Destruction du port de Marseilles
| Quatrain III-79
L'ordre fatal sempiternel par chaine
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Through hierarchic channels, the fatal order Will be conveyed by the proper authorities : The access to the port of Marseille will be destroyed. The city captured, the enemy when and when.
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Quatrain III-88
De Barcelonne par mer si grande armée
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From Barcelonna by sea such a great army, All Marseilles will tremble from fear: Islands captured, no help available by sea. Your traitor will crawl on the ground..
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sempiternel chaine tourner ordre consequent Port Phocen chaine
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continuous, constant. chain. Here in is rather in the sense of link. Thus, sempiternel par chaine means as usual through hierarchical channels. In the army, any order or request has to go through proper channels , from a private to a sergeant and up the chain. to turn in the sense of to follow its course. in a logical way, that is, through official channels. The port of Marseilles. (The Phocaeans founded Marseilles) While relating the event, the newspapers of the day called Marseille the phocaean city. Le port Phocen est, bien sûr, le port de Marseille. chain. Here the word chain is taken in the sense of link or access from one place to another. In the present case, the quarter that must be destroyed is the access to the port of Marseille. |
Note:
Even though I found no clues that could link this 2nd line of quatrain III-88 to quatrain III-79, it seem to fit in this period of history. In the course of centuries, Marseille must have trembled many times during the wars of the Revolution and those of the Empire. However, given the importance of the destruction and the fact that 6 000 people were arrested, it is quite certain that Marseille did, in fact, tremble with fright. So I link it to III-79 pending further investigation.
Interprétation
The fatal order, as usual through official channels ,
Will be conveyed to the proper authorities:
The Phocean port will be destroyed...
...All the population of Marseille will shake with fright.
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THE GERMANS RAZE THE OLD PORT IN THE PHOCEAN CITY.
Marseille, February 17, 1943.
February 1, 1943.
In Marseille, for reasons of military strategy and to garantee the security of the population, the german authorities have notified the french administration (sempiternel par chaine) that they must proceed immediately with the evacuation of the quarter of the Old Port (Du Port Phocen sera rompue la chaine.)). Thanks to their spirit of solidarity, most of the people have been able to recover saturday and sunday the belongings they had left behind.
(Translation F.L. - Chronique du 20e siècle - Jacques legrand)
A pile of ruins covering 14 hectares, that's all that's left of the old Port, insalubrious quarter for sure, but one that was the very soul of Marseille. It was not destroyed by the germans for sanitary reasons but rather for reasons of security...January 24, the population heard the order of evacuation broadcasted through external speakers. The port was surrounded with important police forces. At night, tens of thousands of people were crammed into the Frejus camp. ..The same day, an important raid took place all over Marseille in the course of which 6,000 people were arrested (Tout Marseille de frayeur tremblera). Destruction of the port (L'Ordre fatal) began February 11.
(Translation F.L. - Chronique de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale - Jacques Legrand)