Forêt des écrivains combattants

Forest in Hérault, France

The Forêt des écrivains combattants (transl. forest of fighting writers) is a forest in the French department of Hérault, named in honor of writers who died during the World Wars.

Location

The forest is situated in the mountainous massif of Caroux-Espinouse. It spans the territories of Combes and Rosis (Hérault). It is currently included within the Haut-Languedoc Regional Nature Park.

History

In 1930 floods devastated much of southwestern France, including the department of Hérault. Deforestation was blamed, prompting public authorities to advocate replanting. The Association of Combatant Writers, led by Claude Farrère, decided in 1931 to contribute to this effort by establishing the Forêt des écrivains combattants, planted with pine and cedar trees across 135 hectares. They partnered with the Touring Club de France (TCF).

The project was initiated by Emmanuel Bourcier, a writer and veteran, supported by nurseryman Francisque Lacarelle, who personally funded the planting of ten thousand trees. The aim was to preserve the memory of writers who died during the First World War.

In July 1938 alleys and markers bearing the names of deceased writers were inaugurated, along with monumental works by sculptor Paul Moreau-Vauthier (1871–1936): a stele and, in the center of a clearing, a six-meter table depicting a Croix de Guerre. Writer and future collaborator Paul Chack, association president since 1936, welcomed two serving ministers: Auguste Champetier de Ribes (veterans) and Henri Queuille (agriculture).

On 13 July 1952 Pierre Chanlaine, president of the Association of Combatant Writers, transferred forest ownership to the state. It became a state forest and was developed as a recreational site. Names of writers who died during the Second World War were added.

In 1983 wildfires devastated nearly a quarter of the forest. Subsequent replanting and new visitor facilities were implemented.

On 18 November 2010, a convention for enhancing the massif was signed at the Croix de Guerre in the Forêt des écrivains combattants between the Hérault General Council, the National Forestry Office, and the communes of Combes and Rosis.

On 30 September 2016 the rehabilitated site was inaugurated by senior officials involved in the 2010 protocol. All old scattered steles in the forest were replaced with new ones made of local stone, Madale stone, and are now grouped on either side of a newly concreted loop path through the undergrowth, about 1.7 km in length. Thirty steles have, since the inauguration, experimentally featured a sticker with a Flash code, or QR code, allowing access to specific information about the writers (biography, literary works, and for some, an excerpt from their major work). Panels by the National Forestry Office around the monumental Croix de Guerre provide visitors with information on the forest's origin, the Association of Combatant Writers, and the layout of the steles. Officially, this forest is known as the Forêt domaniale des écrivains combattants (FDEC).

Combatant writers

Among the 757 writers who died for France (560 during the First World War and 197 during the Second), and whose names are inscribed at the Panthéon, sixty-six have their names on a stele in the forest, including three women, Bertie Albrecht, Marietta Martin, and Irène Némirovsky.

Prominent honored writers include French figures Paul Drouot, Charles Péguy, Alain-Fournier, Pierre Brossolette, Pierre Leroy-Beaulieu, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Robert Desnos, Jacques Decour, Émile Détanger (Émile Nolly)...

Several foreign writers from allied countries are also named, including poets John McCrae (Canada) and Alan Seeger (United States), as well as novelist Gabriele D'Annunzio (Italy).

Some alleys in the forest are named after unknown authors. Roland Dorgelès wrote that it seemed "right to honor the young, the unrecognized, the beginners, who left behind only a few scattered pages: those of whom I once said they spilled little ink, but all their blood".

Gallery

Entrance stele.
Entrance stele (detail).
Erwan Bergot stele (1930–1953).
Alain-Fournier stele.
Jean-Marc Bernard stele.

References

National Forestry Office, Hérault General Council, and Haut Languedoc Regional Nature Park: The Forêt des écrivains combattants
Georges Beaume: The Forêt des écrivains combattants, in L’Opinion, Paris, 1930
L. Larguier: The Forêt des écrivains combattants, in Revue des eaux et forêts, Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1931
Le Figaro, 14 July 1938, Le Veilleur du vieux château, September 1938
^ Jacques-Louis Delalande: The Forêt des écrivains morts à la guerre, in Écrivains combattants Gazette de l’AEC, December 2005, No. 108
Gérard David: The Forêt des écrivains combattants, in La Cohorte, November 2006, No. 186

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