Newsletter

The liberation and defence of Strasbourg

Jean-Marc Berlière

Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque

27 May

© Fondation de la Résistance - © Collection A. Sasse, Mémorial Leclerc, Musée Jean Moulin

National Resistance Day

Tribute to the Portuguese soldiers killed during the Great War

© IWM, Q5565, Portuguese soldiers writing letters in the trenches, near Neuve-Chapelle, 25 June 1917

As part of the commemorations of the centenary of the Battle of Lys, the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, accompanied by the country’s prime minister António Costa, attended several ceremonies held in France on 8 and 9 April 2018.

The “Normandy-Niemen” regiment on an airfield in Stuttgart

We are in Stuttgart, 1945. Let’s for a moment forget this off-camera shot to explore how this photo pays tribute to the “Normandy-Niemen” regiment, the most decorated fighter group in French aviation history, whose first victories were won in April 1943 and their last exactly two years later.

The Australian Remembrance Trail gains an interpretation centre

In April 2018, on the centenary of the recapture by the Australians of the town of Villers-Bretonneux, the Sir John Monash Centre is set to open, forming part of the Australian Remembrance Trail.

Liberation Route Europe

Crédit : J.Ooijman

Three years ago, the Liberation Route Europe Foundation opened a Europe-wide remembrance trail, taking visitors in the footsteps of the Allied soldiers. On the eve of the 75th anniversary of Liberation, the different partners involved are preparing to receive visitors in their droves.

Passing on memory to young people

Interview with Marie-Eve Vaillancourt

Towards the remembrance of overseas operations

In recent years, there has been a step change in public awareness of the sacrifices made by servicemen and women deployed on overseas operations, especially with State memorial services for personnel killed on operations. But these dramatic events are not new. The time separating us from the first overseas operations offers researchers today the distance they need to interrogate this recent memory still under construction.

Report: DILCRAH

Combating racism and anti-Semitism

11-nov

18 June

Photomontage: visuals ©Fondation de la France Libre

Photomontage : visuels ©Fondation de la France Libre

National day commemorating General de Gaulle’s historic appeal to the French people to refuse to accept defeat and continue the fight against the enemy.

Article: *Mont Valérien, a major national remembrance site***

16 July

1957 Commémoration. ©Mémorial de la Shoah

The National Day of Remembrance of the victims of racist and anti-Semitic persecutions by the French State and of tribute to the righteous of France

The maquis

Maquis of the Drôme. A maquisard keeps watch at a refuge, armed with a German MG-42 machine gun. Copyright private collection.

The Phoney War

We pay tribute to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics with this photograph of a cross-country skiing race in the Jura, dating from the very end of the bitterly cold winter of 1939-40.

The “Ottoman Auxiliary Battalion”

Les zouaves au siège de Puebla (1863) – © Photo RMN-Grand Palais - F. Raux

Following several years of political instability and financial crisis in Mexico, in 1861 President Benito Juárez suspended the repayment of loans to the European powers. At the news, the Europeans (France, Great Britain and Spain), encouraged by the conservatives who had been badly treated by Juárez’s liberal regime, decided to intervene militarily.

The Charles de Gaulle leaving the Suez Canal (10-11 December 2001)

This photo puts the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in the final stages of renovation at Toulon, in the spotlight. Paris city council’s patronage of the vessel has given three classes of middle and high school students the opportunity to learn about the ship, and thus also about defence issues and careers. The youngsters will visit Toulon on 5 and 6 March.

The internment of the Gypsies in France during the Second World War

Montreuil-Bellay internment camp, 1944. Jacques Sigot collection

The legal framework for overseas operations

There is no single legal framework for overseas operations, nor even a single legal definition. For over 50 years, France has been involved militarily in theatres of operations that have led to conflicts and interventions of a varied nature, requiring the legal framework to be adapted. In addition, from the decision being taken by the head of State, head of the armed forces, to the overseas operation getting under way, the law is present at every stage, whether to justify the use of force, plan the action or protect the troops.