THE SYMBOLISM OF THE MONUMENT "FORGOTTEN BATTLES" May 16th, 17th and 18th, 1940, to Go out of the shadow of the men who seemed condemned twice: "the first one to die for nothing, and the second to be completely forgotten.
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Getting out of oblivion the places and the people who had participated in this painful page of French history.
SYMBOLIC OF THE MONUMENT
" FORGOTTEN FIGHTING "
May 16, 17 and 18, 1940.
Get out of the shadows of men who seemed condemned twice:
"the first to die for nothing, and the second to fall into oblivion."
This is the purpose of this set.
The designer has thus imagined a sober, open stele, leaving the gaze free, in order to make perceptible by the senses the atrocities engendered by war.
In this commemorative work three symbols are strongly expressed:
Memory and Remembrance - Disaster - Sacrifice.
They are highlighted by the juxtaposition of four elements:
The Star Socle, the Open Book, the rocking France, the dying soldier.
Only Thiérache's blue stone seemed able to speak of this unknown drama.
The concrete base, with rounded corners, is identified with the upper part of the Maginot-type blockhouses.
It supports the foundation of France in which is embedded the first stone, laid on May 21, 2000, taken from one of the 40 blockhouses located in the forest of St. Michael.
The star recalls both the place where five routes converge.
Its shape evokes the numerous fortifications at the Vauban in our border region.
The two vertically erected stones symbolize the two pages of the Book of Memory, namely the past and the present.
The desired passage that exists between them, acts as an intertwined window, in order to focus the gaze on the forest and the nearby blockhouses. He invites illusion and creates glamour until he suggests the shadow of these martyrs dedicated to sacrifice.
The left page carries a famous quote from Victor Hugo, epigraph of the event.
The one on the right, turned west, lists these 24 "Dead for France."
The protective slab that covers the whole evokes the mysterious dolmens that scatter their native land.
It is here, in all its power, that the strong point of this work dedicated to the Duty of Memory is to be found.
The Disaster.
This context is represented by a tipped France: it collapses, it swallows up.
Moreover it is oriented so that the rays of the sun are precisely at the zenith, on May 18 at 12 o'clock, that is to say at the time of the death of the 24th soldier.
The incrustation of a rifle bullet found nearby forever marks the place of desperate combat.
The Sacrifice.
It is evidenced by the characteristic attitude of a wounded soldier, dying, his body still upright but already "absorbed" by the earth.
While clinging desperately to this stone of France, he wants at the same time to straighten out, but in vain, his rocking country.
Striking attitude of a brave soldier who, at the final moment, has nothing left but his self-sacrifice for any baggage ...
His outstretched arms, one towards Thiérache, the other towards his native land, his hands disproportionate by suffering, his clawed fingers express in a very expressive way, his desperate effort which embodies
France's Resistance and Hope.
Visitors, Passants, to the quote of Victor HUGO let's add that of GLADSTONE:
"We must forgive but not forget"
and let us all ensure that popular expression is realized
"Never again!"
The designer: Michel DUVAL.
Thanks to Michel DUVAL who took over with all his heart the first aborted project and gave it an exceptional symbolic value, this monument became a recognized work of art and promised to be a real place of contemplation.
And thanks to Jacques RAGUET, who took the initiative of a large public subscription, hundreds of targeted letters gradually made it possible to collect the necessary sums.
The monument was inaugurated on 22 June 2003 with weapons, in the presence of hundreds of people.
As for the circuits and the book, on 19 June 2004 they gave rise to very moving ceremonies in which many parents of the soldiers of 1940 participated.
We were touching the goal.
Unfortunately, Pierre VANDERPUTTEN had left us terraced by a thunderous affection.
But thanks to his heirs, we keep his presence thanks to the legacy of his library at the association.
These five hundred specialized and rare works, accessible to the public at the "MARC BLANCPAIN" media library of Saint Michel, but also to students and researchers, will serve, we disappeared, as a transition, link with future generations.
Finally, young enthusiasts of military history have created, from our association a group of historical reconstruction
"Thiérache Histoire Vivante" which animated a sound and light and which wins every year a great success during the heritage days.
The Saint Michellois Association of Remembrance of May 1940, by bringing together and working together such a wide variety of personalities, has given rise to a series of friendships of such density that we will all remain marked by this great joint work forever.
Claude GIRAULT.
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