Heninel, a ses Enfants.

Memorial in Heninel, France to the men of the town who died in World War One.  This monument is placed next to the village church.

Pro Patria, French War Memorial

As with many French memorials, this war memorial was originally for the dead of World War One but was later added to so that those of World War Two could be additionally included.

MKTH photo.

British Expeditionary Force Memorial, France

Henri Guillaumet, Pilot from Ligne

A memorial in Ligne, France, to Henri Guillaumet, a pilot who lost his life in World War Two.

The memorial was placed on the 50th anniversary of his death.

MKTH photograph.

Memorial to the men of Hallay Champagne who lost their lives in World War One.

A town memorial to the dead of World War One in the Champagne region.

In memory of Paul Vincent.

A monument to Paul Vincent, who was arrested on May 12, 1944, deported to Nevengamme, and who died at Bergen Belsen on April 13, 1945.

Monument to the soldiers of Villers sur Fere who lost their lives in World War One.

A monument in the French town of Vilers sur Fere to those who lost their lives in the service of France during World War One.

Monument to returning partisans, France.

A French monument to six French partisans who returned by parachute and lost their lives on May 9, 1944.

I'm unfamiliar with this incident, but a large percentage of these operations were unsuccessful due to the penetration of the British SOE by the Germans. The SOE was only one of several British secret service organizations during the war and was not a full time professional one.  Following the war it investigated the penetration and somewhat, but not fully, determined what had occurred, although it also operated to cover up the event as well.

This monument indicates that the captured Frenchmen were deported to Germany where they must have been subsequently executed at some point.

French War Memorial, Reconnaissante France.

French war memorial in  Reconnaissante France.  Like many of these memorials, this one had the names of the World War Two war dead added following the Second World War.

MKTH photographs.

French village war memorial for World War One.

A memorial in a French village to its World War One dead.  Note the number of names on the memorial.  No wonder the memory of the Great War is so alive in France.

MKTH photographs.

Memorial to French War Dead. Gandelu France

This memorial in Gandelu, France has been kept current following its original dedication to World War One's lost soldiers.  Those lost in World War Two, the French Indo-China War, and the Algerian War were later added.

MKTH Photographs.

Monument to French War Dead, Versailles.

A monument to French war dead at the Palace of Versailles.

MKTH Photograph

War Memorial, Coulombs, France.

The war memorial in Coulombs, France, dedicated to the men of the town who lost their lives in World War One and World War Two.

The flags are those of France and the European Community.

Churches of the East: The ruins of of Saint Albain Nazaire, France.

Churches of the East: The ruins of of Saint Albain Nazaire, France.:

The ruins of of Saint Albain Nazaire, France.

The 16th Century "Old Church" at St. Albain Naizaire in France stands as a silent reminder of the violence of World War One.  The church was destroyed by the French Army to keep it from being used by the Germans as an observation post in 1914.

Following the war, locals elected not to rebuilt the church and leave it as a monument to the tragedy of the war.

All photographs by MKTH.

Memorial to the Dead of the Country, World War One and World War Two. France.

A French villages memorial to its dead of World War One, with names added for World War Two.

MKTH photographs.

Foch Memorial, Paris France

This statue in Paris is in memory of Ferdinand Foch.

Foch was a significant French commander throughout World War One with military service dating back to the Franco Prussian War.  In March 1918 he became the supreme Allied commander, a role which he occupied until the end of the war.

Joffre Memorial, Paris France

This is the memorial to Joseph Joffre, who was commander of the French forces in World War One from the start of the war into 1916.  While he was basically promoted up out of that position in 1916, his early leadership in the war was responsible for the French being able to stop the tide of the German advance.

Monument to Charles Peguy, Villaroy, Île-de-France, France.

We've already mentioned Charles Peguy in a prior post on Le Grande Tombe de Villaroy.  Here's a nearby monument to Peguy himself.

Peguy is a celebrated French poet who, as already noted, lost his life in the battle noted.  He's an interesting character having gone from being an atheist to deeply believing, but quixotically non observant Catholic.  This monument is in his honor.

Monument to 13 Executed from Choisy Le Roi, Seine. August 13, 1944

This monument is dedicated to 13 residents ("Fusilles", which means shooters, so presumably partisans) of Choisy Le Roi (a town near Paris) who were "victims of German barbarism" on August 22, 1944.  They were executed.  I don't know the circumstances of their execution, but there would be many like them.

Photographs by MKTH.

Statue of Maréchal Gallieni at La Musée de la Grande Guerre à Meaux

This is a statue of Marshall Joseph Gallieni at the Museum of the Great War in Meaux, France.

Gallieni was a Corsican (of Corsican and Italian descent who had a long career in the French Army, which he'd entered as an officer in 1868.  He'd been captured in the Franco Prussian War and added the German language to his knowledge of French and Italian while a prisoner.  Thereafter he'd served in French colonial wars, steadily rising up the ranks.  He retired prior to World War One in 1914.

Having only recently been retired, he returned to service at the start of the Great War and became the Military Governor of Paris. By that time his health was fragile and he was suffering from prostrate cancer.  He died in 1916.