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Mémorial de la Clairière de l'Armistice

Clairière de l'Armistice, route de Soissons, 60200 Compiègne

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It was in one of France’s most beautiful forests that the armistices of 1918 and 1940 were signed. In the clearing, three monuments commemorate the 1918 Armistice. The museum displays the famous railway carriage, stereoscopes…

A crossroads region at the heart of the Great War, a strategic department and the last line of defence before Paris, the Oise was also the first department to be returned to French control and hosted the signing of the Armistice at Compiègne, which subsequently became a symbol of Victory and Peace. The Clairière de l’Armistice, a tranquil spot in the heart of the Compiègne Forest, suddenly entered the annals of history, symbolising to the whole world the end of hostilities in the Great War and the conclusion of four years of a horrific conflict. It was the night of 10 November 1918; the railway carriage, used by Marshal Foch as an office carriage, had been parked since the evening of 7 November on a double track that the French artillery had laid during the war. The Marshal received the Germans there at 2.15 am on 11 November, and they agreed to sign the Armistice at 5.15 am. The agreement came into effect ‘on the 11th day of the 11th month at 11 o’clock sharp’. Although the original carriage no longer exists – having been destroyed on Hitler’s orders following the vengeful Armistice of 1940 – its twin reveals every detail of that crucial moment and shows where the various figures were seated at the time of the signing. Next to the carriage, the Armistice Memorial Museum houses nearly 800 black-and-white stereoscopic photographs, striking testimonies to the lives of the ‘poilus’, the mobilisation, Verdun and the Victory celebrations.

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Listing provided by Compiègne - Pierrefonds Tourisme (updated by the source on 28/08/2002).

Tourist office data: DATAtourisme, Licence Ouverte (French open licence), updated 25 October 2026.