Emmanuel Macron went to La Ville-Aux-Bois-Lès-Dizy for a speech in tribute to the action of Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle, not yet a general, launched on May 17, 1940 the 4th armored division of the French army in an attempt to slow down the rapid advance of the Wehrmacht in the north and east of France.
The "Battle of Montcornet" failed but was later considered a "courageous defeat", one of the few counterattacks showing that the French army could put the Germans in trouble.
The Head of State praised the “French spirit of resistance”, “fiercely free and proud”, illustrated by the brief counter-attack led by de Gaulle during the May 1940 debacle. “This colonel was it was exceptional, de Gaulle, ”said Emmanuel Macron again.