Montoire-sur-le-Loir (, literally ''Montoire on the Loir''), commonly known as Montoire, is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

near

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a subprefecture of the department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of the main towns along the river Loir. The river divides itself at the ...

, in the Loir-et-Cher department in Centre-Val de Loire,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

History

Montoire-sur-le-Loir-146-Bahnhof-2008-gje

Montoire-sur-le-Loir is known as the location where, on 24 October 1940, the famous handshake between

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

and

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of Worl ...

took place signifying the start of organised collaboration of

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

with the Nazi regime. The meeting took place in a railway car just outside the town's railway station. The discussion was entirely a matter of generalities, with no specifics discussed or decided. Hitler was impressed with Pétain's commitment to defending the French colonial empire. False rumours abounded that France had made major concessions regarding colonies and German control of French ports and the French fleet. This was announced to the French public on 30 October in a radio broadcast speech when Pétain declared, "I enter, today, into the way of collaboration.""J'entre aujourd'hui dans la voie de la collaboration..." sourced from French wiki page. Two days previously,

Pierre Laval Pierre Jean Marie Laval (; 28 June 1883 – 15 October 1945) was a French politician. During the Third Republic, he served as Prime Minister of France from 27 January 1931 to 20 February 1932 and 7 June 1935 to 24 January 1936. He again occ ...

had had a meeting with Hitler in the same location and suggested to Hitler that he meets with Pétain. Montoire was chosen because of its relative isolation and also its proximity to the main Paris-Hendaye train line, Hitler having met with Franco at

Hendaye Hendaye ( Basque: ''Hendaia'')HENDAIA
Saint-Rimay. The tunnel had armored doors, which are still visible, installed for the meeting. German

command post Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or e ...

s were established at Saint-Rimay and Thoré-la-Rochette with direct contact to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Population

International relations

Montoire-sur-le-Loir is twinned with: *

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,896 inhabitants (2020). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999); previously, it was in Skierniewice Voivodeship (1975–1998). Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a ma ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

References

External links

NAZI Diplomacy: Vichy France, 1940
Communes of Loir-et-Cher {{LoirCher-geo-stub

History

Population

International relations

See also

References

External links