Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (France)

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (French: Tombe du Soldat inconnu) holds an unidentified member of the French armed forces killed during the First World War, to symbolically commemorate all soldiers who have died for France throughout history. It was installed in Paris under the Arc de Triomphe on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with the interment of a British unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey, making both graves the first examples of a tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the first to honour the unknown dead of the First World War.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Tombe du Soldat inconnu
France
For the commemoration of all soldiers who have died for France throughout history
Unveiled11 November 1920
Location48°52′25.6″N 2°17′42.1″E
Arc de Triomphe
Place Charles de Gaulle
(formerly Place de l'Étoile)
Paris, France

・ ICI ・
REPOSE
UN SOLDAT
FRANÇAIS
MORT
POUR LA PATRIE
—
・ 1914 ・ 1918 ・

(HERE RESTS A FRENCH SOLDIER WHO DIED FOR THE FATHERLAND, 1914–1918)

The burial site, surrounded by black metal posts linked together by chains, consists of a slab of granite from Vire on which is inscribed the epitaph: Ici repose un soldat français mort pour la Patrie, 1914–1918 ("Here rests a French soldier who died for the Fatherland, 1914–1918"). In 1923, an eternal flame was added, rekindled every day at 6:30 pm. After World War II, a bronze shield embellished with a sword engulfed in flames, offered by the Allies to the glory of the French armies and in memory of the liberation of Paris, was installed at the foot of the tomb.

The expression Dalle sacrée ("Sacred slab"), popularized by General Weygand, is used by associations of veterans to designate the tomb and its flame.[1] The monument is guarded on a permanent basis by a specialized unit of the National Police.

Context

From the first year of the Great War, many projects to honour the dead were launched. Thus, the number of plaques and visitors' books began to increase. The honorary mention of Mort pour la France ("Died for France") was made into law on 2 July 1915, for those who died in combat.[2]

In a speech at the Rennes Eastern Cemetery on 26 November 1916, François Simon,[3] president of the local section of the Souvenir français (an association founded in 1887 to keep alive the memory of the dead of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870), first evoked the idea of opening the doors of the Panthéon to one of the ignored fighters who died bravely:[4]

Pourquoi la France n'ouvrirait-elle pas les portes du Panthéon à l'un de nos combattants ignorés, mort bravement pour la patrie, avec, pour inscription sur la pierre, deux mots : « un soldat » ; deux dates : « 1914–1917 » ? Cette inhumation d'un simple soldat sous ce dôme, où reposent tant de gloire et de génies, serait comme un symbole ; et plus, ce serait un hommage rendu à l'armée française tout entière.[5][6]

Why should France not open the doors of the Pantheon to one of our ignored fighters, who died bravely for the country, with two words for inscription on the stone: "a soldier"; and two dates: "1914–1917"?[Note 1] This burial of a private soldier under this dome, where so much glory and genius rest, would be like a symbol; and more, it would be a tribute to the entire French army.

— François Simon
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lays wreath during 70th anniversary VE Day commemoration in Paris, 8 May 2015.

The idea did not really materialize until after the end of the conflict, but it first took the form of a guestbook remembering all the dead from the war: this book would be placed within the Pantheon. It went forward thanks to the press and, on 19 November 1918, the deputy of Eure-et-Loir, Maurice Maunoury, made a legal proposition for this idea. The Chamber of Deputies finally adopted, on 12 September 1919, the proposal to bury "a disadvantaged man who had died" in the Pantheon.[7]

However, the location was later shifted to the current location instead of at the Pantheon.[8] The law was adopted unanimously by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.[9]

It was André Maginot, Minister of Pensions, himself a war cripple, who presided over the ceremony of choosing the soldier to be buried. It took place in one of the legendary places of the First World War: the citadel of Verdun.[10]

Choosing the Unknown Soldier
Choosing the Unknown Soldier (reconstruction at Verdun).

On 8 November 1920, Auguste Thin, a second-class soldier with the 132nd Infantry Regiment, then 21 years old, was tasked with identifying the unknown soldier who would rest under the triumphal arc. Auguste Thin would later be part of the Légion des Mille.[11]

The bodies of eight soldiers who had served under French uniform but could not be identified were exhumed in the eight regions where the deadliest fighting had taken place: in Flanders, Artois, the Somme, Île-de-France, on the Chemin des Dames, the Champagne, at Verdun, and Lorraine. Initially, nine soldiers and nine sectors had been chosen, but in one of the sectors, none of the exhumed bodies offered the guarantee of being French.[12]

On 8 November 1920, the eight oak coffins were transferred to the citadel of Verdun, and set on three catafalques, each guarded by two veterans. On the next day they were viewed by an estimated 8,000 visitors.[12]

On 10 November, André Maginot, Minister of Pensions, approached one of the young soldiers carrying out his duties, Auguste Thin, who had been recruited as a volunteer in the class of 1919. Thin had distinguished himself by bravery, and his own father was a missing person.[12]

Maginot handed Thin a bouquet of white and red carnations and explained the aim of his appointment: the coffin on which this young soldier placed the bouquet would be transferred to Paris and buried under the triumphal arch.

