The Curious Story of a French Railway Carriage

3 minutes

If we set aside specialist terms from biology, physics, or chemistry, rare words, and verb conjugations, the longest common French word found in ordinary dictionaries is generally considered to be:

A Curious Story About a French Railway Carriage

A colleague got an email from a French client that morning saying it was another public holiday, and asked whether there was a holiday today. Yes: France and several other European countries mark Armistice Day, also known as Jour de l’Armistice or Jour du Souvenir. In the United States it is called Veterans Day. China was also among the victors of World War I, and the unfair Paris Peace Conference helped spark the May Fourth Movement—but the Chinese are forgetful; today we celebrate Singles’ Day, or “Saint Bachelor’s Day”…

Now for the main story: the curious tale of a railway carriage.

At 5 a.m. French time on November 11, 1918, Marshal Ferdinand Foch, supreme commander of the Allied armies, represented the Allies in signing an armistice with Germany inside a railway carriage at Rethondes station in the Forest of Compiègne, northeastern France. The carriage later became known as the “Foch Carriage” or the “Armistice Carriage.” At 11 a.m., the victorious nations fired 101-gun salutes to announce the end of World War I. After the war, the carriage was placed in a museum.

The 1918 armistice was signed in the Foch Carriage.

During World War II, the German army rapidly conquered much of Western Europe through blitzkrieg. France was no exception. German forces entered Paris on June 14, 1940, and the defeatist faction gained the upper hand in the French government. On June 21 and 22, France and Germany negotiated an armistice. To humiliate France, Germany chose the very same Foch Carriage where the 1918 armistice had been signed. At 6:50 p.m. on June 22, French representatives entered the carriage where Germany had signed the 1918 agreement and were forced to sign an armistice. The Germans then took the carriage to Berlin as a trophy. It was later destroyed during Allied bombing of the city—or, according to another account, Hitler ordered it blown up to avoid the humiliation of another German defeat.

France surrenders to Germany in the Foch Carriage, 1940.