Calling the Fallen: French Veteran Mobilisation of the War Dead on Armistice Day 1919-2009
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Calling the fallen: French veteran mobilisation of the war dead on Armistice Day 1919-2009 Sally Carlton Bachelor of Arts (Honours) This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Australia School of Humanities Disciplines of History and French Studies 2011 Abstract Unbreakable links exist between war survivors, war victims and war remembrance which render it almost impossible for veterans to avoid mention of their lost comrades when reflecting on their war experience. However, the annual commemoration of 11 novembre, commemorating the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War One, provides French veterans with an especially powerful opportunity to ‘mobilise’ their fallen comrades. Two specific issues prompt ex-combatants to mobilise the fallen on Armistice Day. Firstly, in drawing on the dead, veterans intentionally encourage remembrance of the war experience. Secondly, they use Armistice Day commemoration to not only contemplate their past life under arms, but also to recognise and promote lessons for the present and future. Evoking the dead adds emotional and historic depth to these aspirations and admonitions. There are two methods by which veterans mobilise the fallen: the enactment of rituals designed to facilitate communion between the living and the dead and the use of certain spaces associated with war and wartime death. Through these means, veterans are able to call upon their fallen comrades to add potency to their visions of post-war life. The three primary ‘lessons’ of war promoted by the veterans are values, unity and peace. This thesis considers each of these methods and motivations. The striking observation of this thesis is the regularity and predictability of veteran discourse in relation to Armistice Day and the fallen. While the persistence of a certain mode of discourse is perhaps not unexpected given the highly stylised and repetitive nature of commemoration, the inflexibility of veteran discourse is still surprising given that the thesis considers discourse published by the press of different veteran associations at both the national and regional levels, and by different generations of fire. This study explains the invariance of discourse through the notion of ‘layers’ of memory. In the aftermath of World War One, veterans met to talk of their experiences. From this sharing of ‘real’ memories developed a homogenous ‘imagined’ memory promoted by the veteran associations, primarily as a means of aiding survivors come to terms with the past through a certain understanding of the war experience and certain expectations of post-war behaviour. This imagined memory was then adopted by French veterans of later conflicts as ‘mythologised’ memory because it offered emotional support but also legitimacy, imperative to men and women whose wars were not granted the same status by the government or population as World War One. Table of Contents i List of acronyms vi Glossary vii Note on source usages ix Preface 1 Chapter One Introduction Part I - Contexts and Concepts 42 Chapter Two Defining ‘ancien combattant’: Veterans, the war dead and identity 86 Chapter Three Guarding ‘France’ in body and mind: Veterans, the war dead and memory 129 Chapter Four Mourning and meaning: Veterans, the war dead and commemoration Part II - Methods 166 Chapter Five Flowers, flags and flames: Mobilising the war dead through ritual 206 Chapter Six Of ceremonies and cemeteries: Mobilising the war dead through space Part III - Motivations 248 Chapter Seven Once a soldier-citizen, always a citizen-soldier: Mobilising the war dead to inspire civic responsibility, republicanism and patriotism 289 Chapter Eight The legacy of camaraderie: Mobilising the war dead to encourage unity 328 Chapter Nine Killing war: Mobilising the war dead to promote peace 363 Conclusion 379 Primary source bibliography 385 General bibliography 444 Appendix I - Language and translation 449 Appendix II - Poetry List of acronyms A.C. ------------------------------------- anciens combattants [veterans] A.C.V.G. ------------------------------- anciens combattants et victimes de guerre [veterans and war victims] A.C.V.J. -------------------------------- Anciens Combattants Volontaires Juifs [Jewish Volunteer Veterans; association founded March 1928] A.E.C. ----------------------------------- Association des Ecrivains Combattants [Association of Veteran-Writers; founded 1919; founding members include Gabriel Boissy, Roland Dorgelès, Pierre Drieu la Rochelle, Maurice Genevoix, Henry Malherbe, Jacques Péricard and Gaston Vidal] A.F.N. ----------------------------------- Afrique française du Nord [French North Africa] A.G.M.G. ------------------------------- Association Générale des Mutilés de Guerre [General Association of War-Disabled Veterans; founded 1915; disbanded 2004; key personality: Henri Lévèque] A.G.M.G.