Il me vint une pensée simple. J'appartiens au 6ème corps d'armée. En additionnant les chiffres de mon régiment, le 132, c'est également le chiffre 6 que je retiens. Ma décision est prise : ce sera le 6ème que je rencontrerai.

A simple thought occurred to me. I belong to the 6th Corps. Adding the numbers of my regiment, the 132nd, equalled the number 6 which I held onto. My decision was made: it would be the 6th coffin I come across.

— Auguste Thin[12]

The whole event and the search for the soldier are recreated in Bertrand Tavernier's film La vie et rien d'autre (1989).[13]

Burial
Photo from 11 November 1920.

On 10 November 1920, after the choice of the second-class soldier, Auguste Thin, was made, the coffin of the Unknown Soldier left Verdun immediately, under military escort.[14] The body was transported by train to Paris at the Panthéon, where the President of the Republic, Alexandre Millerand, delivered an address.[15] Safeguarded all night at Place Denfert-Rochereau, the coffin made a solemn entrance under the Arc de Triomphe on Armistice Day, 11 November 1920. It was placed on the gun carriage of a cannon 155, but was not buried until 28 January 1921, in the presence of civil and military authorities, including the marshals who distinguished themselves during the First World War (Ferdinand Foch, Joseph Joffre and Philippe Pétain). Also present were: Belgian Foreign Minister Henri Jaspar, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, and a representative of Portugal. At 8:30 am, the troops presented their arms. The Minister of War, Louis Barthou, bowed before the coffin and delivered a statement: Au nom de la France pieusement reconnaissante et unanime, je salue le Soldat inconnu qui est mort pour elle ("In the name of France piously grateful and unanimous, I salute the Unknown Soldier who died for her").[16]

The other seven bodies not chosen at the ceremony of 10 November 1920 now rest in the Faubourg-Pavé National Cemetery, near Verdun, in the Carré des sept inconnus ("Square of the Seven Unknowns").[17]

The Eternal Flame

Symbolism
The eternal flame over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The flame springs from the muzzle of a cannon taken from the enemy, placed in the centre of a bronze shield, from which radiates a frieze of chiselled swords.

The idea of burning a flame permanently was first put forward in early 1921 by the Ariège sculptor Grégoire Calvet.[18] It was finally Augustin Beaud who initiated his installation in reference to the small lamp that illuminated the cemetery of Panossas, where he lived in his childhood, because he found the site austere with regard to the symbol that it represented.[19] He next submitted the idea to General Henri Gouraud, military governor of Paris, and then to the municipal council, which approved it. Initially designed to be rekindled annually on 11 November, journalists Gabriel Boissy and Jacques Péricard proposed in October 1923 that it should be relit every day at 6:30 p.m. by veterans, an idea which was supported by public opinion.[20] The plaque from which the flame arises was designed by architect Henri Favier – the muzzle of a cannon pointed towards the sky, embedded in the centre of a kind of rosette representing an inverted shield whose chiselled surface consists of swords forming a star – which was made by the artist and iron worker Edgar Brandt.[21]

The sacred flame under the triumphal arch was lit for the first time at 6 p.m. on 11 November 1923 by André Maginot, who was then the Minister of War.[21][22]

Rekindling ceremony
The president of the Republic, Paul Doumer, rekindling the flame on the tomb in 1931.

The rekindling of the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has taken place at 6:30 every evening since 1923. This is performed by one of the veterans' associations.[21]

Founded in 1925 and declared on 16 October 1930, the association La Flamme sous l'Arc de Triomphe ("The Flame under the Arc de Triomphe") designated General Gouraud, a war-maimed military governor of Paris, as its first president; he held this position until his death in 1946.[23]

In 2022, Lieutenant General Christophe de Saint-Chamas, Governor of Les Invalides, succeeded Bruno Dary as head of the Comité de la Flamme ("Flame Committee"), overseeing the daily rekindling of the flame.[24]

Linked events

On 23 August 1927, the execution of the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti provoked riots in France, Japan, and South Africa.[25] In Paris, the tomb was desecrated during the riot; this event was at the origin of the creation of the Croix-de-Feu (Cross of Fire) Political Party.[26]

On 26 August 1970, a dozen women belonging to the Women's Liberation Movement laid a wreath under the Arc de Triomphe with the inscription: À la femme du Soldat inconnu ("To the wife of the Unknown Soldier"). Some of the banners displayed on that day had the slogan: Il y a plus inconnu que le soldat inconnu : sa femme ("There is more unknown than the unknown soldier: his wife"). This was the first media action of the movement.[27]

In other countries

The idea of a symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has spread to other countries. In 1921, the United States unveiled their own Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., while Portugal also unveiled its Túmulo do Soldado Desconhecido, and Italy its La tomba del Milite Ignoto. Many other nations have also followed the practice and created their own tombs.[28]

See also

Notes
  1. The speech is dated 26 November 1916.

