The Czechoslovak military cemetery in La Targette

The Nazdar Necropolis

On the 10th anniversary of the battle of Artois, the Association of Czechoslovak Volunteers in France (“Association des Volontaires Tchécoslovaques en France”) decided to erect a monument in memory of all the Czechs and Slovaks who fell during the First World War. This monument, the work of sculptor Jaroslav Hrũska, was officially inaugurated on Sunday 31 May 1925. The members of the association raised the funds for its creation by selling postcards in the cities and towns of Czechoslovakia and to their compatriots exiled all over the world. Financial support was also granted by the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry and by the resistance memorial in Prague. As the site started to become a place of pilgrimage, a cemetery gradually became necessary. However, the exhumation work to collect the remains of all Czechoslovak soldiers buried in different parts of France was interrupted by the Second World War. In 1958, the Association of Czechoslovak Volunteers succeeded in completing work on the cemetery, with the reburial of 206 fighters who had initially been laid to rest in 73 military cemeteries and in scattered municipal cemeteries in 38 French départements. This new memorial site was officially inaugurated on 19 May 1963. The last remains were transferred in 1970.

A copy of a “Cross of Bohemia” was erected in the centre of the future cemetery, as a symbolic reminder of the death of the King of Bohemia, John I of Luxembourg, who was killed in 1346 at the battle of Crécy, fighting alongside the King of France. In 1938, 24 lime-trees were brought from the Czechoslovak Republic and planted in the cemetery.

For the 50th anniversary of the creation of Czechoslovakia, a memorial was built to commemorate the victims of the two world wars. Funds were collected from all over the world. The work of architect Bernard Heger and sculptor Ṧumova, this monument was inaugurated in May 1968.

Czech volunteers in the First World War

The members of the “Colonie Tchécoslovaque” and the “Sokol” and “Egalité” organizations enlisted voluntarily with the French forces and made the ultimate sacrifice, guided by their determination to destroy the Austro-Hungarian Empire and create an independent Czech state. After training in Bayonne, the first 250 volunteers were incorporated in the 1st march regiment of the French Foreign Legion. This first unit received its emblem in December 1914 and was named the “Nazdar” Company, after the traditional greeting of the members of Sokol. After a stint in the Champagne area, the unit fought alongside the Moroccan Division at Viny (May 1915).

In 1917, Edvard Benès, with the agreement of the French government, was able to establish an independent Czechoslovak army. Almost 2000 volunteers were brought to Cognac for training and were then sent to join the fighting in May 1918 in Vouziers. As part of the Gourand army, they took part in all the major phases of the liberation of France.

The Nazdar site, an emblematic location for Czechoslovak remembrance in France

As a place of remembrance, like Darney, Vouziers, Cernay and the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, the La Targette site is testimony to Czechoslovakia’s fight for independence and its struggle against the Nazi yoke. At the entrance to the cemetery is a monument commemorating the standard bearer Karel Bezdicek, killed on the first day of the battle in May 1915. He symbolizes the first free Czech soldier to bear the emblem of the Czech lion.

Opposite this monument is the Cross of the Polish volunteers, erected with the funds of the Polish citizens of Pas-de-Calais to pay tribute to those “fallen for the resurrection of Poland and the victory of France". Destroyed in 1940, damaged by a storm in 1967, this monument has risen again each time. It continues to bear the motto of these volunteers: “Za nasza wolnosc i wasza”, “For our freedom and yours”.