-U.N.M.R.A.C. ------------ Association Générale des Mutilés de Guerre - Union Nationale des Mutilés, Réformés Anciens Combattants [General Association of War-Disabled Veterans-National Union of War-Disabled and Incapacitated Veterans; founded 1957 from fusion of two disabled veterans’ groups; disbanded 2004; key personality: General Dominique Surville] A.M.Y.G. ------------------------------- Association des Mutilés des Yeux de Guerre [Association of War-Disabled Veterans with Eye Injuries; founded 1923] i A.N.C.A.C. ----------------------------- Association Nationale Des Cheminots Anciens Combattants, Résistants, Prisonniers et Victimes de Guerre [National Association of Veteran, Resistance, Prisoner and War Victim Railwaymen; founded 1931] A.N.Z.A.C. ----------------------------- Australian and New Zealand Army Corps A.R.A.C. -------------------------------- Association Républicaine des Anciens Combattants [Republican Association of Veterans; founded 1917; key personalities: Henri Barbusse, Paul Vaillant-Couturier; affiliated with the French Communist Party] C.D.I.H.P. ------------------------------ Commission Départementale de l’Information historique pour la Paix [Departmental Commission of Historic Information for Peace; government initiative established in 1983] C.E.A.C. -------------------------------- Confédération Européenne des Anciens Combattants [European Confederation of Veterans; founded May 1963] C.I.A.M.A.C. --------------------------- Conférence Internationale des Associations de Mutilés et Anciens Combattants [International Conference of Associations of War-Disabled and Other Veterans; founded September 1925] C.N.A.C. -------------------------------- Commission Nationale d’Action Civique [National Commission of Civic Action; initiative of the U.N.C.; formerly headed by Claude Le Barillier] C.N.C.V.R. ----------------------------- Confédération nationale des combattants volontaires de la Résistance [National Confederation of Volunteer Resistance Fighters; founded 1954; disbanded 2005] ii C.N.R.D. -------------------------------- Concours national de la Résistance et de la Déportation [National Competition of the Resistance and Deportation; established 1961] D.M.P.A. ------------------------------- Direction de la mémoire, du patrimoine et des archives [government body responsible for culture, ‘memory’ and heritage] D.R.A.C. ------------------------------- Ligue des Droits du Religieux Ancien Combattant [League of the Rights of the Religious Veteran; founded 1924] F.I.D.A.C. ------------------------------ Fédération Interalliée des Anciens Combattants [Inter-Allied Federation of Veterans; founded 1920] F.N.A.C.A. ---------------------------- Fédération Nationale des Anciens Combattants d’Algérie [National Federation of Veterans of Algeria; left-wing organisation; founded 1958] F.N.A.M. ------------------------------- Fédération Nationale André Maginot des Anciens combattants et Victimes de guerre [André Maginot National Federation of Veterans and War Victims; continuation of a veterans’ group founded after the Franco- Prussian War; adopted Maginot’s name in 1953] F.N.C.R. -------------------------------- Fédération nationale des combattants républicains [National Federation of Republican Combatants; founded 1922; explicitly left- wing] F.N.P.G.I. ------------------------------ Fédération Nationale des Plus Grands Invalides [National Federation of the Most Seriously- Injured Veterans; founded 1922] iii F.O.P.A.C. ----------------------------- Fédération ouvrière et paysanne des Anciens Combattants [Worker and Peasant Federation of Veterans; founded 1916 by trade unionists] N.A.T.O. ------------------------------- North Atlantic Treaty Organisation O.N.A.C. ------------------------------- Office national des anciens combattants [National Office of Veterans; created 1946] O.N.A.C.V.G. ------------------------- Office national des anciens combattants et victimes de guerre [National Office of Veterans and War Victims] O.P.E.X. -------------------------------- Opérations Extérieures [External Operations] P.C.F. ----------------------------------- Parti communiste français [French Communist Party] P.O.W. --------------------------------- Prisoner of War P.T.S.D. -------------------------------- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder R.S.L. ---------------------------------- Returned Servicemen’s League [Australian veterans’ organisation; founded June 1916] S.G.A. ----------------------------------- Secrétariat général pour l’administration [General Secretariat for Administration; governmental body] T.O.E. ----------------------------------- Théâtres d’Opérations Extérieures [Theatres of External Operations;