Glade of the Armistice
Encyclopedia
The Glade of the Armistice is a war memorial
in the Forest of Compiègne. It stands on the spot where in 1918 the Germans signed the armistice that ended World War I.
Today, Glade of the Armistice contains a statue of Ferdinand Foch
and the Alsace-Lorraine Memorial.
, the Germans set out to humiliate the vanquished French by forcing them to sign the Second Armistice at Compiègne in the Glade, the same place that the Germans had signed the Armistice 22 years earlier. Adolf Hitler
personally visited the Glade to participate in the ceremony. William Shirer reported on his reaction to seeing the monument:
The Alsace-Lorraine Memorial was dynamited three days later on Hitler's orders. The railway carriage in which both armistices were signed was carried back to Germany as a war prize and later burned in order to prevent its recapture by the Allies. The Alsace-Lorraine Memorial was rebuilt following the war.
War memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in war.-Historic usage:...
in the Forest of Compiègne. It stands on the spot where in 1918 the Germans signed the armistice that ended World War I.
Today, Glade of the Armistice contains a statue of Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
and the Alsace-Lorraine Memorial.
History
Following their victory in the Battle of FranceBattle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, the Germans set out to humiliate the vanquished French by forcing them to sign the Second Armistice at Compiègne in the Glade, the same place that the Germans had signed the Armistice 22 years earlier. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
personally visited the Glade to participate in the ceremony. William Shirer reported on his reaction to seeing the monument:
"Through my glasses I saw the Führer stop, glance at the [Alsace-Lorraine] monument.... Then he read the inscription on the great granite block in the center of the clearing: Here on the eleventh of November 1918 succumbed the criminal pride of the German empire . . . vanquished by the free peoples which it tried to enslave." I look for the expression on Hitler's face. I am but fifty yards from him and see him through my glasses as though he were directly in front of me. I have seen that face many times at the great moments of his life. But today! It is afire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph. He steps off the monument and contrives to make even this gesture a masterpiece of contempt. He glances back at it contemptuous, angry. . . . Suddenly, as though his face were not giving quite complete expression to his feelings, he throws his whole body into harmony with his mood. He swiftly snaps his hands on his hips, arches his shoulders, plants his feet wide apart. It is a magnificent gesture of defiance, of burning contempt....
The Alsace-Lorraine Memorial was dynamited three days later on Hitler's orders. The railway carriage in which both armistices were signed was carried back to Germany as a war prize and later burned in order to prevent its recapture by the Allies. The Alsace-Lorraine Memorial was rebuilt following the war.