Today's Date:

60th anniversary of the Provence Landing

Speech by M. Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic.

Toulon, August 15, 2004

Your Majesty,

Heads of State and government,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Sixty years ago, at the cost of immense sacrifices, the forces of freedom pursued their assault to smash the machine of death and hatred that was on course to enslave Europe, in contempt of essential human values.

After North Africa, Sicily, Corsica and Normandy, on this very spot in Provence on 15 August 1944, a new stage began in the merciless struggle that would decide the fate of our nations.

At the orders of Generals Patch and de Lattre de Tassigny, galvanized by exceptional leaders, thousands and thousands of fighters gained a foothold on these beaches and, breaching the enemy's defences, opened a major new front.

Even as the Western Front was demanding prodigious efforts of them and the fighting raged on in Italy, the Americans and British decided to engage additional troops in this theatre of operations and accepted the price.

The memory of the allied soldiers who fell under enemy fire was honoured yesterday and this morning in Draguignan, La Motte-Le Muy, Le Dramont and Cavalaire.

Representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom, as I said on 6 June in Arromanches before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and President George W. Bush, France will never forget the blood your children shed for her freedom.

On that 15 th day of August 1944, it was with profound, intense, unforgettable joy and pride that French men and women watched the army of fighting France engaged alongside her allies in the struggle to liberate our soil!

In accordance with the wishes of General de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, our soldiers once again responded to the call of history. Transcended by a common ideal. United by essential values: liberty, equality and fraternity.

Liberty. Liberty guided the fighters, just as it sustained those who had just broken through the front in Normandy and the Resistants inside France, who at last came out into the open and provided decisive support to the landing forces.

Equality. In the ordeal of fire, equality was the very hallmark of their destiny. Equality in the face of fear, suffering and death. But also equality in honour and glory.

Glory that was won in Tunisia, in 1942, then in Sicily and Corsica, the first metropolitan French Department to be liberated. Glory that was confirmed, with such abnegation and tenacity, throughout the terrible Italian campaign. Glory that from then on was to follow them and light the march that would take them from the Rhône to the Rhine and onwards to the Danube.

In Berlin, on 8 May 1945, behind General de Lattre de Tassigny, seated at the victors' table, the sacrifice and courage of the entire cohort of those heroes were recognized and honoured.

Fraternity. Brotherhood in arms, which united in a single purpose, under the French flag, those combatants of all origins who made up the First Army, officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the prestigious 1 st Free French Division under General Brosset, the 3 rd Algerian Infantry Division under General de Monsabert, the 2 nd Moroccan Infantry Division under General Dody, the 4 th Moroccan Mountain Division under General Sevez and the 9 th Colonial Infantry Division under General Magnan.

Those valiant soldiers came from metropolitan France and from every horizon of France's overseas empire. Young men of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, sons of West and Equatorial Africa, Madagascar and the Indian Ocean, Asia, America and the Pacific Territories, all distinguished themselves in the battles for our liberation and paid a very heavy price for victory.

African Chasseurs 1, Goumiers 2, Tabors 3, Spahis 4, Tirailleurs 5, Zouaves 7... their names will resound brightly for ever in1 our memories. Those exemplary soldiers, often heirs to immemorial warrior traditions, admirable in their courage, daring and loyalty, were the indefatigable artisans of victory.

Your Majesty, Presidents and High Representatives of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Comoros and Djibouti, the sons of your nations joined their names to the military legend of France and forever mingled their blood with ours.

After the Liberation, General de Gaulle awarded the Order of the Liberation to the Sultan Mohammed Ben Youssef, the future King Mohammed V.

Allow me, Your Majesty, to cite the words that your illustrious grandfather pronounced during the darkest hours of our history: "…Until the standard of France and her allies is crowned with glory, we owe her assistance without reservation, we must not grudge her any of our resources nor shrink from any sacrifice…".

President of the Algerian Republic, it was in Algiers, headquarters of the institutions of fighting France, that the arms of France were rebuilt, on the other shore of the Mediterranean, opposite the occupied metropolitan France.

The powerful effort of rebuilding, conducted from Algiers with material support from our allies, produced that admirable troop, which drew on the grand traditions of the French army and gathered children from metropolitan France and the empire within a single force.

Algiers' highly crucial and singular role obviously deserved to be recognized. I have therefore decided, in this exceptional and unique case, to award the Order of the Légion d'Honneur today to the City of Algiers, as the capital of fighting France.

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Your Majesty,

Heads of State and government,

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are gathered to pay homage to all the combatants of that heroic chapter.

To the veterans in attendance today, I would like to express, on behalf of France and of every French man and woman, our infinite gratitude. Many of your brothers in arms fell on the field of honour, here in Provence, and in many other theatres. Their memory has never left you and I know that it is with you today. They are entitled to our respect and, above all, our eternal gratitude. At this moment, we remember each of them with profound emotion and immense respect.

Since 15 August 1944, the wind of history has continued to blow. In subsequent years, the nations from which many of you hailed acceded to independence. Nevertheless, as the enthusiasm roused by these days of remembrance shows, those tragic and glorious hours that we shared in hardship and pain remain in our memories and in our hearts. They forged between us an unbreakable bond.

The struggle for freedom that we led together expressed a vision of humanity and the world common to all of us. A vision founded on universal values and principles, in the name of which we fought side by side. A vision that also respects our differences and the infinite diversity of people, cultures, religions and civilizations. A vision that recognizes an equal right to dignity for each and every person.

It is my firm belief that this vision of the ties between people, founded on respect for our diversity, was strengthened by our brotherhood in arms. It underpins the profound friendship that unites us. It is the most precious legacy bequeathed by the heroes we honour today./.

1. Light cavalry corps from Africa.

2. Moroccan soldiers in the French army.

3. Moroccan battalion-size units recruited in mountain areas.

4. Native cavalry corps of the French army in North Africa.

5. Infantrymen from the colonies.

6. Light infantry corps in the French army originally formed in Algeria and long retaining their oriental uniform.