Bir Hakeim, Paris, France
N 48° 51.355 E 002° 17.248
31U E 447733 N 5411683
Quick Description: An area in Paris dedicated to the men that fought the battle of Bir Hakeim, in Lybia, during the WW II.
Location: France
Date Posted: 1/8/2008 2:12:58 AM
Waymark Code: WM2Y1R
Views: 78
Long Description:Bir Hakeim (sometimes written Bir Hacheim) is a remote waterpoint in the Libyan desert, and the former site of a Turkish fort. From May 26 to June 11, 1942, the First Free French Division of General Marie Pierre Koenig defended the site against the Italian and German Afrika Korps of General Erwin Rommel. Resisting for 16 days, the Free French gave the retreating British Eighth Army enough time to reorganize, allowing them to subsequently defeat the Afrika Korps at the First Battle of El Alamein.
General Bernard Saint-Hillier would say in an October 1991 interview:
A grain of sand had curbed the Axis advance, which reached Al-Alamein only after the arrival of the rested British divisions: this grain of sand was Bir Hakeim.More info at (
visit link)
On the viaduct of Passy, there is a plaque with the homage.
