The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (French: Tombe du Soldat inconnu) holds an unidentified member of the French armed forces killed during the First World War, to symbolically commemorate all soldiers who have died for France throughout history. It was installed in Paris under the Arc de Triomphe on 11 November 1920, simultaneously with the interment of a British unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey, making both graves the first examples of a tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the first to honour the unknown dead of the First World War. The burial site, surrounded by black metal posts linked together by chains, consists of a slab of granite from Vire on which is inscribed the epitaph: Ici repose un soldat français mort pour la Patrie, 1914–1918 ("Here rests a French soldier who died for the Fatherland, 1914–1918"). In 1923, an eternal flame was added, rekindled every day at 6:30 pm. After World War II, a bronze shield embellished with a sword engulfed in flames, offered by the Allies to the glory of the French armies and in memory of the liberation of Paris, was installed at the foot of the tomb. In 2021, the shield was moved to the Salle des Palmes. The expression Dalle sacrée ("Sacred slab"), popularized by General Weygand, is used by associations of veterans to designate the tomb and its flame. The monument is guarded on a permanent basis by a specialized unit of the National Police.
Context From the first year of the Great War, many projects to honour the dead were launched. Thus, the number of plaques and visitors' books began to increase. The honorary mention of Mort pour la France ("Died for France") was made into law on 2 July 1915, for those who died in combat. In a speech at the Rennes Eastern Cemetery on 26 November 1916, François Simon, president of the local section of the Souvenir français (an association founded in 1887 to keep alive the memory of the dead of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870), first evoked the idea of opening the doors of the Panthéon to one of the ignored fighters who died bravely:
Pourquoi la France n'ouvrirait-elle pas les portes du Panthéon à l'un de nos combattants ignorés, mort bravement pour la patrie, avec, pour inscription sur la pierre, deux mots : « un soldat » ; deux dates : « 1914–1917 » ? Cette inhumation d'un simple soldat sous ce dôme, où reposent tant de gloire et de génies, serait comme un symbole ; et plus, ce serait un hommage rendu à l'armée française tout entière. Why should France not open the doors of the Pantheon to one of our ignored fighters, who died bravely for the country, with two words for inscription on the stone: "a soldier"; and two dates: "1914–1917"? This burial of a private soldier under this dome, where so much glory and genius rest, would be like a symbol; and more, it would be a tribute to the entire French army.
The idea did not really materialize until after the end of the conflict, but it first took the form of a guestbook remembering all the dead from the war: this book would be placed within the Pantheon. It went forward thanks to the press and, on 19 November 1918, the deputy of Eure-et-Loir, Maurice Maunoury, made a legal proposition for this idea. The Chamber of Deputies finally adopted, on 12 September 1919, the proposal to bury "a disadvantaged man who had died" in the Pantheon. However, the location was later shifted to the current location instead of at the Pantheon. The law was adopted unanimously by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. It was André Maginot, Minister of Pensions, himself a war cripple, who presided over the ceremony of choosing the soldier to be buried. It took place in one of the legendary places of the First World War: the citadel of Verdun.
Choosing the Unknown Soldier
On 8 November 1920, Auguste Thin, a Private (Soldat de Deuxième Classe) with the 132nd Infantry Regiment, then 21 years old, was tasked with identifying the unknown soldier who would rest under the triumphal arc. Auguste Thin would later be part of the Légion des Mille. The bodies of eight soldiers who had served under French uniform but could not be identified were exhumed in the eight regions where the deadliest fighting had taken place: in Flanders, Artois, the Somme, Île-de-France, on the Chemin des Dames, the Champagne, at Verdun, and Lorraine. Initially, nine soldiers and nine sectors had been chosen, but in one of the sectors, none of the exhumed bodies offered the guarantee of being French. On 8 November 1920, the eight oak coffins were transferred to the citadel of Verdun, and set on three catafalques, each guarded by two veterans. On the next day they were viewed by an estimated 8,000 visitors. On 10 November, André Maginot, Minister of Pensions, approached one of the young soldiers carrying out his duties, Auguste Thin, who had been recruited as a volunteer in the class of 1919. Thin had distinguished himself by bravery, and his own father was a missing person. Maginot handed Thin a bouquet of white and red carnations and explained the aim of his appointment: the coffin on which this young soldier placed the bouquet would be transferred to Paris and buried under the triumphal arch.
Il me vint une pensée simple. J'appartiens au 6ème corps d'armée. En additionnant les chiffres de mon régiment, le 132, c'est également le chiffre 6 que je retiens. Ma décision est prise : ce sera le 6ème que je rencontrerai. A simple thought occurred to me. I belong to the 6th Corps. Adding the numbers of my regiment, the 132nd, equalled the number 6 which I held onto. My decision was made: it would be the 6th coffin I come across. The whole event and the search for the soldier are recreated in Bertrand Tavernier's film La vie et rien d'autre (1989).
Burial
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