Armistice Day

Eternal flame in memory of those killed on the battlefieldArmistice Day (in memory of the Armistice of Compiègne). The eternal flame in memory of the defenders who died on the battlefield burns in squares, near the walls of fortresses, in cemeteries, in the vaults of pantheons in many countries on all continents. And this sacred tradition was established when in 1920 in Paris there was a grave of a soldier. On November 11, 1923, an eternal flame was lit over it.

Five years earlier, on November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed in Compiègne Forest between the Entente countries and Germany. It was the end of the First World War. The grave of the Go soldier keeps the memory of one and a half million French people who died in this war. The eternal flame always burns over the grave.

On Armistice Day, celebrations with the laying of flowers at the monuments of the dead are held in all cities of France. This, of course, does not mean that the French honor the memory of the victims only on this day. This is especially true when traveling across the French expanses towards the border with Germany. Pointers - the Ardennes, Varden, the Maginot line resurrect the pages of history in memory, and a poster with the inscription - "Here were the great battles of the First World War" - involuntarily makes you slow down.

The anniversary of the end of the First World War was formerly called the Victory Day, but now it is designated in calendars as the Armistice Day.