Solemn tributes were paid at the Monument aux Morts (war memorial) on Goubert Avenue to mark the 74th anniversary of the end of World War II on May 8, 1945.
Khouira Drault, Deputy Consul, Head of Chancellery representing the French Consul General Catherine Suard; T. Arun, District Collector representing the government, and other dignitaries placed wreaths at the foot of the memorial in commemoration of the historic event.
Several companies of soldiers from Puducherry had laid down their lives fighting the Second World War.
War against the Nazis
Around the height of the Second World War, when the French government prepared to sign an armistice with the Nazi invaders on June 18, 1940, General Charles de Gaulle had issued an appeal from London to all French nationals asking them to fight the war against the Nazis.
It was the then Governor General of French India, Louis Alexis Etienne Bonvin, who commissioned the soldiers from Puducherry on the mission, to quell the threat from fascism.
Many from here died fighting the Nazis.
At the commemoration event, representatives of various associations also paid floral tribute at the French War Memorial.
The Puducherry police band played “La Marseillaise”, the national anthem of France, and the Indian national anthem.
