Compiègne

It is almost seven o'clock in the evening when we arrive at the trainsation of Compiegne after our adventure in Reims. We have to hurry up to find a place for the night and still have to eat before it gets dark. It’s a bit of a gamble but we decide to walk out of the city towards the large forest where in 1430 Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians on behalf of Philip the Good and sold to the English. When we see the sign on which Clairiere de L'Armistice is stated, we take a breath. So we are on the right track.

We are less happy about the fact that this is still about 7 km away. On the way we ring the door of a house somewhere to make use of the outside water tap and then continue our walk towards the trees in the distance. Suddenly a car looms up ahead of us and stops beside us; a little anxious we watch as the man opens the window and then recognize the man as the one we just got water from. He has filled two bottles of water and wants to hand it over personally. About a kilometer in front of the museum we walk into the gigantic forest which is very suitable for setting up tents and we talk about the busy day that we have had.

We decide not to go to "Memorial de L Internation et de la deportation" - a museum or memorial of the old French army camp that was used as transit camp for the German occupation in WWII. We have read that there is nothing left of the old camp. Maybe we will come back sometimes here and see it anyway. After we set up the tent and a few glasses of wine we go towards our tents.

In the morning we get up early and see the fantastic place where we slept last night. Since we do not know exactly how far it is to walk to the "Clairiere de l'Armistice" museum and we don’t want to arrive the same time as the tourbusses, we want to be the first to enter.

Just before we arrive at a large open area with two pairs of railway-tracks with large square concrete blocks, we see on the other side a monument of a "falling eagle", placed there after WWI. On the concrete blocks we see, when we have reached the gravel site, the name Foch, the name of the marshal, responsible for all the allied troops in WWI.

We assume that here the wagon was placed in which in 1918 the surrender was signed by Germany with regards to WWI. This would take place on the 11th hour on 11 November 1918! The other block will then indicate the place of WWII; everybody remembers those little films with Hitler making his little dance and the French commanders who just signed the surrender of their country. 

Unfortunately, we are just too late to be the first to enter the actual museum, but it is not busy yet. When we have paid the entrance fee we are explicitly told that no photos may be taken; a bit strange since the wagon is a replica. The original was taken from the museum by Hitler in 1940 to allow the French to undergo the same "humiliation" as the Germans 22 years earlier.

When it was present in Berlin for an exhibition in 1943, it was destroyed by an Allied bombing. Other stories are circulating that it was set on fire by the Nazis in April 1945 because Hitler feared that he would now have to enter the wagon to sign a capitulation of Germany for the second time in 27 years. The wagon is placed in the middle of the museum and unfortunately you can not walk in it, but just around it.

Through the open windows you can see how small and oppressive it must have been inside to get here, especially when you consider how important and “heavy” the moment was. I just try to figure out who was present here; the names of the people who were there are printed on the back of the chairs. There are two rooms next to the car that forms the masterpiece, which contains information and documents from both WWI and WWII.  

The trick is to walk all the way back to Compiegne station and head towards the battlefields of the Somme - next stop; the French city "Albert".