France, Portugal mark WWI battle

RICHEBOURG, France -- French President Emmanuel Macron and his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa marked Monday the centennial of a World War I battle helping allied nations stop a German offensive in the final year of hostilities.

The two leaders held a ceremony in northern France's Richebourg, which was at the heart of the battle of the Lys, one of the many fights where thousands lost their lives for precious little territorial gain.

In 1918, Germany made a major effort to finally make a breakthrough toward Paris and push British forces back to the English Channel. It failed because of the kind of resistance Macron lauded Monday.

"In all, 7,000 Portuguese soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner in this one day, the deadliest of the Great War for your people. It made the Battle of the Lys what the Battle of Verdun was for the French," Macron said, recounting the 1916 French-German battle where the casualties amounted to the hundreds of thousands.

But more than remembering what divided Europe a century ago, Macron sought to connect the past with Europe's current unity based on a strong Franco-German alliance and a rejection of narrow-minded nationalism.

"And those who think today that we could repeat our history by recreating within Europe tensions, nationalism and tragedy have a sorry memory of all the blood which was spilled," he said.