Montoire-sur-le-Loir

Montoire-sur-le-Loir , commonly known as Montoire, is a commune near Vendôme, in the Loir-et-Cher department in Centre-Val de Loire, France.

Montoire-sur-le-Loir is known as the location where, on 24 October 1940, the famous handshake between Adolf Hitler and Philippe Pétain took place signifying the start of organised collaboration of Vichy France with the Nazi regime. The meeting took place in a railway car just outside the town's railway station. The discussion was entirely a matter of generalities, with no specifics discussed or decided. Hitler was impressed with Petain's commitment to defending the French colonial empire. False rumours abounded that France had made major concessions regarding colonies and German control of French ports and the French fleet. This was announced to the French public on 30 October in a radio broadcast speech when Pétain declared, "I enter, today, into the way of collaboration."

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