FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY (ВОЕНИ ВОЕНИ ГРОБИШТА - VARREZAT FRANCEZE)

This World War I cemetery (Француски Воени Гробишта/Francuski Voeni Grobišta, Varrezat Ushtarake Franceze) is located above the Vardar and next to the US embassy. It houses the bodies of the soldiers of the French Army of the East who died during the Vardar offensive of September 1918. Although much smaller than Bitola, it contains 2,930 bodies of French, Moroccan and Senegalese soldiers: 960 individual graves and two ossuaries. Inaugurated in 1923, it stands on a former Roma cemetery ceded to France. Well-maintained, it comprises four rows of graves, monuments and the Maison du Souvenir (House of Remembrance). The House of Remembrance keeps a list of the soldiers buried here. An exhibition features period documents and recounts the capture of Skopje on September 29, 1918. This episode marked the end of the "Üsküb maneuver". While the Macedonian front had been at a standstill since 1915, this offensive, launched on September 14, 1918, broke through the lines held by the Bulgarians, Germans and Austro-Hungarians. Starting out from Florina (Greece), the^4th regiment of African chasseurs and the regiment of Moroccan spahis marched up the Vardar valley, giving rise to the last charge of the French cavalry under the command of General François Léon Jouinot-Gambetta, nephew of Léon Gambetta. The capture of Skopje led to Bulgaria's capitulation on September 30. Allied troops continued on to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which capitulated on November 4.