Emmanuel Macron honors this Sunday “the spirit of resistance” by commemorating in the Aisne a battle in which Charles de Gaulle, then unknown colonel, distinguished himself in 1940. It is the first step in a series of celebrations this year in tribute to "the man of June 18". Scheduled for a long time, this presidential trip is the first, in more than two months, not to be devoted to the fight against the coronavirus.
The president is expected at 11:00 a.m. in Dizy-le-Gros, a small village northeast of Laon, where he will meditate before a monument in memory of the fighters of the "Battle of France" who, despite his 60,000 deaths in the spring of 1940, "is a blind spot in French military memory", according to the Elysée.
The courageous defeat
Then, at La-Ville-aux-Bois-les-Dizy, he will deliver a speech to salute the action of Charles de Gaulle who launched on May 17, 1940 the 4th battleship division in an attempt to slow down the rapid advance of the Wehrmacht in northern and eastern France. The "Battle of Montcornet" failed but was later considered a "courageous defeat", one of the few counterattacks showing that the French army could put the Germans in trouble. A text read during the ceremony will recall the historical details of the episode.
"It is from there" that "hope" has "grown and ended by what has been called the liberation of France", said de Gaulle when he returned to the scene, as president, a quarter century later.
Select committee
In his speech, Emmanuel Macron "will honor the refusal of resignation and the spirit of resolution and resistance" which the high-ranking official had shown in the face of the "spirit of defeat" of certain French military and political leaders, indicates l 'Elysium.
For this sober ceremony and in a restricted format due to the pandemic, the Head of State will be surrounded by the Minister of Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin, Yves de Gaulle, grandson of the former president, Xavier Bertrand, president ( ex-LR) from Hauts-de-France and Hervé Gaymard, president of the Fondation de Gaulle.
Macron's admiration for the General
Since the beginning of the quinquennium, Emmanuel Macron has, on several occasions, expressed his admiration for the founder of the Fifth Republic, with in particular the presence of the General's "War Memories" on his official photo or the addition of a cross of Lorraine with the Elysée logo.
"The form of overrun above parties in the service of the Nation" advocated by de Gaulle "could inspire Emmanuel Macron, himself a follower of overrun," said the entourage of the president. These commemorations are little disputed in France, where de Gaulle "entered the heritage" and where "anti-Gaullism has now almost disappeared", according to the same source.
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- Emmanuel Macron
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