Exactly 100 years ago, on February 2, 1920, the French occupied the German port city of Memel.
Located on the Baltic Sea coast, the city, now owned by Lithuania, has been renamed Klaipeda. Where is France, where is Memel, and why did France suddenly occupy the city? This story is really long. As once an important city in the easternmost part of the German Empire, Memel appears in the German Song. After the defeat in World War I, the French set their sights on it and sent troops to capture Memel. Pictured here is the Lithuanian Army's Daimler armored vehicle on the street of Memel in 1923.
The French ruled Memel on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea as an overseas province for three years, and in January 1923 Lithuania suddenly sent troops to capture Memel. In the battle to capture the city, 12 Lithuanian soldiers and 1 French soldier were killed. After several hours of tedious clashes, Memel Governor Gabriel Petigne decided to surrender on the condition that his officers and soldiers could leave the city unhindered, which was very French. Lithuania agreed, and they renamed it Klaipeda and proudly called it the "Klaipeda Uprising". The picture shows the French sailors in front of the town hall.
There is no doubt that France in 1923 had the most powerful army and navy in Europe, and could turn Lithuania into powder if they wanted to, not only to retake Memel, but also to occupy all of Lithuania. However, the French did not do so, and after three years of taking the city from Germany, they finally realized that they did not need it. The picture shows Memel's overseas governor reviewing the garrison.
This was the main lithuanian force in the capture of Memel, the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union, a nationalist paramilitary organization that took direct part in the fighting and forced the French to surrender. And because of their characteristics, Lithuania was able to declare the capture of Memer a "popular uprising." From the photos, they used German weapons, but the actual battle record cannot be seen. It is also difficult to say whether the French garrison resisted effectively, or it would not have killed only one person.
At the time, the vast majority of Memel's inhabitants were Germans, and neither France nor Lithuania cared about their perception of where their city belonged. In the defeated countries of World War I, the people had no right to express that their cities should remain within the german map. The picture shows lithuanian officers taking a group photo after the occupation of Memel.
What annoyed Germany the most was that not only was Memel lost, but the original Province of Posen was also given to Poland by the League of Nations, the famous port of Gdansk. Such humiliation gave the German people a strong sense of revenge. In 1939, when Nazi Germany demanded lithuania's return of Memel in the form of an ultimatum, the German public generally expressed support, and Lithuania surrendered the city after two days of consideration. After World War II, the city was captured by the Soviet Union and became part of Lithuania after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The picture shows the funeral of the French soldier who lost his life after the Klaipeda Uprising.