Replay: French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on 80th anniversary of Provence landings

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00:00Your Highness, Heads of State and Government, President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Ministers,

00:14Ambassadors, Parliamentarians, General, Prefect, President of the Regional Council, President

00:25of the Departmental Council, Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Veterans, Ladies and Gentlemen,

00:39in the first hours of the 15th of August 1944, the Mediterranean coast was still under German

00:47occupation. Suddenly, in the Cannadelle, the Warchief was called from his slumbers.

00:59Who is there? he asked, fearing that he was going to be arrested by the Gestapo. Through

01:07his blinds, he heard the voice of Albert Torel, the captain, who answered open, it's

01:16the African army, the African army. The stationmaster opened up, and of course, after the landing

01:31in Normandy, after the catastrophes they had seen, many were expecting an attack of

01:37the Allies in Provence to take the ports and take the Germans from behind. And even

01:46though it was delayed, Operation Dragoon had been prepared for weeks, thanks to intelligence

01:52from the French Resistance. It was engaged, starting on the 9th of August, during the

01:59landing of thousands of French, English, American soldiers in Tarente-aux-Rondes, Brindisi.

02:08And nobody could then doubt that the largest fleet ever seen in the Mediterranean, 2,000

02:15American and British ships, destroyers, troop carriers, had assembled off the coast of Corsica.

02:27And of course, in the preceding days, air raids of the Allies had been so numerous that

02:32the churches along the coast, from Saint-Maxime to Lavandou, had given up the idea of celebrating

02:42the mass on the 15th of August. However, that night, a motion gripped Captain Torel and

02:50the stationmaster. The attack was underway. With epic proportions, 90,000 soldiers landing

03:03on the coasts of France, in the Calanques, with cliffs defended by thousands of soldiers

03:10from the Wehrmacht. To ensure success, the deepest night was essential, between midnight

03:19and dawn. The commandos in charge of destroying the enemy defences, for them, it was the shortest

03:25night ever. On the island of Levant, in Porcours, this is where the American and Canadian commandos

03:38landed at zero hour. Off Cap Negre, where the soldiers had to climb the cliffs to neutralise

03:46the German batteries. On another beach, in Esquillon, between Trias and Théoule, the

03:59Marines preferred to continue through a field filled with mines, rather than turn back.

04:08On the Alpha beach in the west, and the Delta sector in Saint-Maxime, the first American

04:16divisions landed in France, on a beach littered with mines and torpedoes. And then under bombs,

04:25German bombs and missiles fired by the Germans, the landing troops began. An uninterrupted

04:38line of soldiers, machines, battalions, sometimes pushed back in the Fréjus-Saint-Raphael beaches.

04:48The troops had to pull back to then move on to Dramont and Agué. And then at noon, on

04:56the semaphore of Saint-Maxime, flew the American flag. Place d'Élysse, the German soldiers

05:06were arrested and surrendered with their hands up. The next day, they rejoined the

05:16other troops. The 9,000 American and Canadian troops landed in an area which had been cleared

05:27by the resistance. It was not the same as in Normandy, as one of the men of the General

05:36de Lattre has said. It wasn't the same. Because here in Provence, 230,000 French

05:47soldiers landed, fully armed and prepared by our American allies. Many of them, Spalier-Goumier,

05:54the African tirailleur, also from the West Indies, had never been to France and discovered

06:03the red rocks of the coastline. Others had escaped from France, like a sailor who hadn't

06:12heard from his family for four years, who went to his house in Saint-Maxime and fell

06:19into the arms of his father. Many, like Yorgi Colli, who was born in Tchad, Manaman Belache

06:25from Algeria, both of them companions of the liberation after the war, had already been

06:31illustrated by their bravery in the battles of Tunisia and Italy. Some, like the American

06:39cruiser, Becker, before they landed, sang the Marseillaise. The patrollers took a minute

06:53in the night to kiss the sand from the beaches, the sand of France. Amongst them, Hubert Germain

07:05himself, landing on the coast, mentioned in his last days that he took the dirt and the

07:16sand together that he had desired so ardently to bring it to his face. Hundreds only knew

07:25France for just a few hours. Albert Torrel, from the Canadels, who fell the next day in

07:32the assault of the Pointe de la Sette with Mohamed Benbac. These men from the French

07:38army were called François, Bodjima, Harry, Pierre, Niakara. They came from Corsica,

07:52from the Poitou, from the Pacific, from Algeria, from Senegal, Morocco and the Alden. Officers

08:03of the empire are children of the Sahara, children of Casamance or Madagascar. They

08:15were not from the same generation. They did not have the same religion. They did not come

08:24from the same conditions. And yet, they were the army of the nation. The most colored and

