, un peu de ce coteau,

Un peu de ce ravin sauvage et solitaire.

Mère voici vos fils qui se sont tant battus.

Vous les voyez couchés parmi les nations.

Que Dieu ménage un peu ces êtres débattus,

Ces coeurs pleins de tristesse et d'hésitations.

Et voici le gibier traqué dans les battues,

Les aigles abattus et les lièvres levés.

Que Dieu ménage ces coeurs tant éprouvés

Ces torses déviés, ces nuques rebattues.

Que Dieu ménage un peu de ces êtres combattus,

Qu'il rappelle sa grâce et sa miséricorde.

Qu'il considère un peu de ce sac et cette corde

Et ces poignets liés et ces reins courbatus.

Mère voici vos fils qui se sont tant battus.

Qu'ils ne soient pas pesés comme Dieu pèse un ange.

Que Dieu mette avec eux un peu de cette fange

Qu'ils étaient en principe et sont redevenus."

Extrait de l'œuvre poétique Eve, publiée dans le Quatorzième cahier de la quinzième série, le 28 décembre 1913.

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).

If on the British tombs you can see discrete paper poppies, sometimes plaited in crown, which you can find on all the steles and cenotaphs, it is to John Mc Crea that we owe this image. France chose the cornflower. Since 1921 the British chose this fragile field flower. However, the ?flower of memory? used on the 'Poppy day?, has not the duty to remind the colour of the parade uniforms but instead the vision of the battlefiels of Fssex Farm in Boezinge, near Ypres. The poem ?In Flandres Field? refers to all statements of the famous and unfamous autors and became the symbol of a generation that was killed in the prime of time, following the example of Dorgelès of of Genevoix.

This poem evokes with a lot of simplicity the battlefields of Flandres : In Flanders Fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch, be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

The countryside of the French and Belgian Flandre is literally scattered of these battlefields where you can see vestiges and places of memory. Today it is possible to visit Mc Crean's emplacement in Boezinge, where he wrote this poem and where the bunker border the Essex Farm. Still now they it erect watching over the channel along the Diksmuideweg (road of Dixmude)...

Jean-Baptiste ESTIENNE (1860-1936), native of Condé-en-Barrois is the father of the tanks. He will be first in the mathematics competition of the colleges of the entire country in 1880 and the same year he will be accepted to the Polytechnique. Thus he enters in the artillery. Curious individual, he is interested in aeronautics, which is a sector of full expansion. He recommends the use of balloons as well as plans to carry out adjustments in the precision of the shootings. Soon he is going to be in charge of the aeronautic service where he will have captain Ferber under his orders, working as inspector. The pilots who leave his service are all patented and will officially participate to the manoeuvres of 1910, conferring to the aviation a real existence in the army. But in the first place he is supported in particular because of his qualities as Officer of the artillery. Indeed, from August 1914 he recommends the establishment of an assault artillery, by the creation of mobile machines, equipped of cuirass and then of chenille, because of their solidity and their aptitude to be driven in very varied soils. In case the British preceded him in the realization of the project, by building tanks, he will end up convincing the General staff to use this mobile artillery to break the front.

Appointed general inspector of the assault artillery, he was also the promoter of the diversification of armoured communication regiments . His idea concerning the assault tanks and its use, inspired the Germans and in particular Heinz Guderian, who was interested on the subject of Estienne's general war strategy of movement. The weapon of the tanks became thus an independent unit it was not anymore only an infantry support.

Charles Delestraint was born in Biache-Saint-Vaaste (Pas-de-Calais) in 1879 and admitted to the Saint-Cyr military academy in 1897. On 1 October 1900, the young second lieutenant chose the 16th infantry battalion as his outfit. In 1914, Delestraint took a brilliant, noteworthy part in the retreating French army's earliest fighting, but the Germans captured him during the attack on Chesnoy-Auboncourt on 30 August 1914. He spent four years in the Plasemburg POW camp and was released in December 1918. Then, Delestraint led a brilliant military career. A passionate interest in heavy cavalry led him to become second in command of the Versailles tank school in 1930. Promoted to the rank of colonel in 1932, he commanded the 505th Vannes tank regiment; in 1936 Delestraint became a general and took over the third tank brigade in Metz. As a reserve officer, he was recalled to active duty when the Second World War broke out in September 1939 and demobilised in July 1940.

Delestraint rejected the armistice, resisted the occupation and fiercely opposed Nazism; his Christian faith led him to loathe theories that debase human beings and espouse racism and anti-Semitism; he refused to believe that barbarism would replace civilisation. His opposition, which crystallised in 1942, was philosophical and theological. When Jean Moulin contacted him on 28 August 1942, both men agreed on the appropriateness of separating the military from the political in the resistance. Under the alias Vidal, he became head of the secret army that grouped together the Combat, Libération and Franc-Tireur networks' fighting units. Delestraint went underground and moved to Lyon, near Gestapo headquarters, where he put together the secret army's general staff: Frenay, Commandant Castaldo, General Desmazes, Hardy, Aubrac and Lassagne. In February 1943, Delestraint and Moulin went to London to coordinate the secret army's actions with those of the inter-allied command. Back in France, he developed the Resistance, in particular in Vercors. "Vidal" tirelessly worked on his troops' unification and operational cohesiveness and prepared demonstrative, occasional actions, preferably in the daytime. A series of arrests on 15 March 1943 decimated his staff. On Tuesday 8 June 1943, the Abwehr arrested Delestraint at the Muette metro stop while he was on his way to a secret meeting. After nine months of interrogation, during which the general disclosed no information, he was sent before the tribunal of Breslau and interned at Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp on 10 March 1944 as part of Nacht und Nebel. As the allies pressed forward, the prisoners were transferred to the Dachau concentration camp, where Delestraint was executed in cold blood on 19 April 1945.