“Marshal, we’re coming!” : 50 years ago, the “horse” of Pétain’s coffin ended up in Seine-Saint-Denis

This is the story of a company doomed to failure, that of six nostalgic nickel-plated feet of the Vichy regime. Almost half a century ago, in February 1973, a commando composed of far-right sympathizers embarked on a mission as dangerous as it was absurd: to “steal” the remains of the Marshal Petain transfer it from the island of Yeu (Vendee) to Verdun (Meuse). The coffin will never reach the Douaumont ossuary: the police will find it three days after its exhumation… in a garage in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis)!