Montoire-sur-le-Loir

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Coordinates: 47°45′18″N 0°51′52″E / 47.755, 0.864444444444

Administration
Commune of Montoire-sur-le-Loir
Location

Country	France
Region	Centre
Department	Loir-et-Cher
Arrondissement	Vendôme
Canton	Montoire-sur-le-Loir
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes du Pays de Ronsard
Statistics
Elevation	60 m–146 m (avg. 70 m)
Land area^¹	21.02 km²
Population^² (1999)	4,275
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	41149/ 41800
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Montoire-sur-le-Loir is a commune in France situated in the department of Loir-et-Cher in the region of Centre. The inhabitants of Montoire-sur-le-Loir are called montoiriens.

[edit] History

Montoire-sur-le-Loir is known as the location where, on 24th October 1940, the famous handshake between Adolf Hitler and Maréchal Pétain took place signifying the start of organised French collaboration with the Nazi regime. The meeting took place in a train car just outside of the town's train station. This was announced to the French public on 30th October in a radio broadcast speech when Pétain declared, "I enter, today, into the way of collaboration."^[1]

Two days previously, Pierre Laval had had a meeting with Hitler in the same location and he had suggested to Hitler that he met with the Maréchal.

The location of Montoire station was chosen because of its relative isolation, but also its proximity to the main Paris-Hendaye train line. What's more, in case of an aerial attack, the train could have found shelter in the nearby tunnel in Saint-Rimay. With Armoured doors, that one can still see, were installed for the meeting, and German command posts were established at Saint-Rimay and Thoré-la-Rochette with direct contact to Berlin.