A memorial to all soldiers killed on the battlefields of northern France in the First World War will be inaugurated at Notre Dame de Lorette on Armistice Day (November 11th) 2014.
The monument will honour the 600,000 soldiers who fell in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region between 1914-18.
In a break with tradition, their names will be listed alphabetically, not by nationality.
Announcing France’s Centenary programme in 2013, President François Hollande said: “It is true that it was against each other that these young men died for their country. In the name of common humanity they will now be gathered together.”
Notre Dame de Lorette, on the former battlefields of Artois near Vimy, is the largest French military cemetery in the world.
Source: Elysée Palace press conference November 7th 2014
Photo: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News
Posted by: Peter Alhadeff, Centenary News