*History Lesson for the ignorant*
As the allied offensives of 1918 drew to and end and the german defeat became a reality, Marechal FOCH (commander of the western front) requested that the French military transport organisation find a place where two trains could meet, one carrying himself and representatives of the allied commands and another carying the Germand high command. His criteria were "a place with the solitude that was to ensure calm, silence, isolation and respect for the defeated opponent during the time of negotiations." which was why it was not to be in Paris or any of the other major cities.
The site chosen was in the heart of the forest of Compiegne, at a siding originally used for resupplying rail-borne heavy artillery, whichdid not exist on any civillian rail map but was accessible from the main rail network.
The train bearing FOCH arrived on the 8th November, The german delegation, accompanied by the French commandant De Bourbon-Busset, arrived shortly afterwards. The Armistice was signed 3 days later, in FOCH's wagon, at 05h15 on the 11th November,
Between the wars, the clearing was developed into aplace of remembrance for the dead and of celebration of Victory and Peace. A Stone slab, inscribed with the legend "Here on 11 November 1918 succumbed the criminal pride of the German Empire defeated by the free peoples he intended to enslave." ( My translation from the original French.)
When the French capitulated in 1940, Hitler demanded that their reddition be signed in the same clearing as the "Infamous peace" of 1918. and the German engineers ressurrected the original wagon from its building and returned it to the exact spot where the 1918 armistice had been signed.
Hitler was present for the beginning of negotiations but rapidly left, the armistice was later signed by the Generals Keitel and Huntzinger.
The site was then systematically destroyed by the Nazis, Hitler ordered the wagon to be taken to Berlin, the statues and stone slab are dynamited and the site is plowed over.
With the Allied advances in 1944 the wagon left Berlin and was eventually burned by the SS in the Forest of Thuringe, on Hitlers order.
The site was reconstituted as in 1918 during the 40's, a wagon of the same series was rebuilt to replacate the actual wagon. The peices of the original stone monument were recuperated from Germany and reunited in the clearing in 1946.
It is still there today.
*Here endeth the Lesson*
I rode past this place years ago on my way back from visiting the battlefields of the somme, but was out of time and need to get home. I have been wanting to visit since.
Yesterday I got the opportunity, so despite the round trip being over 500km and probably 7h in the saddle, which I have not done in a looong time, I set off early, about 07h30 ish. Nice clear skies and 20°c.
The Plan:
I planned to ride up there using the N and D roads and ride back using some N roads, but mostly Autoroute. this was the only way I could keep saddle time down below 8 hours and got me back home just before a strom front, moving west to east across the country bringing some serious rain if the weather pundits were to be believed. I HATE using the Autoroute on a bike and the tiger 800 is not designed for it, or i'm not...
Having ridden a couple of hours, I reckined it was time for breakfast. Stopped in a little boulangerie in a village just south of the seine and rode on the breakfast by the river in Marnay sur Seine
By 10 O'clock the temps had risen to the point that I needed to remove my sweater, so I pilled over in a shady spot, removed sweater and was just having a glug of water when this little creature came to say Hi
Another hour or so saw me stopping at the Memorial to the 128th infantry regiment ( My wif'e great grandfather fought and died at Eparges with this regiment in 1915 ( https://www.landofmemory.eu/en/sites-historiques/ridge-of-eparges/ )
The plaque reads "Here the 128th division stopped the enemy (June 1918) and with a victorious offensive (july 1918) contributed to their definitive retreat"
The sides of the monument cite their Battle honors and there are 12 major 1st war battles listed, including Eparges, and Verdun is listed twice, once in 1914-16 and again in 1916-18.
For those who don't know, Verdun is the French equivalent to the Somme, Mons, or Ypres for the British army.
Slight change of historical register further down the road as I spotted this over the treetops
This is the Chateau de Pierrefonds, a 17th century re-interpretation of a middle ages castle, and whilst interesting, was not on the agenda for today (https://www.chateau-pierrefonds.fr/en/discover/history-of-the-castle-of-pierrefonds )
I stopped for a picnic lunch in the forest of Compeigne and rolled up to the Armistice clearing at about 13h00
The stone monument, defaced and scarred but intact.
There was some fucking ignorant wanker foreign tourist walking around on it when I got there and he got quite pissed off when I pointed out the multiple signs saying "please do not walk on the monument" Fucktard!
the main clearing. In the foreground is the position of the French Wagon, the stone monument in the centre, and the other side of it an identical placement where the German high command wagon stood.
The Wagon is housed in a small museum off the theleft of the above picture, but I'm too tight fisted to pay 8€ to look at the exterior of a reproduction of the original... so I didn't.
But here's Marechal FOCH tomake up for it
Dissapointed there not being anything more to see, I glugged some more water and coffee (30+°c now) and set off for the return journey.
Not only was it f'king hot, it was the last day, bar one, of the French summer holidays so the entire population of northern France ( especially Paris) was trying to get home from their Summer hols on the south coast ( today, Sunday will be worse...) and boy was I glad to be riding south, the northbound carriageways were all full as a very full thing and moving at a crawling pace, miles upon miles of bumper to bumper traffic. I had to stop a number of times on the way back, by hour 6 my knees were really bad and I had to stop to cool down and move my knees every half hour or so. The autoroute stations were all heaving with herds of sweaty miserable people, but thanks to the T-shirt my daughters bought for me, no-one though it worth while to get too close:
Igot home just around 18h00 and had been watching the storm brewing off to the west fro the last half an hour or more, but I managed to get in and the bike undercover nefore the storm broke.. lots of thunder and lightening but only 4... I counted, 4! spots of rain.
I collapsed onto the couch, realising that I had pushed just that bit too far, I pulleda muscle in my right shoulder getting up off the sofa and so today have been hobbling arund with fucked knees and a muscle, or possibly tendon, problem in the shoulder. I think I need to keep daily saddle time below 6 hours in the future...
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