During long months you have fought. History will record the tenacity
and fierce energy displayed during these four years by our country
which had to vanquish in order not to die.
Tomorrow, in order to better dictate peace, you are going to carry your
arms as far as the Rhine. Into that land of Alsace-Lorraine that is so
dear to us, you will march as liberators. You will go further: all the
way into Germany to occupy lands which are the necessary guarantees of
just reparation.
France has suffered in her ravaged fields and in her ruined villages.
The freed provinces have had to submit to intolerable, vexatious, and
odious outrages, but you are not to answer these crimes by the
commission of violences, which, under the spur of your resentment, may
seem to you legitimate.
You are to remain under discipline and to show respect to persons and
property. You will know, after having vanquished your adversary by
force of arms, how to impress him further by the dignity of your
attitude, and the world will not know which to admire more, your
conduct in success or your heroism in fighting.
I address a fond and affectionate greeting to our dead, whose
sacrifices gave us the victory. And I send a message of salutation,
full of sad affection, to the fathers, to the mothers, to the widows
and orphans of France, who, in these days of national joy, dry their
tears for a moment to acclaim the triumph of our arms. I bow my head
before your magnificent flags.
Vive la France!
(Signed) PETAIN.
[1] Translated from the French of Alphonse Daudet.