4ème Division Infanterie Coloniale - Longueau, Somme, France
Posted by: elyob
N 49° 52.040 E 002° 21.775
31U E 454216 N 5524074
au sud de la Buffalo Grill
Waymark Code: WMTN2E
Location: Hauts-de-France, France
Date Posted: 12/15/2016
Views: 4
4DIC
IN MEMORIAM
MAI-JUIN 1940
This small, lonely and leaning memorial is along the sidewalk on the south side of rue du Phare du Bout du Monde (rue de l'Île Mystérieuse). The plaque commemorates the 4ème Division Infanterie Coloniale (4e DIC) and the
bataille d'Amiens (May and June 1940).
On 18 May 1940, German planes began bombing targets near Amiens, including the railway marshalling yards in Longueau, not far from this memorial. East of here that week, the 4e DIC took heavy losses to the German army at Villers-Bretonneux and Aubigny.
On 11 June 1940, the Germans massacred all the Africans of the 4e DIC that were taken prisoner at bois d'Eraine à Cressonsacq. With the French defeat in the bataille de France, the division was disbanded.
There are other memorials to the 4e DIC throughout the region.