The story of Augustin Trébuchon
The small memorial garden outside is dedicated to Augustin Trébuchon. It’s not a familiar name. He was no great general or war leader, like Marechal Foch, whose statue stands proudly over the bigger, more primped section of the forest clearing.
Where history changed forever
More than 100 years ago, history reached a momentous turning point in this glade. On November 11th, 1918, the Armistice drawing hostilities to a close in World War I was signed here, in utmost secrecy after two days of negotiations.
The Glade of the Armistice is shrouded by the stately autumnal forest of Compiègne, 78km north-east of Paris. It’s an elegant, refined and decidedly unrowdy kind of city, where the grand Château de Compiègne built under the orders of Louis XV would otherwise be the main attraction. Napoleon’s shocking magenta bedroom, the gold-columned ballroom and the stately map room are all on show to the public, and the attached park disappears off into the horizon.
It has long been a major horse breeding centre, and the horse chestnut-lined grand boulevards seem purpose-designed for riding down. But in 1918, they came by train rather than horse.
The Armistice Museum and the famous carriage
There’s now a memorial museum at the side of the glade, and the star of the show is the dreamily handsome teak railway carriage, emblazoned with the name of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Originally, it was a dining car servicing the lines from Paris to Brittany, but during World War I it was commandeered then eventually used as Foch’s mobile office.
Carriage 2419D is laid out as it would have been in 1918, with a central table that four men each from the opposing delegations were seated around. Marechal Foch, commander in chief on the Western Front, was second from the right – a position someone else would insist on occupying 22 years later.
How the Armistice came to be signed
The rest of the museum tells us how the world got to this point. Europe’s high-stakes system of defensive alliances – which included much of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East; the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that sent all the dominos toppling; the grim trench warfare stalemate; the slow German retreat in 1918. Guns and grenades are on show in cabinets, and maps show the movements of the front line.
By November, it was time to end the war that had seen millions die in the dirt, from the Somme to the Sinai. Germany was the last holdout – the Ottomans had signed their own Armistice at Mudros in October, which would lead to much of the Middle East being arbitrarily divided up amongst the Allied Powers.
Compiègne, away from the front line and where locals hadn’t seen too many horrors to blow the talks through naked hostility towards the Germans, was chosen as the place to hammer out the ceasefire.
It was conducted in high secrecy, with Foch keeping politicians and press away. He banned the taking of photographs, although one railway employee took grainy shots on the sly, and the German delegation was sneaked in from the front line.
The carriage’s second, darker chapter
But the story of the carriage didn’t end there. It would see another Armistice, this time in World War II.
In 1940, the forces of Nazi Germany had overwhelmed France, and a French surrender was on the cards. Adolf Hitler, filled with a burning sense of injustice at the way Germany had been treated after the First World War, saw an opportunity for revenge. He had the same carriage brought back to the same glade outside Compiègne, and insisted on sitting where Foch had sat while the French agreed to terms.
Then, he had the whole site, memorials and all, razed apart from the statue of Foch that still stands today. No-one knows why it was allowed to stand, but presumably it’s so that Foch could forever look over the destruction.
The carriage was later taken to Germany to be displayed in Berlin, then burned down. The one on display is not the original – although it was made around the same time, laid out exactly as the Armistice Carriage would have been, and renumbered.
The legacy of the Armistice and the last soldier to fall
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, much of Europe will fall silent to commemorate the anniversary of the World War I Armistice. But it comes as a surprise to learn that it was signed at 5.15am, rather than 11am. This was in order to give enough time for word to be spread along the frontline, and everyone to put their guns down together.
And the most heartbreaking part of the museum covers arguably the most senseless death in a war full of millions of senseless deaths. At 10.50am, just ten minutes before the ceasefire came into effect, a member of the 415th Infantry Regiment was killed while delivering a message for his captain between Sedan and Mézières. He was the last French soldier to die during the Great War. His name? Augustin Trébuchon.
Getting there
It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train. The Glade of the Armistice, and Armistice Museum, is 6.6km east of the railway station.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Where is the Glade of the Armistice located? | In the forest of Compiègne, approximately 78km north-east of Paris. |
| How can I get to the Glade of the Armistice from Paris? | By train to Compiègne (around 40 minutes), then 6.6km east by taxi or bicycle. |
| What can visitors see at the Armistice Museum? | A reconstructed version of the Armistice Carriage (Carriage 2419D), wartime artefacts, maps, and exhibits about both World Wars. |
| When was the World War I Armistice signed? | At 5.15am on 11 November 1918, taking effect at 11am the same day. |
| Who was the last French soldier to die in World War I? | Augustin Trébuchon, who was killed at 10.50am on 11 November 1918, just ten minutes before the Armistice took effect. |
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More France travel
Other France travel articles on Planet Whitley include:
- The day I decided to walk to France.
- Can you get next-day tickets for Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey in Normandy?
- A practical guide to visiting the Normandy American Cemetery.
- Practical information about the Cannes to Ile Ste Marguerite ferry.
- Is the Nice to Monaco ferry the best way to get to Monaco?