08:33fervent army. They were their chiefs. They had been through Monte Cassino, through Libya,

08:43young hearts full of enthusiasm, the volunteers of 1792, soldiers like those of the year two,

08:53the act two of the liberation of the country. Convinced that when it comes to defending

08:58the vital interests of the nation, all of those who feel French must be together. And

09:08on the 16th of August, because our American allies wished to leave them the honor of reconquering

09:16their fatherland, they moved to Toulon, to Marseille, that Hitler had ordered to be defended

09:25until the very last bullet. Open the door. It's the African army. And the doors of

09:35liberty opened with the batteries in Mauvin, conquered in the road of Yer, those from the

09:48villages in Gabou, thanks to the tirayeurs from Senegal, during a ferocious battle with

09:59knives, with daggers, in Toulon, that the Germans had ordered to be held after a siege

10:08of a week, led by the Algerian and Senegalese tirayeurs, joined by the resistance from Toulon.

10:18Marseille, surrounded by its cliffs, the Goumiers and the Tabor, rousted the Germans. These doors

10:33that the French army went through, following the audacity of General Monsabert. Marseille,

10:41faithful to their spirit of resistance, rose up against the occupier and was liberated

10:50when the last Germans surrendered their weapons. With one month ahead of plans, it was

11:04near Autun, in Burgundy, on the 12th of September, that an officer of the 2nd Armoured Division of

11:13General Leclerc shook the hand of the General Brosset's free French troops. The first were

11:21from the north, had landed in Normandy, the seconds had come from the south, and had landed

11:27in Provence, on the French Riviera. The two armies met and shook hands in a gesture of

11:38brotherhood, and swore to continue the battle until victory, in the Ardennes, terrible battles

11:47until the liberation of Strasbourg and beyond, until Nazi Germany surrendered.

11:53This is a note, signed for France by the General de l'Atre de Tassigny, on the 8th of May 1945,

12:02and it was the same gesture of recognition and brotherhood and hope for the future,

12:08that the nation today is commemorating these events, here in the Boulogne's necropolis,

12:17with 466 heroes buried here, from among the thousands who landed here. The French,

12:28the Pieds-Noirs from Algeria, from Morocco, from Tunisia, French from the overseas territories,

12:33from the West Indies to the Pacific, seconded by the French resistance, Americans, British,

12:41Canadians, who, far from their countries, died on the fields of Provence, on the beaches of the

12:49Mediterranean, Africans, French soldiers from Africa, some of the veterans are here today,

12:59and I bow to you. The share of Africa in France is also a legacy,

13:08and I salute the presence of the President of Cameroon, of Central African Republic,

13:15of the Comoros, the Gabon, Togo, by your sides, my Lord,

13:24honoring Monegasque and the Prime Minister of Morocco, and representatives from Côte d'Ivoire,

13:30Madagascar, Senegal, and young high school students. France does not forget the sacrifices

13:38of the Congolese, the Beninois, the peoples of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and so many others.

13:48None of the memories of these men is forgotten. Their names must continue to be given to our

13:57streets, to our squares, to show their undying traces in our history. Eight decades later,

14:07coming back to Provence in the morning, in the blue hour when the landing happened,

14:17there's this recognition of our brotherhood and hope. We will not forget their courage.

14:27And as the President just reminded us, it's the importance of never giving up on our values

14:34and our battles, the battles for international rights, the refusal of any double standards,

14:42a willingness to defend everywhere the right of people for

14:48sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the wish for a world with more balanced and fairer

14:59institutions. This message of hope which you have provided us with

15:09is the hope on this 15th of August, and the universal victory of the rule of law and peace.

15:18Brotherhood for the peoples of the world fighting for their liberty

15:23and the right to choose their own destiny.

15:28This is the indefectible recognition for the heroes of the 15th of August, some of whom

15:34are here today. You all accomplished on that day and the following ones a work which

15:44was extremely perilous. And yet, they braved their fear. Paying them homage today

15:57is to salute these men who are our heroes. They climbed the cliffs of Cap Negre.

16:08They went beyond impossible, beyond suffering and risks.

16:15They did it, aware that they were fighting for a much greater cause,

16:22ready to sacrifice themselves so that France would be free.

16:30In A Midsummer Night's Dream and all the following nights,

16:34on their faces and the faces of our veterans, on the tombs of our heroes, in these pines,

16:44there is a wind blowing from Provence. This wind is that of sacrifice, willingness,

16:52unity. It makes the impossible possible, provides meaning for efforts.

17:04And paves the way for the nation. This wind of the 15th of August, which again makes us

17:13a free people that was also freed on that day by the armies of Africa. We will not forget.

17:25Vive la République. Vive la France.

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