Compiègne Wagon

Common card · No. 254339

The Compiègne Wagon (2419D) was a train carriage in which the armistices of the First World War and the Battle of France in World War II were signed. The wagon, which was a dining car, hosted both treaty meetings at the same spot in the Forest of Compiègne, France, almost 22 years apart. It was built by the Belgian-founded French company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits in May 1914. The company was known for supplying and operating luxury trains with sleepers and dining cars. During the First World War, the Compiègne Wagon had been the dining car on the personal train of Marshal Ferdinand Foch. In November 1918, it hosted the armistice talks between the Allied Powers and the German Empire. After the war, it was put on museum display at the Glade of the Armistice in France. However, after the victorious invasion of France by Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, in a symbolic act to show total subjugation of the French, had the wagon moved back to its exact spot of the 1918 Armistice for...

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