References
  1. Weygand, Maxime (1932). "Le 11 novembre".
  2. "Projet de loi fixant au 11 novembre la commémoration de tous les morts pour la France". senat.fr. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  3. "Rennes. Hommage à François Simon et au soldat inconnu". 26 November 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  4. Vilain 1933
  5. Le Souvenir français (18 November 2016). "Francis Simon, précurseur de l'idée du Soldat Inconnu". souvenir-francais-92.org.
  6. "La tombe du soldat inconnu, une idée rennaise" (in French). 19 August 2014.
  7. Le Naour 2008, p. 20.
  8. Théophile Larcher (5 January 2022). "What is the history behind Paris's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier?". The Connexion. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  9. Vilain 1933
  10. Francine-Dominique Liechtenhan; Serge Barcellini (1996). "La gestion du deuil par l'État français : Histoire et perspectives d'avenir". Europe 1946: entre le deuil et l'espoir (in French). Bruxelles: Editions Complexe. p. 136. ISBN 978-2-87027-666-2.
  11. "FNCV Fédération Nationale des Combattants Volontaires". FNCV. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  12. "La citadelle souterraine – lieu du choix – Verdun-Meuse.fr". verdun-meuse.fr. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  13. Frédéric Plancard (18 July 2016). "Meuse : « La vie et rien d'autre » de Bertrand Tavernier a été tourné à Verdun". L'Est républicain (in French). Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  14. Bernard K (10–11 November 1920). "Le Soldat Inconnu". bernardkproject.com. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  15. "Le Journal 12 novembre 1920". RetroNews – Le site de presse de la BnF (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  16. "Inhumation solennelle du Soldat inconnu sous l'Arc de Triomphe". Gouvernement.fr (in French). Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  17. Transvosges (4 August 2013). "Le cimetière militaire du Faubourg-Pavé et le monument aux enfants de Verdun". transvosges.com. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  18. « Voix du bois des Caures » – Ferreira Martins 1937, Vilain 1933.
  19. Maxence Cuenot (11 November 2019). "Un Isérois à l'origine de la flamme sous l'Arc de triomphe". Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). p. 2.
  20. Beaucarnot, Jean-Louis (2013). Nos familles dans la grande guerre. Éditions Jean-Claude Lattès. p. 107.
  21. "The Unknown Soldier and Eternal Flame at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris". EU touring.com. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  22. Jagielski 2005, p. 135-152.
  23. "L'Histoire de la Flamme sous l'arc de Triomphe". La Flamme sous l'arc de Triomphe (in French). Retrieved 4 January 2023.
  24. Hervé Chabaud (24 March 2022). "Comité de la Flamme : le général de Saint-Chamas succède au général Dary". L'Histoire en rafale (in French). Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  25. Maxime Robin (18 August 2017). "Sacco et Vanzetti : et l'Amérique s'en prit à ses migrants". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  26. Kéchichian, Albert (2006). "Une milice supplétive contre l'Anti-France ?". Les Croix-de-Feu à l'âge des fascismes : travail, famille, patrie (Époques ed.). Seyssel (Ain): Champ Vallon. p. 72. ISBN 978-2-87673-450-0.
  27. Thomas Guien (10 March 2010). "Libération de la femme : encore un effort ?". L'Express. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
  28. "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Around The World (History)". Vivaboo.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2011.

Bibliography
  • Ferreira Martins, Maria Amélia (1937). O soldado desconhecido e a chama eterna The unknown warrior and the perpetual flame = Le soldat inconnu et la flamme perpetuelle (in Portuguese). Tipo da L.C.G.G. OCLC 496904993.
  • Jagielski, Jean-François (2005). Le soldat inconnu (in French). Paris: Imago. p. 248. ISBN 978-2-84952-021-5.
  • Le Naour, Jean-Yves (2008). Le soldat inconnu. Histoire (in French). Paris: Gallimard. p. 111. ISBN 978-2-07-035660-7.
  • Vilain, Charles (1933). Le Soldat inconnu, histoire et culte (in French). Paris: M. d'Hartoy. OCLC 494429153.

Further reading
  • Soudagne, Jean-Pascal (2008). L'histoire incroyable du soldat inconnu. Écrits (in French). Rennes: Ouest-France. p. 152. ISBN 978-2-7373-4520-3. OCLC 247458352.
  • "Notice nécrologique". La Voix du Bois des Caures (in French) (26th and 27th edition). 1 & 15 December 1928.

Filmography
  • La vie et rien d'autre (Life and Nothing But), a film by Bertrand Tavernier (1989) mentions the story of the choice of the Unknown Soldier in November 1920 (the order given to bury an anonymous soldier at the ceremony of choice among the eight coffins). The scene of the selection of the coffin has been reconstructed identically, dialogues included. Only one error should be noted; the bell ringing for the dead dates from 1931.
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