Macron's highly symbolic visit to northern France is his first presidential trip in more than two months, coming a week after his government began easing the two-month lockdown put in place to combat the coronavirus.
He is to visit Dizy-le-Gros, a small village northeast of Laon, where a monument pays tribute to those who fought in the Battle of France – a battle which, despite 60,000 deaths, remains "a blind spot in French military memory", according to the Elysée Palace.
C’est durant la Bataille de Montcornet que s’est forgée la conviction de Charles de Gaulle qu’il fallait poursuivre le combat et entrer en Résistance. Retour sur cet épisode méconnu de la Seconde Guerre mondiale commémoré ce matin par @EmmanuelMacron.https://t.co/CqunH5DoWA
— Élysée (@Elysee) May 17, 2020
President Macron will then make a speech in La-Ville-aux-Bois-les-Dizy, remembering Charles de Gaulle, who on 17 May 1940 led the 4th Armored Division in a bid to slow the rapid advance of the Nazi forces in the Battle of Montcornet.
The attempt was short-lived but would later be considered a "courageous defeat" – one of the few examples of a counterattack where France showed its armed forces could put the Germans in trouble.
De Gaulle, returning to the scene a quarter of a century later as President of the French Fifth Republic, said in that defeat were sown the seeds of hope that eventually grew into the liberation of France.
'Year of de Gaulle'
The founding president was an inspiration to the incumbent, according to Macron's entourage at the Elysée. With his visit to Aisne, the president kick starts the "year of de Gaulle", a series of commemorations leading up to the 50th anniversary of the death in November of the founder of the Fifth Republic.
Macron has made it a key part of his presidency to remember French heroes, often leaning on themes of unity and combativity as a means to overcome times of crisis.
