Plaque General Émile Lemonnier - Paris, France
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tmob
N 48° 51.666 E 002° 19.799
31U E 450857 N 5412231
Commemorative plaque at the entrance to the Avenue du General Lemonnier, at the opening of the quai des Tuileries, Paris 1er.
Waymark Code: WMCY91
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 10/25/2011
Views: 19
«Emile-René Lemonnier (27 November 1893 - 10 March 1945) was a French Army general who served during World War I and World War II. Stationed in French Indochina in 1945, he was beheaded by the Japanese at the beginning of the Second French Indochina Campaign.
In 1914 Lemonnier was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 25th Artillery Regiment and received several citations. In 1918, he transferred to the French Colonial Forces. In 1920 he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. From 1925 - 1936 he served in French West Africa. He left France for the last time in 1937.
On March 9, 1945, General Lemonnier while commander of the Lang Son area received an invitation from the Japanese forces to a banquet of the headquarters of the division of the Imperial Japanese Army. General Lemonnier declined to attend the event, however he allowed some of his staff to attend the banquet. General Lemonnier found that the officers he allowed to attend the banquet had been taken prisoner by Japanese officers, as he was taken prisoner and ordered by a Japanese general to sign a document formally surrendering the forces under his command. Lemonnier refused to sign the documents causing the Japanese to take him outside of Lang Son where they forced him to dig graves along with Camille Auphelle. General Lemonnier was ordered to sign the surrender documents again and again he refused causing the Japanese officers to behead General Lemonnier.»
-- Source
The following can be read in the plaque:
« Au général Émile Lemonnier, commandant la 3e brigade de la division du Tonkin le 10 mars 1945, capturé à Lang San par l'ennemi, à bout de munitions, a refusé par deux fois de signer une capitulation totale, a préféré avoir la tête tranchée plutôt que de forfaire à l'honneur, demeurera dans l'histoire comme un exemple saisissant de ce que sont la volonté et la caractère français.Citation posthume - extrait.»