Debout Les Morts!

16 Followers
16 Following
75 Posts
A range of stuff connected to the French experience of the First World War chiefly, but not only, for an English-speaking audience. Sharing my learning to inspire interest, not chasing follows. #1GM #WW1 #FWW
Blog Sitehttps://vingtfrong.home.blog

Reading published personal experience accounts of French soldiers in the #FWW, I often saw references to a card game, manille. This blog post tries to explain to those unfamiliar with the game what it's all about and its incredible popularity with "les Poilus".

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2025/09/07/manille-le-jeu-de-cartes-prefere-des-poilus/

Manille : Le jeu de cartes préféré des poilus ?

Reading the published personal experience accounts of French soldiers in the First World War, I often came across references to a card game, manille. In this post I’ve tried to introduce thos…

Debout les Morts!

Here's part two of my blogging about traces of the Great War in the cemeteries of Paris. Now, some real encounters in the cemeteries of Père-Lachaise, Montparnasse and Passy, a penguin and an amazing bit of syncronicity. I hope you enjoy it.

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2025/04/22/traces-of-la-grande-guerre-in-the-cemeteries-of-paris-2-meeting-the-dead/

Traces of La Grande Guerre in the Cemeteries of Paris: (2) Meeting the Dead

This is the second part of a two-parter on traces of la Grande Guerre in the cemeteries of Paris. In the first part, it was all about how those vestiges in Paris (but also, indeed, in any…

Debout les Morts!

A Marne Morning with le maréchal Maunoury

During a visit to Paris, I took advantage of the Île-de-France's extensive public transport network to get out to the eastern suburbs and what were once separate communities. From Noisy-le-Sec to Le Raincy and on to Gagny. (I was thinking that maybe if I wrote nice things about them, they might give me free travel next time. This is, of course, a joke).

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2024/11/11/a-marne-morning-with-le-marechal-maunoury/

A Marne Morning with le maréchal Maunoury

During a visit to Paris, I took advantage of the Île-de-France’s extensive public transport network to get out to the eastern suburbs and what were once separate communities. From Noisy-le-Se…

Debout les Morts!

Of water bottles, battlefield thirst, invention and patronage, vaccines and the rights of the citizen in uniform. #1GM #FWW #WW1

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2024/09/21/aux-armes-mais-citoyens/

Aux armes … (mais) citoyens ! 

A blog post on how water supply and purification and a systematic programme of vaccination worked to produce a near-disappearance of typhoid mortality in the French army by 1917, but what these mea…

Debout les Morts!

Thoughts on the differences and some of the key characteristics of French sites of First World War memory and mourning.

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2025/03/01/necropoles-nationales-cimetieres-and-carres-militaires/

« Nécropoles nationales», « Cimetières » and « carrés militaires »

Introduction It’s common to see the terms Nécropole nationale, Cimetière militaire and carré militaire used seemingly without any underpinning logic for what the French refer to as lieux de s…

Debout les Morts!

The first of two posts on Traces of La #GrandeGuerre in the Cemeteries of Paris.
I hope you'll like the connections between the individual graves and memorials in 3 Paris cemeteries and the unique character of the French response to the scale of loss in the war #FWWhist #1GM #FWW #WW1 #history

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2025/04/19/traces-of-la-grande-guerre-in-the-cemeteries-of-paris-1-introduction/

Traces of La Grande Guerre in the Cemeteries of Paris: (1) Introduction

Or, how to give up romantic notions of Paris and move the focus to Death and Loss … In September 2024, I had the opportunity for a stay of almost a week in Paris and, without the need to cons…

Debout les Morts!

The first of two posts on Traces of La #GrandeGuerre in the Cemeteries of Paris.
I hope you'll like the connections between the individual graves and memorials in 3 Paris cemeteries and the unique character of the French response to the scale of loss in the war #FWWhist #1GM #FWW #WW1 #history

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2025/04/19/traces-of-la-grande-guerre-in-the-cemeteries-of-paris-1-introduction/

Traces of La Grande Guerre in the Cemeteries of Paris: (1) Introduction

Or, how to give up romantic notions of Paris and move the focus to Death and Loss … In September 2024, I had the opportunity for a stay of almost a week in Paris and, without the need to cons…

Debout les Morts!

Thoughts on the differences and some of the key characteristics of French sites of First World War memory and mourning.

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2025/03/01/necropoles-nationales-cimetieres-and-carres-militaires/

« Nécropoles nationales», « Cimetières » and « carrés militaires »

Introduction It’s common to see the terms Nécropole nationale, Cimetière militaire and carré militaire used seemingly without any underpinning logic for what the French refer to as lieux de s…

Debout les Morts!

A Marne Morning with le maréchal Maunoury

During a visit to Paris, I took advantage of the Île-de-France's extensive public transport network to get out to the eastern suburbs and what were once separate communities. From Noisy-le-Sec to Le Raincy and on to Gagny. (I was thinking that maybe if I wrote nice things about them, they might give me free travel next time. This is, of course, a joke).

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2024/11/11/a-marne-morning-with-le-marechal-maunoury/

A Marne Morning with le maréchal Maunoury

During a visit to Paris, I took advantage of the Île-de-France’s extensive public transport network to get out to the eastern suburbs and what were once separate communities. From Noisy-le-Se…

Debout les Morts!

Of water bottles, battlefield thirst, invention and patronage, vaccines and the rights of the citizen in uniform. #1GM #FWW #WW1

http://vingtfrong.home.blog/2024/09/21/aux-armes-mais-citoyens/

Aux armes … (mais) citoyens ! 

A blog post on how water supply and purification and a systematic programme of vaccination worked to produce a near-disappearance of typhoid mortality in the French army by 1917, but what these mea…

Debout les Morts!